Program Director of Agribusiness and Supply Chain Management (Open Rank)

Classification:  12-Month Faculty, Tenure-Track
Priority Screening Date:  Extended
Recruitment Status:  Open Until Filled
Appointment Date:  Summer 2025 

California State University, Monterey Bay is a mid-sized university in California’s Central Coast that grants undergraduate and graduate degrees. Powered by an inspiring Founding Vision Statement, CSUMB is part of the nation’s largest four-year public university system, California State University, which educates nearly 460,000 students every year. 

With a vibrant, diverse student body of over 7,000 students, CSU Monterey Bay is both a Minority Serving Institution and a Hispanic Serving Institution. Our staff and faculty transform students’ lives with a focus on student success and engagement through experiential learning, service learning, and a strong emphasis on multicultural and global perspectives. CSUMB’s sustainability goal is to be carbon neutral by 2030. 

The university’s Strategic Plan prioritizes inclusive excellence through recruiting and investing in developing a diverse body of faculty, staff and administrators. Many appreciate living and working close to the shores of beautiful Monterey Bay, with easy access to recreational areas from Big Sur to Santa Cruz. Nearby opportunities for collaborative research include working in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Silicon Valley, and with colleagues at local research universities, including UC Santa Cruz and Stanford University.

As one of the 23 campuses in the CSU system, CSUMB offers excellent benefits, including access to below-market-rate rental housing on East Campus, and competitive salaries for faculty and staff. With proximity to the San Francisco Bay Area and San Jose, opportunities for faculty, staff and students are as endless as the shores of the nearby Pacific Ocean.

FOUNDING PROGRAM DIRECTOR

The College of Business' mission is “to inspire the practice of Responsible Business, balancing profit, people, ethics, equity, and plan; we promote the success of our ethnically and economically diverse students by facilitating engaged learning involving real-world challenges, conducting practice-based relevant research, and collaborating with community partners.” This position offers opportunities to a senior faculty to develop a viable Program in Agribusiness and Supply Chain Management. The Agribusiness industry in the Central Coast region of California focuses on perishable specialty crops. The position is supported by a partial endowment from key donors in the industry who see the need for this program in the Central Coast Area. The Central Coast is home to several Agriculture companies such as Tanimura and Antle, Taylor Farms, and Driscolls.

This is a twelve-month appointment because the founding Program Director needs to network with practitioners to develop a support network for the program. This includes working with local growers, packers, and other agriculture companies. The Program Director should have industry connections to associations such as the Association of Supply Chain Managers (ASCM), the Institute of Supply Management (ISM), and the International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA).

In order to be successful, the Founding Program director will also need to inspire students, who come mostly from backgrounds in which they were the first to go college. CSUMB and the College of Business pride themselves on promoting student social mobility. In 2024, CSUMB was ranked number 2 among the Western Region in social mobility by the US. News and World Report.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Creating a viable Agribusiness and Supply Chain Management (ASCM) Program that attracts students
• Network with industry partners and key practitioner associations to provide internships and careers for students and build awareness among agribusinesses and affiliates in the perishable supply chain for specialty crops; the agribusiness industry comprises packers & shippers, and other community stakeholders; a professional network is critical
• Developing an effective curriculum, benchmarking the best teaching practices of operations and supply chain management, and their application to agribusiness
• Collaborating with the Dean and other CSUMB colleagues to raise this Program's profile and garner grants and other donor funding
• Teaching upper-division courses and graduate-level courses in Operations Managemen