OSU professor named senior examiner for Baldrige National Quality Award
Thursday, September 6, 2007
DeYong, an associate professor in OSU’s School of Industrial Engineering and Management, has been appointed by William Jeffrey, director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to the 2007 Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Created by public law in 1987, the award is the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a U.S. organization can receive.
As an examiner, DeYong is responsible for reviewing and evaluating applications submitted for the award. The board is composed of approximately 500 leading experts from industry, professional and trade organizations, education and health care organizations and government.
Experts selected meet the highest standards of qualification and peer recognition. All board members must take part in a preparation course based on the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence and the scoring and evaluation processes for the Baldrige Award.
DeYong, whose teaching and research specialties include economic analysis, quality management, service quality and customer satisfaction, was chosen to serve as senior examiner for the sixth consecutive year. She is continuing the longtime service of OSU industrial engineering faculty members in the award selection process, a tradition that dates to 1987, when emeritus Regents Professor Ken Case was a member of the first Board of Examiners. And William Kolarik, professor and head of the school, once served for five years as a Baldrige senior examiner.
“Serving as a senior examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is an incredible opportunity to interact with leading experts in quality while assessing how some of the nation’s top companies and organizations operate,” DeYong said. “I believe it speaks highly of OSU and the School of Industrial Engineering and Management that we’ve been represented on the board since its inception.
“Our tradition has meant that OSU industrial engineering and management students and other students who learn about quality in our department are able to get a first-hand, relevant account of the most up-to-date, nationally recognized practices, and I’m proud to continue that,” DeYong said.
The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards may be given annually in each of six categories: manufacturing, service, small business, education, healthcare, and non-profit (new for 2007). The awards have been presented to 69 organizations, including 2006 recipients Premier Inc., MESA Products Inc. and North Mississippi Medical Center.
The award program is managed by NIST, a program of the U.S. Commerce Department’s Technology Administration, in close cooperation with the private sector. The American Society for Quality (ASQ) in Milwaukee, WI, administers the program.
Information about the awards program and the application process is available from the Baldrige National Quality Program, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Administration Bldg., Room A600, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 1020, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-1020 or by telephone at 301-975-2036 or fax at 301-948-3716. Information also can be found on the Baldrige National Quality Program’s website at http://www.baldrige.nist.gov .
Oklahoma’s only university with a statewide presence, OSU is a five-campus, public land-grant educational system that improves the lives of people in Oklahoma, the nation and the world through integrated, high-quality teaching, research and outreach. Established in 1890, the Stillwater campus is the home of the OSU System. The STATE’s university boasts students from all 50 states and nearly 120 nations and has more than 200,000 alumni throughout the world.