UMD News Releases

UMD's Academic Support and Student Life (ASSL), under the direction of Vice Chancellor Bruce Gildseth, was singled out for recognition and high praise by the U of M Office of Service and Continuous Improvement in recent issues of University of Minnesota publications the UMN News and the Brief.

ASSL was cited for its development of a high quality, systematic approach to management of its programs through training and use of the Baldrige Criteria as a standard for measurement.

The article states:
"In the early 1990s, the quest for quality and operational excellence came to higher education. UMD was at the forefront. In partnership with local industry leaders, UMD had brought a quality system to the campus, adopting the Baldrige Criteria as a standard for measuring selected parts of its operation beginning in the late 1980s. Because of this work, UMD was one of the first invited participants in a network of 16 higher education institutions that gathered quarterly to share their experiences of applying quality concepts to operations. These same institutions now gather under the umbrella of the National Consortium for Continuous Improvement (NCCI).

This spring, ASSL will pilot a software package that will refine and automate its quality process. ASSL will be able to automatically map goals and initiatives to its strategy. If the software is successful at ASSL, the Office of Service and Continuous Improvement will sponsor a broader roll-out of the system across the University."

for more information see:
http://www1.umn.edu/umnnews/Feature_Stories/UMD_continuous_improvement.html

Learn more about UMD Academic Support and Student Life on the Web at:
http://www.d.umn.edu/assl/
Contact Bruce Gildseth, vice chancellor, at 218-726-8501 or bgildse1@d.umn.edu