Saint Vincent College Faculty Blog | MSMOE

Myths about Operational Excellence

Posted by Michael Urick on Fri, Sep 4, 2020 @ 10:09 AM

Operational Excellence (OE) is a management philosophy that focuses on improvement, problem solving, and waste reduction in organizations. A strong focus on this philosophy is not too common at many academic institutions and so Saint Vincent is lucky to offer this unique perspective at the undergraduate (minor) and graduate (OE emphasis in the MS in Management) levels. Those schools that do focus on OE tend to have programs in the engineering departments. At Saint Vincent, ours resides in the business department. A reason for this difference is that our program is more focused on people and culture as well as implications of OE throughout an organization.

Read More

0 Comments Click here to read/write comments

Topics: Michael Urick, MSMOE, Saint Vincent, Operational Excellence, SVC faculty, blog, Faculty Blog, Dr. Mike Urick, svc blog

Top Reasons Why Now Is the Perfect Time to Pursue Your Master of Science in Management: Operational Excellence at Saint Vincent College

Posted by Michael Urick on Tue, May 5, 2020 @ 09:05 AM

Dr. Mike Urick - MSMOE - Saint Vincent College

I’ve had the privilege of directing Saint Vincent College’s Master of Science in Management: Operational Excellence (MSMOE) program for nearly seven years. I want to share with you why I think now is a great time to pursue this degree.

Read More

0 Comments Click here to read/write comments

Topics: Saint Vincent College, Education, Michael Urick, Graduate programs, MSMOE, mike urick, Dr. Mike Urick, Master of Science in Management

Forget Social Media … Get Connected with a Professional Organization

Posted by Michael Urick on Wed, Nov 16, 2016 @ 10:11 AM

As I have done on many occasions, I was recently having a conversation with an HR representative of an organization that employs several Saint Vincent graduates. I asked this individual what makes some recent graduates more attractive candidates for jobs than others. His response to me was one word: experience.

Read More

0 Comments Click here to read/write comments

Topics: internship, social media, Michael Urick, MSMOE, APICS, Academy of Management, Professional Organizations, Westmoreland Human Resource Association, Pittsburgh Human Resource Association

My Favorite Time of Year

Posted by Michael Urick on Tue, Sep 27, 2016 @ 10:09 AM

Though I’ve often used popular culture to discuss concepts, many of my blogs have been very oriented to my academic passion of organizational behavior. This post is different as it’s more of a reflection regarding my favorite time of the year.

Read More

0 Comments Click here to read/write comments

Topics: Campus Life, students, Student Life, Michael Urick, MSMOE

The Saint Vincent Approach to Graduate Business Education - What is Operational Excellence?

Posted by Michael Urick on Mon, Apr 18, 2016 @ 10:04 AM

In my last blog, I discussed some of the recent accomplishments and recognitions of the Master of Science in Management: Operational Excellence (MSMOE) program. I also set out to explain the difference between this degree and the more traditional MBA. In this post, I’ll be looking at a deeper explanation of Operational Excellence and how it ties in with Saint Vincent and our Benedictine values.

Read More

0 Comments Click here to read/write comments

Topics: Laudato Si', Michael Urick, Graduate programs, MSMOE, OE, Dr. Hisker, business, Operational Excellence, The Benedictine Handbook

The Saint Vincent Approach to Graduate Business Education - Why Do We Offer an MSMOE?

Posted by Michael Urick on Fri, Apr 15, 2016 @ 16:04 PM

I have had the pleasure of directing the Master of Science in Management: Operational Excellence (MSMOE) program at Saint Vincent for the past two years. I am very proud of our students, faculty and the program in general. Over the past several months, our students and faculty have published or submitted research for consideration in some of the field’s top journals and conferences, we have had exceptional job placements for our students and graduates and the program was recently named as a “Top 50 Best Value Master’s in Management” program. We’ve grown enrollment in the program and have also provided students with immersive experiences such as overseas opportunities, a partnership with the University of Kentucky’s True Lean Center in its College of Engineering that can lead to certification, independent studies so that students can choose the direction of their learning and flexible hybrid learning options.

Read More

0 Comments Click here to read/write comments

Topics: Michael Urick, Graduate programs, MSMOE, business, MBA, Operational Excellence

All posts

About the Authors

Michelle Gil-Montero is an associate professor of English and director of creative writing at Saint Vincent College. She runs the visiting writers series on campus, oversees the student literary magazine, and serves as guru to aspiring poets on campus. She received her MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 2007, and she has been on the Saint Vincent faculty since that year. She is an active poet and literary translator from Spanish. She is spending part of the 2016-17 school year travelling to Argentina on a Howard Foundation fellowship and Fulbright grant.

Dr. John J. Smetanka has been a member of the full-time faculty since 1997 and currently serves as the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Academic Dean of Saint Vincent College, a position he has held since January 2008. Dr. Smetanka has taught courses in Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry and Geology as well as interdisciplinary seminars. He has published scientific research articles in physics and astrophysics journals, numerous conference proceedings and also works in science education reform and the interaction between science, technology and theology.

Jim Kellam is an associate professor of biology at Saint Vincent College and our resident ornithologist. He received his Ph.D. from Purdue University in 2003, and is taking this semester as a sabbatical. What does that mean? He'll explain in his blog posts.

Dr. Michael J. Urick is Graduate Director of the Master of Science in Management: Operational Excellence program, and Associate Professor of Management and Operational Excellence at the Alex G. McKenna School of Business, Economics, and Government. Dr. Urick teaches courses related to organizational behavior, human resources, culture, leadership, diversity, conflict, supply chain, operations and research methods. Professionally, Urick serves on the board of the Institute for Supply Management (Pittsburgh) and belongs to the Society for Human Resource Management and APICS. For fun, Urick enjoys music and, since 1998, has led and performed with Neon Swing X-perience, a jazz band that has released multiple albums and toured portions of the US. He enjoys watching movies, is an avid reader of fantasy and science fiction, and also likes to fence.

David Safin, C'00, has been a lecturer in the communication department since the Fall of 2003, and has served in a variety of administrative roles since the summer of 2004. Currently, he teaches multimedia in the communication department as an assistant professor.

Dr. Michael Krom received his Doctorate in philosophy at Emory University in 2007 and is currently the chair of the philosophy department at Saint Vincent. He has authored a book on religion and politics and continues to publish works in Catholic moral and political thought. Dr. Krom also directs the Faith and Reason summer program every summer.