A Tribute to Mary Holcomb

Abstract

We offer a commemorative note about the passing of one of the journal’s recent editors. Dr. Mary C. Holcomb passed away on Friday, February 12, 2021, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Mary was the Gerald T. Niedert Professor of Supply Chain Management, and the Martin and Jean Mills Faculty Research Fellow at the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Mary served as the editor of the Industry Notes section of the Transportation Journal from September 2012 until July 2015, when she became co-editor-in-chief of the journal. Mary served as Transportation Journal chief editor until December 2018.Mary made several improvements to the journal while she was the editor. During her tenure the journal’s statistics, including impact factor, improved. Mary worked with Penn State Press to ensure that the citations from Transportation Journal would be counted correctly by other journals so that the journal’s citation counts and impact factor reflect the reality, which resulted in increasing the journal’s impact factor. Mary also created the position of associate editors for the journal, which helped shorten the review time for submitted papers. This helped increase the number of submissions to the journal.Mary’s service as the Transportation Journal editor reflects her dedication to research and service. Julie Lambert, journals manager at Penn State Press, offers this comment: “I had the pleasure of working with Mary during her time as editor of Transportation Journal. She had a no-nonsense attitude with a touch of wit that made her an efficient editor and wonderful colleague. She brought to the role a willingness and dedication that is sought after for any editor—she will be greatly missed.”As her titles above indicate, Mary accomplished much in her logistics and supply chain career. She loved all aspects of her profession—teaching, research, and outreach. Mary was respected and loved by colleagues and students. She embraced her professional and personal life with vitality and enthusiasm. She was a kind and considerate person, and many speak of the kindness she extended to them.David Swanson, current co-editor-in-chief, says, “Mary was a mentor of mine. She was a doctoral candidate at the University of Tennessee when I got my MBA there. Mary always had an encouraging word, nothing was impossible. Difficult tasks needed only planning and management through to fruition.”Contributions to Mary’s legacy can be made to: The Dr. Mary C. Holcomb Scholarship Endowment (giving.utk.edu/holcomb) or mail checks payable to The University of Tennessee (in the memo note “Dr. Mary C. Holcomb Scholarship Endowment”) to UT Haslam College of Business 468 Haslam Business Building Knoxville, TN 37996.Cokesbury United Methodist Church—Manna House (www.cokesbury.tv/give).