1 Washington Park Journal November Issue 2 | Page 5

2

Dean’s Advisory Council

Issue 3, November 2013

“You can never start early enough. They [students] need to start networking;
they need to start the development of leadership; they need the engagement
in clubs and other things – both inside the university and outside of the
university.” –Professor Thomas York

those decisions, because the more that you can tighten up the process, the less mistakes you make and the
more valuable each of the actions that you take in the supply chain, which is going to end up with better
products, better flow and better economy for all the countries, all the corporations and all the people
involved.”
What advice would you like to give to all students in terms of creating their career path?
“The first is, if you start in your freshman year, you’re already too late; you can never start early enough.
The biggest problem that I see in the university is that students start thinking about their career – yes,
they’re studying, they picked a degree – in their junior year. They need to start the networking; they need to
start the development of leadership; they need the engagement in clubs and other things – both inside the
university and outside of the university – in their freshman year. The other, they really need to take
advantage of all that they have before them. If you look at the faculty, especially in the Supply Chain – but
in the other disciplines as well – there are a number of faculty members who are more than open to sharing
their time, their knowledge, and their experience. Take advantage of it. It’s not an environment where the
professor’s on one side of the river and you’re on the other side. Sit down and get to know your professors,
and let them help you; let them stimulate you so that you can grow and develop as much as possible. The
other – my personal philosophy – if you can do it, I don’t care what the university requires in terms of
number of credits; if there is a course that’s going to be beneficial, take it. If you end up with 6 or 9 extra
credits, you’re never going to have the same opportunity to come back and learn. Take advantage of what’s
there before you and learn as much as you can learn.”
By Catherine Balino

5