About the Transportation and Supply Chain Institute

For more than two decades, the Transportation and Supply Chain Institute at the University of Denver (TSCI) has partnered with businesses around the world to develop the transportation leaders of tomorrow.  This Institute was founded with a specific purpose in mind: to build an academic institute that reflected the needs of a fledgling industry.  Specifically, the intermodal transportation industry.

In the mid-1990’s Gil Carmichael, a former FRA administrator, and Joe Szyliowicz, a DU Professor, began discussing the issues facing the transportation ecosphere of the world and North America in particular. With support from Chancellor Dan Richie, and Provost William Zaranka, Professor Szyliowicz took up the challenge and assembled the initial faculty team, several of whom are still involved with the Institute. Gil recruited a top-notch group of Transportation leaders to be the first board and thus the “Intermodal Transportation Institute” was born. In the early years, the initial administrators of the program managed through significant trial and error and adjustment, and by 2002 the team, aided by Cathy Johnson, Donna Wilson, and a whole cadre of fresh faculty had established the first “Cohort” style format for the Executive Master of Science in Transportation Management.  This was an innovation whereby a group of students enter the program together and move through the program as a single team, taking the same courses at the same pace. We use this format to this day.

Since its inception in 1997, we have consistently evolved the Institute.  We’ve added courses, modified others, and added content that matched the needs of the students and as advised by our board and alumni.  It would be safe to say that the continuous improvement dynamic established in those early days remains a core contributor to our success.  

Today, the Institute, now called the Transportation & Supply Chain Institute (TSCI), offers the traditional Executive Master's degree in Transportation Management with a Concentration in Supply Chain Management, an online Master’s degree in Supply Chain Management, a Bachelor's Completion program in Transportation and Supply Chain, and multiple certificate programs.  We maintain a highly active Advisory Board, a world class faculty, and a dynamic alumni community, all of whom contribute to the success of the Institute. 

Since our first cohort in 1999, we've offered transportation, logistics and supply chain professionals an unparalleled network, a breadth of real-life experience, and a graduate education from a top 100 university.

Our collaboration with the transportation industry allows our master's degree and certificate students to gain hands-on understanding of the complex issues that affect the movement of people and goods throughout the world.

Learn about our current students of Cohort 20 and 21