FMU partners with HopeHealth for real-world student experiences
Francis Marion University’s School of Business has partnered with employees from Florence-based HopeHealth on a project that provides hands-on learning opportunities for FMU students. FMU students enrolled in the Supply Chain Management 356 Quality Control and Process Improvement class will be able to observe, learn and even participate as a group of HopeHealth employees begin applying Six Sigma techniques and strategies to HopeHealth’s business model this spring. Six Sigma is a world-renowned 12-session workshop that uses a set of tools and techniques designed to improve business processes by removing variations and defects. The HopeHealth employees were taught Six Sigma this fall by Hubert Setzler, FMU associate professor of management, and Nellie Cooke Sparrow, professor of business, as part of an ongoing series of workshops provided to local businesses and executives by FMU’s School of Business. “We’re excited to apply what we have learned to real-world projects at HopeHealth,” said Andrea Mozingo, director of financial strategy at the HopeHealth Medical Plaza. “The Six Sigma strategies will help us make our processes more efficient so we can improve patient access to services.” As HopeHealth employees continue to develop the Six Sigma techniques within HopeHealth, they’ll be joined by FMU students from Setzler’s supply chain management class, who have also studied Six Sigma. The students will observe and interact with the HopeHealth employees implementing the techniques. “This is yet another way for our undergraduate students to have a skill development opportunity outside of the classroom,” Setzler says. “It’s great to have a partner like HopeHealth in this process for our students to understand what it’s like to implement their skills in an actual workplace.” HopeHealth is a nonprofit leader in providing affordable, expert health care and infectious diseases services for all ages in Aiken, Florence, Clarendon, Orangeburg, and Williamsburg Counties.