Dr. Pennington's Page

My Personal Introduction  

This is Dr. Rick Pennington's personal page for Bellevue University. 

For 29 years, I worked in the manufacturing industry in various roles from the production floor to engineering to management. This provided me with experiences in operations management, process designing, tooling design, MRP systems, ISO-9000, supplier relationship management, customer relationship management, team building, JIT, kanban, Lean, TQM, and Six Sigma. As a quality assurance manager, I visited with suppliers and customers which provided valuable knowledge of building relationships. 

I have been with Bellevue University since 2012 as an adjunct professor, assistant professor, and associate professor. In 2017 I completed my DBA and in 2018 I became the Program Director for the online BS in Supply Chain, Transportation, and Logistics (SCTL) cohort program. In 2022 I added the residential and online BS in Supply Chain and Logistics Management (BSCL) program to my Program Director position. In 2023, the MS in Supply Chain Management program will be available in the Winter term. I am excited to see this program becoming available. I am teaching various supply chain, business, and operations management courses in the SCTL, BSCL, and MBA. I am fortunate to be able to continue developing relationships with local manufacturers to provide factory tours for the BSCL students.

Learning must be a lifelong objective, not just as a student. Learning must take place from books, instruction, and personal experiences. Teaching methods must be continually adjusted for improvement. Teaching must come from shared personal experiences with real-life projects. Students can also learn from books, technical and journal articles, and the Internet in the classroom and as a reference outside of the classroom. Finally, from lean manufacturing there is a term used, Gemba, and it has to be a part of a student’s learning. Go to the Gemba, which means to go where the activity takes place – students must see how to use their learning in the real world to become effective employees. 

How to contact me:

Best method is Email (ripennington@bellevue.edu): I will reply within 24-48 hours.  I teach many different courses each term including online and residential courses. Be sure to include your full name in your email. Also, include the course number and section number in the subject line of the email (ie. BSCL305-T101). 

Phone (402-557-7587): Leave a voicemail with your name, course number, and a phone number I can reach you. Be sure to include the reason for your call and the best time to reach, including the time zone. If you leave a voicemail on Friday, then I may not be able to return your call until Monday.

Zoom: I am available to meet via Zoom during scheduled office hours which can be found in your Blackboard classroom.