Universities Join Product Safety Education Alliance to Expand Industry Opportunities for Professionals

In an expansion of university education partnerships, the Society of Product Safety Professionals (SPSP) in late 2022 announced that Virginia Tech will host the 2023 Consumer Product Safety Professional Certification Program at its Research Center located in Arlington, VA. SPSP has now announced, in cooperation with its affiliate ADK Information Services, LLC., two more universities will be offering product safety management education programs in 2023: the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and the University of Missouri - St. Louis College of Business Administration.

"We look forward to working with all of our university partners in 2023, a pivotal year for consumer product safety educational opportunities," says Shelia Gottschalk, President of SPSP. "We now have university alliances on the east coast, upper midwest, and midwest bringing unique expertise in each location. We anticipate new program opportunities will happen on a regular basis going forward."

The Center for Occupational Health and Safety Engineering (COHSE) at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is partnering with the SPSP/ADK to provide the course, 'Product Safety Leadership Fundamentals.' This course is designed for current professionals seeking to build their understanding and skills in designing and managing product compliance and safety programs, or those professionals with extensive experience seeking a refresher course addressing current issues and trends.

The course is built around five areas of product safety knowledge: 1. Organization culture; 2. Risk Assessment and Product Assurance; 3. Regulatory compliance; 4. Incident management and product investigations, including human factors and data; and 5. Product recalls and retrieval.

Class members will design and create a case study that demonstrates their understanding of basic compliance programs for a consumer product manufacturer or retailer. The University of Michigan ranks as the 9th Best Engineering School in the United States by U.S. News and World Report. The hybrid product safety program takes place June 20 – August 11, including two on-campus workshops and online weekly webinars. Individuals who successfully complete the program earn a COHSE University of Michigan ‘Product Safety Management Fundamentals’ Certificate of Completion. Registration will open in February.

The University of Missouri – St. Louis’ College of Business Administration will partner with SPSP/ADK in presenting its annual Fall Advanced Product Safety Leadership in Practice Program 'Crisis Management.' This advanced program is designed for professionals with 5 years of experience in consumer product safety. The instructor panel is comprised of industry and education leaders using their professional experience and case studies as the primary format for sharing knowledge. The College’s internationally recognized Supply Chain Risk and Resilience Research Institute (SCR3) has extensive research and training experience in better understanding how firms can assess and manage risk in supply chains.

The program’s goals are to explore the nature of crisis management design and implementation of crisis management programs. Class members will participate in the actual design and plan for managing a crisis that occurs in global supply chains. The school ranks #15 in the country for Graduate programs in supply chain and logistics by Great Value Colleges. Class members who successfully complete the program will earn a University of Missouri-St. Louis’ College of Business Administration Crisis Management Certificate of Completion.

Registration will open in May 2023. The program will be conducted October 23-27 on-campus at the Anheuser-Busch Hall of the College of Business Administration. The program will be held in an executive format for discussions and group exercises.