Graphic Communications Professor Ron Marston, and GRC student Hannah Selvey who designed the CALM logo.
“Air is free, everything else is delivered,” said Chris Bender, CEO of the Bender Group.
At the formal Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at Truckee Meadows Community College, Meadowood Center on April 13, a new hub for networking and education in the logistics field was named in honor of the late Frank N. Bender, “Dean of Distribution.”
The Frank N. Bender Center for Applied Logistics Management (CALM) is a suite of conference rooms, offices and meeting spaces to facilitate connections between the region’s businesses and students at TMCC. The Center is made possible through a generous grant by the Bender family, and is located at Meadowood North, 5250 Neil Road, Suite 301A, in Reno.
Brian Addington is the Director of CALM and a Business and Logistics Instructor at the College.
“CALM is the bridge between the local logistics businesses and TMCC programs—comprised of local logistics business leaders and academic staff, promoting the logistics industry in the region and offering services such as workshops, seminars, and events,” he said.
The official mission of the Center is the following:
“The Center for Applied Logistics Management is a collaboration between industry, academia, and community dedicated to leading and coordinating education and training efforts to build and enhance a competitive Northern Nevada workforce in a global economy.”
The Center is part of greatly expanded Logistics Programs at TMCC, now offering the only four-year Logistics Program in Nevada, the Bachelor of Applied Science, Logistics Operations Management. TMCC also offers the following degrees and certificates:
- Logistics Management AAS Degree
- Logistics Management Certificate of Achievement
- Logistics Technician Certificate of Achievement
- Manufacturing Technologies AAS Degree, Production Systems Emphasis
Ribbon Cutting Introductions
TMCC President Karin Hilgersom, PhD addressed the audience at the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, thanking Chris and Priscilla Bender, and recognizing the Bender family legacy in Northern Nevada.
“We are grateful for their leadership and support in making CALM a reality,” she said. “Not only is Chris on the CALM Advisory Board but he is also an important member of the College’s Institutional Advisory Council.”
Dr. Hilgersom also credited other leaders who helped make the new Center possible.
“In addition to our gratitude to the Bender family, I am proud of the hard work and foresight, and frankly great intelligence, of the Dean of our Business Division, Dr. Marie Murgolo-Poore,” she said. “Without her efforts, along with the important work of the CALM Advisory Board, students would not have the opportunities available to them, including the only four-year degree program in logistics in this state.”
Gretchen Sawyer, Executive Director of the TMCC Foundation, thanked and acknowledged special guests to the event:
- Board of Regents Chair: Rick Trachok, JD
- Regents: Jason Geddes, PhD, and Carol Del Carlo
- Members of the TMCC Foundation Board of Trustees: Jesse Murray, Sean French and Gigi Chisel
- TMCC Institutional Advisory Council members: Chair Collie Hutter, Chris Bender and Nancy McCormick
- CALM Advisory Board members: Darryl Bader, Chris Bender, Sonia Griffin, Sam Humphries, Lynda Murdock (representing Harley Enochson), Michael Pender, Shanel Pistorius, Sean Salyer and Zachary Urrutia
- Former TMCC Vice President of Academic Affairs Jane Nichols, PhD, and former Regent Kevin Melcher
- Ann Silver, CEO of The Chamber of Reno, Sparks and Northern Nevada
- TMCC Vice President of Finance and Administration, Jim New
- Deans: Marie Murgolo-Poore, PhD, Jill Channing, PhD, Julie Ellsworth, PhD, and Kyle Dalpe, PhD
- Staff and students of TMCC
- Media representatives from Channel 2 and ThisIsReno.com
Together with Sawyer, Development Officer and Scholarship Manager Tara Hawkins organized and produced the festive Ribbon Cutting Ceremony.
Unveiling of the Student-designed CALM Logo
Graphic Communications student Hannah Selvey designed the new logo to represent CALM, and her design will be featured on all of the Center’s collateral materials.
Her logo was chosen by the CALM Advisory Board from all logos submitted by Professor Ron Marston’s GRC 118, Computer Graphics/Print Media class as part of their professional logo project. Professor Marston accompanied Hannah to the stage and Addington asked her to tell the story of the new logo.
“I was inspired by three means of communication that strengthen a logistics management company, and the ways that materials travel, so I created the logo with three lines that represent each means of transportation with respect to the time the materials travel,” she said. “This one being travel by air, which arrives the fastest, followed by land which arrives at the next greatest speed, and the last one is travel over ocean, which may take the longest to arrive.”
Additional Special Guest Speakers at the Ribbon Cutting
Chair Trachok congratulated the Bender family and the new Center.
“How cool is it that our College has invaded, if you will, the city, and we have buildings and parts of our campus throughout the city, which is very important as higher education becomes the driver of the Northern Nevada, and the (entire) Nevada economy,” he said.
He said the Regents fully support the Bachelor of Applied Science in Logistics Operations Management for workforce development that is centered at the most logical place, the community college.
“Our colleges are continually striving for ways to help train Nevada’s workforce, and this new degree and this Center are prime examples,” he said. “This coupled with the Regents’ advocacy provides opportunities for students that will help our region’s workforce needs in the new Nevada.”
Chris Bender said that his father realized the importance of having new businesses locate to the Reno area to serve the western United States, and so Frank helped form two of the major development organizations in the community; the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN) and Western Industrial Nevada (WIN).
“The Center for Applied Logistics Management, CALM, that supports the degree will ensure the continued development of education in logistics for future students,” he said. “The other reason for the Center is to help businesses understand how to utilize the students that come out of the program. It isn’t there just for the students, it’s there for businesses as much as it is for the people that go through the program. My dad’s gift will help maintain the Center and its goals of informing area businesses of this degree and helping them succeed due to advanced logistics education. Plus, and very important, are the scholarships for deserving students.”
Economic Data from the Nevada Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation, DETR
DETR anticipates strong and persistent growth in many facets of the logistics area.
“According to our projections, jobs in operations and logistics sector for the State of Nevada will grow from 90,000 in 2016 to 108,600 in 2024,” said Dionny McDonnell, Economist in the Research and Analysis Bureau of DETR.
For the two-year feeder program at TMCC in Logistics and Materials Management, there are occupational fields related to that program, such as logisticians, postsecondary business teachers, and other managers including transportation, storage, and distribution managers.
In the Reno-Sparks Metropolitan Area, there were about 681 jobs in 2014 for these occupations. In 2024, that number will grow to about 838, McDonnell said.
There are additional jobs in related occupations—1,344 in 2014, with growth to about 1,650 jobs in 2024—for the Reno-Sparks Metropolitan Area:
- Purchasing managers
- Transportation managers
- Storage and distribution managers
- Logistics managers
- Supply chain managers
- Purchasing agents, except wholesale, retail and farm products
- Logistics analysts
- Economists
- Postsecondary instructors; mathematics, economics, home economics and communication
For information about CALM, please contact Brian Addington at 775-824-8654, and for more about the Logistics Programs at TMCC, contact the Business Division at 775-673-7132.