Athens State University announced the launching of three business majors designed to support the Tennessee Valley’s BRAC initiative beginning with the spring semester in January 2010.

The new majors are Acquisition and Contract Management, Enterprise Systems Management, also known as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and Logistics and Supply Chain Management. All three of the new programs will be taught through Athens State’s College of Business. The University initiated the new programs to assist the efforts of the Tennessee Valley BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) Committee and to ultimately aid the long-term needs of the workforce that will be employed on Redstone Arsenal and throughout the North Alabama and South Tennessee region. All three programs were recently approved by the Alabama State Board of Education and the Alabama Commission on Higher Education. Continue

“This is proof of what can happen when we work together on a state and community level,” said Joan Davis, interim chancellor of the Alabama Community College System during the announcement made recently at the Chamber of Commerce of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County.

BRAC will be bringing thousands of jobs to the North Alabama area. Many of the jobs that will be coming to the Arsenal will require skill sets that will be offered through the three new majors. Because of the large number of jobs directly related to the Arsenal, the majors will be taught from a government contracting and management perspective. All three programs will be offered in a traditional format at Redstone Arsenal as well as online.

“Athens State is responding to a direct workforce development need as part of the BRAC effort,” said Athens State President Bob Glenn. “Large numbers of the jobs that will be coming to Redstone Arsenal and the Tennessee Valley will be directly tied to work in these three areas. We believe these three majors will open significant career opportunities for our students.”

In Acquisition and Contract Management, students will gain knowledge of the acquisition and contracting processes and responsibilities from contract award to termination of the contract. This program will include a study of the Federal Acquisition Regulations. Enterprise Systems Management (ERP) will prepare students to manage a single enterprise-wide computer software system used to coordinate all resources, information, and functions of an organization. Logistics and Supply Chain Management, students will learn how to plan and forecast demand for product and services and manage the logistical movement of goods and products to include the transportation and services involved.