Total Quality forum slated in Madison

The eighth in a series of national forums on Total Quality issues affecting both higher education and industry will be sponsored by UW–Madison Oct. 21-22.

Called TQ Forum VIII, the conference has drawn representatives of companies and campuses from across the nation. Their charge: To define ways to improve the quality of university graduates through university-industry collaboration. The first TQ Forum was held in 1989, hosted by David Kearns, CEO of Xerox.

Speakers at the Madison forum will include David Ward, chancellor of UW–Madison; Ernest Micek, CEO, president and chairman of the board of Cargill; James Duderstadt, president emeritus of the University of Michigan; and Gordon Brunner, senior vice president of research and development for Procter & Gamble.

Participants will address such questions as:

• What does industry want and need in the graduates they hire? And how can higher education and industry collaborate more effectively to ensure that those requirements are met?
• What process can be used to produce curricula and learning experiences that result in well-prepared graduates?
• By what measures do we know if universities are meeting the needs of industry?

The forum, to be held in Madison’s Monona Terrace Convention Center, will be sponsored by the UW–Madison Chancellor’s Office, School of Business, College of Engineering, and Office of Quality Improvement.