For Immediate Release

ASQ Education Chair Appointed to U.S. Dept. of Education Committee

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, March 16, 2007 –John Dew, Chair of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) Education Division and a member of ASQ’s Education Advisory Committee, has been appointed to serve on a U.S. Department of Education committee. The committee on which Dew will serve, the Rulemaking Committee, is responsible for establishing rules related to accreditation in higher education. 

The U.S. Department of Education uses this committee process to seek input as it considers new regulations and to obtain feedback on the regulations it has have drafted.  Dew is one of 18 committee members representing education and nonprofit institutions throughout the United States.

"This is an important opportunity for ASQ to have input into the conversation about regulations that shape the direction of quality assurance and quality improvement in higher education,” said Paul Borawski, executive director and chief strategic officer for ASQ.  “John’s qualifications and solid reputation in the education community make him an exciting choice for this appointment.”

Dew earned his doctorate in education from the University of Tennessee and served as a quality professional at Lockheed Martin for 23 years before joining the University of Alabama where he now serves as the director of Quality Improvement and Planning.  He is the author of five books in the quality field including Continuous Quality Improvement in Higher Education, co-authored with Molly Nearing.

“The future of quality in higher education has never been more critical than it is today,” said Dew. “For that reason I am pleased that I’ve been selected to represent ASQ among this group of influential educators.“

For more information on quality in education, visit http://www.asq.org/education/why-quality/overview.html

The American Society for Quality www.asq.org is the world's leading authority on quality.  With more than 90,000 individual and organizational members, the professional association advances learning, quality improvement and knowledge exchange to improve business results, and to create better workplaces and communities worldwide.  As champion of the quality movement, ASQ offers technologies, concepts, tools and training to quality professionals, quality practitioners and everyday consumers, encouraging all to Make Good Great®.  ASQ has been the sole administrator of the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award since 1991.  Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., the 60-year-old organization is a founding partner of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a prominent quarterly economic indicator, and also produces the Quarterly Quality Report.