DUBOIS – Melanie Hatch, chancellor and chief academic officer at Penn State DuBois, has been appointed by Dr. Patrick Gallagher, director of the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), to the 2013 Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The award, created by public law in 1987, is the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a U.S. organization can receive.
As an examiner, Hatch is responsible for reviewing and evaluating applications submitted for the Baldrige Award. The board is composed of approximately 500 leading experts selected from industry, professional and trade organizations, education and health care organizations and nonprofits, including government. Hatch has extensive experience in both education and business. Before coming to Penn State DuBois she was the founding dean of the College of Engineering and Business at Gannon University in Erie. There, she oversaw six academic departments and a small-business development center. She led strategic planning and positioning initiatives for the college, and focused on building partnerships with local leaders in business and industry. She has also previously served as dean of the College of Business at the Indiana Institute of Technology in Fort Wayne, IN, and was an associate dean of the School of Business at Marymount University in Arlington, VA.
Those selected meet the highest standards of qualification and peer recognition. All members of the board 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.
The Baldrige Award may be given annually in each of six categories: manufacturing, service, small business, education, health care, and nonprofit. Awards have been presented to 93 organizations, including the 2012 recipients: Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Grand Prairie, Texas (manufacturing); MESA Products Inc., Tulsa, Okla. (small business); North Mississippi Health Services, Tupelo, Miss. (health care); and City of Irving, Irving, Texas (nonprofit). Information about the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program and the application process is available by calling (301) 975-2036, sending an e-mail to baldrige@nist.gov, or going to the Baldrige Program’s Web site at http://www.nist.gov/baldrige.
The award program is managed by the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, part of NIST, in close cooperation with the private sector. ASQ assists the program, under contract, with logistics of the application review process, preparation of award documents, and other activities.