Donald J. Bowersox Doctoral Symposium

The Doctoral Symposium began in 1991 as a means of providing professional development training and networking opportunities to Ph.D. students. John Langley, then President of CLM and Professor of Logistics & SCM at the University of Tennessee (now Professor of SCM at Penn State University), played a central role in founding the Symposium. The first year, 26 Ph.D. students from eight programs participated, with leaders such as John Langley, Bud Lalonde, Don Bowersox, John Coyle, Martha Cooper, Tom Mentzer, Doug Lambert, and Jim Stock among the speakers.

Over the years, the Symposium has become a platform for doctoral student learning and development, welcoming hundreds of Ph.D. candidates. It offers doctoral students the opportunity to learn from and connect with established scholars while also preparing to enter the academic community. Since CSCMP is an organization of both practitioners and academics, the Symposium emphasizes the intersection of practice and scholarship, focusing on rigor and relevance in research.

In 2011, the Symposium was named in honor of Donald J. Bowersox, CSCMP co-founder and leading academic. Don Bowersox was a pioneer in logistics discipline development and is often referred to as “The Grandfather of Logistics.” His career included more than 17 books, 250 articles, and decades of leadership, including service as the second president of NCPDM and as a co-founder of CSCMP. Don was passionate about doctoral education, having chaired 27 dissertations, and remained a strong supporter of the Doctoral Symposium throughout his career.

Today, the Bowersox Doctoral Symposium continues his legacy, helping prepare the next generation of supply chain scholars for successful academic careers and lifelong engagement with CSCMP.