University of St. Thomas

When asked what words best describe the operations management major at St. Thomas, a faculty member replied, “exciting and lucrative.”

A real student asks:

 

Is this a mix of finance and human resources?

An operations management faculty member responds: “Not really. There are three major functional areas within an organization: finance, marketing and operations; human resources, information technology, and research and development are usually seen as supporting areas. Marketing is concerned with generating demand for a company’s product/service; finance is concerned with obtaining and allocating the resources to run the organization; and operations is concerned with determining how to produce or supply the organization’s product or service.

So, the discipline of operations management is involved with efficiently and effectively delivering the company’s product or service to the customer. Because it provides what others sell, finance and account for, it is an indisputable work function in any business organization.”

What jobs are possible with an Operations Management major?

What are recent graduates doing now?

One recent graduate had an interest in Polaris products and is now a supply chain analyst for the company. In addition, a number of our majors have joined 3M as supply chain analysts and are doing exceedingly well.

What opportunities are there to bolster my resume while I'm in the program?

Internships. Most students who want and apply for an internship obtain one. Internships are usually available at 3M, Honeywell, Cargill, Target, Polaris, Medtronic and several smaller firms.

Study abroad. Some operations management students choose England either in the summer or the London Business Semester. Most organizations like to see some global experience in their new hires. Organizations employing our students find them global in scope.

Faculty at work

Most faculty members are doing research and publishing. Some examples are below.

Dr. Leigh Lawton: "Short-term Study Abroad and Intercultural Sensitivity: A Pilot Study," with P. Anderson, R. Rexeisen, and A. Hubbard, International Journal of Intercultural Relations., Vol. 34, (4), July 2006.

Dr. Sameer Kumar: “Outsourcing Strategies for Apparel Manufacture: A Case Study,” with A.S. Arbi, Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management. Vol. 19, No. 1, 2008.