PROGRAM PROFILE Center of Supply Chain Entrepreneurship program sets up students for success by Tatiana Favela W hether you’re shopping for groceries locally or ordering products online, the process of supply chain management impacts consumers daily. It’s important to know the ropes of an effective and timely supply chain, and students in the College of Business can get hands-on experience in this area through the Center for Supply Chain Entrepreneurship program. The program, initiated in 2021, aims to connect local, national and international businesses to College of Business faculty and students. The objective is to drive, create and enhance supply chain entrepreneurial activity in the areas of supply chain management, artificial intelligence and business analytics solutions. “We’re trying to establish NMSU Victor Pimentel as the regional school for supply chain,” said Victor Pimentel, assistant professor of supply chain/ business analytics and director of CSCE program. “We’re fighting for new classes. We’re fighting to get more students in the major. We’re working with students and taking them on trips, competitions and trainings. Once they graduate from our program, they end up doing great.” Students who have participated in these competitions have garnered attention from top business leaders and innovators around the world, some of whom have visited NMSU. “Last fall, we took four of our undergraduate students to the 2023 GM/WSU Case Competition, hosted by the Mike Ilitch School of Business’ Global Supply Chain Management department in Detroit for the ‘best supply chain programs in the country,’ and we demolished the competition,” Pimentel said. “They’re having those interactions with massive players. We had the former CEO of Starbucks visit the college. I also had the CEO of one of the largest real estate companies in Arizona, who’s worth $1 billion, come into my class, and he said he was impressed with our kids. They’re rubbing shoulders with the right players and learning from people who have done it.” Some of Pimentel’s graduate students are working to boost their research with local companies and have been publishing studies. “We recently won a presidential award for one of our papers, [title here],” he shared. “Our students are getting good jobs, recognized, and also some come back to us with job opportunities for current students. It’s been a lot of work, but we can see how it’s been paying off.” One of the most unique and beneficial aspects of studying in the CSCE program is having access to one of the largest ports of entry for supply chain at the United States-Mexico border. “We have one place, which is Mexico, and the other, which is the U.S., and just making that across can be a pain if you don’t know how to do it properly,” Pimentel 6 The Bottom Line – 2023 Annual Report | College of Business – New Mexico State University PHOTO BY JOSH BACHMAN
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