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Headlines Monfort Wins Baldrige Award The Kenneth W. Monfort College of Business at the Univer- sity of Northern Colorado in Greeley has been named a recipient of the 2004 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, one of the highest honors for quality and per- formance excellence in the U.S. This is the first time a business school has received the nation's top honor, which is traditionally pre- sented by the president of the United States in Washington, D.C. To earn the award,Monfort College underwent a rigorous quality review of its undergraduate-only pro- gram by a team of Baldrige examin- ers. The review covered seven areas: leadership; strategic planning; stu- dent, stakeholder, and market focus; measurement, analysis, and knowl- edge management; faculty and staff focus; process management; and organizational performance results. Named after the 26th Secretary of Commerce, theMalcolm Baldrige National Quality Award was estab- lished by Congress in 1987 to enhance the competitiveness of U.S. businesses. The award may be pre- sented to five types of organizations: manufacturers, service companies, small businesses, education organiza- tions, and health care organizations. The Baldrige program is managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology in conjunction with the private sector.Monfort and three other 2004 winners were selected from 60 applicants. Joe F. Alexander, dean of the Monfort College of Business, shared with BizEd his thoughts about what the award will mean to the school. 8 BizEd MARCH/APRIL 2005 Joe Alexander and Monfort College's Kepner Hall students, faculty, staff, alumni, and campus part- ners—understand that they played a key role in achieving excellence. Baldrige winners also become national spokes- persons for management of quality within their fields. Following the awards ceremony this spring, we will be making three days of presenta- tions at the Baldrige Quest for Excellence Conference in Washing- What motivated you to apply for the award? We were convinced that we already had a good business pro- gram, but we wanted to take the leap to greatness by immersing our- selves in the Baldrige culture of per- formance excellence. Baldrige princi- ples run parallel to much of what AACSB promotes, so the decision made sense from an accreditation standpoint as well. Did the process of applying push you to a higher level of quality? Absolutely. The whole point of the Baldrige process is to help you see how your entire organization is performing in reach- ing stated goals. When we had applied for the award in the previous year, our feedback report identified a number of blind spots. We studied our opportunities for improvement and allocated significant time, energy, and financial resources to making changes in those key areas. What benefits do you expect to see from attaining the award? Perhaps most grat- ifying so far has been the tremendous sense of pride our alumni have expressed. When a primary founda- tion of your business school is the importance of each stakeholder in building quality, then all of them— ton, D.C., April 10 to 13. In addi- tion, 40 states have their own quality programs, and we will be invited to make presentations at several of them. It's a wonderful opportunity to share our business school's jour- ney with people throughout the country. However, by interfacing with so many others, we get an opportunity to learn from their expe- riences as well. What advice could you give to other business schools looking to achieve higher levels of quality? While it often goes against our basic entrepreneurial natures as deans to eliminate pro- grams, I believe it is critical to focus on where you want to excel and then have the discipline to stay the course over an extended period of time. Although last year was the first time we applied, we have been consistent- ly pursuing the same basic strategy now for two decades. Each year has represented an improvement cycle and an attempt to shape our pro- gram into one that surpasses the results of the previous year. The whole emphasis on quality is contagious. Students, faculty, staff, and employers all want to be associ- ated with an organization that values