About Us

The Center for Logistics Education and Research is a private and university-funded center within the Department of Marketing and Logistics in the College of Business Administration (COBA) at the University of North Texas (UNT). The Texas Logistics Education Foundation Center (TLEF) is a private not-for-profit foundation committed to excellence in logistics education. The enter establishes a partnership between businesses and the academic community designed to advance the study and practice of logistics and supply chain management in Texas, nationally and globally.

The center integrates the resources and expertise of academic faculty and students with those of industry in order to achieve its mission and objectives. The activities of the TLEF-CLER will benefit students, faculty, practitioners, business constituencies, and the community at large. The Center will bear the TLEF name in recognition of its leadership initiative in establishing and developing logistics programs in North Texas.

Our Mission

The mission of TLEF-CLER is to facilitate the formulation and implementation of research and education necessary to produce effective strategies and qualified people to meet the rapidly changing knowledge demands of the 2000’s.

Statement of Values

The Center conducts all of its activities with a focus on high ethical standards, the pursuit of excellence, and respect for all individuals.

Value Propositions

Create value for our member partners by providing networking opportunities with students for internships and permanent employment.
Create value for our member partners by providing them preferred opportunities for continuing education courses and workshops, certificate programs, executive roundtables, symposiums, and conferences.
Create value for our member partners by providing resources and networking opportunities with each other, faculty, business experts and leaders and researchers.
Create value for our member partners by providing educational and learning opportunities in the form of research reports and seminars.
Create value by providing member partners a forum for a long-term impact on the education of future logistics professionals.
Create value by helping member partners to meet their responsibility to advance the educational opportunities for students and their employees, and improve the supply of professionals available to industry, which advances DFW as a world-class logistics center and creates a better quality of life in the North Texas Region.

About TLEF

Like most industries at the end of the 20^th Century, traditional transportation and warehousing activities were transformed by the advent of the globalization of markets and financial institutions and the revolution in communications technology. This evolution ¾ from the simple ideas of movement and storage of goods into broader concepts such as logistics and supply chain management — necessitates the education of an industry workforce able to keep pace with such changes.

In the mid-nineties a coalition of North Texas logistics educators and practitioners came together to discuss means for broadening regional educational opportunities to meet that demand. Due to a high level of enthusiasm, reflecting the importance of the task and the dedication of the growing number of members of that group, the Texas Logistics Education Foundation (TLEF) was incorporated in late 1995 as a non-profit, tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Its mandate was to enhance the quality and scope of logistics education thereby insuring its availability to present and future Texas logistics professionals.

The Foundation operates under an executive board and committees whose members volunteer their time. Primary efforts to date, a significant part of which have been directed toward the establishment and support of logistics programs at the University of North Texas (UNT), have been concentrated in the following areas:

TLEF: Establishment of Center for Logistics Education and Research

Curriculum development assistance and political support which led to expedited approval by the State of Texas of a major in Logistics within UNT’s School of Business;
A popular internship program providing students with on-the-job training as well as fulfilling a degree requirement. Demand for the service has also been high among regional employers such as Ryder Integrated Logistics, Excel Logistics, Raytheon TI Systems, and Nokia. The internship program also expands the Foundation’s exposure and thus its ability to garner financial support.
Commitment of over $167,000 in direct scholarship funds to leading logistics students. Many of the TLEF scholars who have graduated to date received multiple job offers and are now working for major logistics providers and users. In recognition of the success of the Foundation’s scholarship program, several industry groups are directing their own scholarship funds through TLEF.
Just over three hundred students are currently enrolled or graduated under the Logistics degree plan at UNT; and
Through partnership with UNT, the Foundation has offered continuing education programs and symposia in a variety of logistics areas and levels
TLEF was instrumental in the decision by the University of Texas at Arlington to offer a Master of Science in Logistics, a joint degree out of its industrial engineering and business programs.

Success

The Foundation continues to operate under an executive board and committees whose members volunteer their time. Primary efforts to date, a significant part of which have been directed toward the establishment and support of logistics programs at the University of North Texas (UNT), have been concentrated in the following areas

Curriculum development assistance and political support which led to expedited approval by the State of Texas of a major in Logistics within UNT’s School of Business
A popular internship program providing students with on-the-job training as well as fulfilling a degree requirement. Demand for the service has also been high among regional employers such as Ryder Integrated Logistics, Excel Logistics, Raytheon TI Systems, and Nokia, who have provided nearly fifty internships in a variety of logistics related jobs; the internship program also expands the Foundation’s exposure and thus its ability to garner financial support
Commitment of over $167,000 in direct scholarship funds to leading logistics students; many of the twenty-five TLEF scholars who have graduated to date received multiple job offers and are now working for such companies as Ryder, Lockheed, GTE Supply and UPS; in recognition of the success of the Foundation’s scholarship program, several industry groups are directing their own scholarship funds through TLEF
Between 100 and 140 students are enrolled under Logistics degree plans at UNT, with approximately 70 graduates per year. Our program is growing at an annual rate of 27%. In addition our graduate program is rapidly expanding and three new PhD candidates joined in the Fall of 2004.
Through partnership with UNT, the Foundation has offered continuing education programs in a variety of logistics areas and levels. Additionally, sponsorship of the popular Executive Logistics Forum for the past three years has brought together logistics professionals from the front line to the strategy room for informative sessions, led by leading practitioners and academics, as well as networking opportunities
TLEF has also funded a limited number of scholarships at Texas A&M University and was instrumental in the decision by the University of Texas at Arlington to offer a Logistics track in its Masters in Industrial Engineering program