July 4, 2008

Happy Fourth of July

John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail on July 3, 1776:

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

Adams was off by two days, however. Certainly, the vote on July 2 was the decisive act. But July 4, 1776 is the date on the Declaration itself. Jefferson's stirring prose, as edited by the Congress, was first adopted by the July 4 vote. It was also the first day Philadelphians heard the official news of independence from the Continental Congress, as opposed to rumors in the street about secret votes.

Section Board

Fall Certification Classes announced

July 3, 2008

Certification Training Courses - Community College of Baltimore County-Catonsville

Note, watch this website to see more details on classes and when you will be able to register.

July 2, 2008

Where Quality Meets: Meetings of Local Interest

A short list of upcoming meetings that may be of interest to our local membership.

June 21, 2008

Section Board Roster updates

Executive board:

Chair

Eric Whichard

Vice-Chair

Joan Richter

Treasurer

Mark Berron

Secretary

Eric Finegan

Other Board / Committee members:

Programs Committee Chair

Arlene Hendrix

Arrangements Committee Chair

Aron Brall

Breakfast Committee

Jo MacLaughlin

Susan Spurgeon

Evaluations

Mark Berron

- - -

Publicity Chair

Lauren Fagan

Newsletter Editor

James Cooper

Internet Liaison/Webmaster

Eric Finegan

Yahoo Group Moderator

Kathy Free

- - -

Membership Committee

William Stevens

Joan Richter

Susan Spurgeon

Nominating Chair

Jina Eckhardt

Placement Chair/Jobseekers

Eric Finegan

Recognition Chair

Jina Eckhardt

- - -

Education Committee Chair

Joan Richter

Examining Chair

Joan Richter

Chief Proctor

Kay Duchesne

Examining/Recertification Committee Chair

Joan Richter

- - -

Koalaty Kid Activity Chair

Kevin Gilson

Science Fair Activity Chair

Kevin Gilson

- - -

Auditing Chair

Robert Rayme

Section Management Plan Committee

Nancy Hall

MPEA Liaison

Kevin Gilson

There are also other multiple (non elected) positions open within the Section.

• Voicemail

Nominating Committee

June 21, 2008

Performance Excellence Users Group Meeting Announcement

You are invited to join the Performance Excellence Users Group on July 10 at the University of Maryland for "Getting Started with the Baldrige Criteria and Writing the Application" presented by Jan Carson of Villa Maria Continuum and Mike Perich of Montgomery County Public Schools, both recipients of the Senate Productivity Award in the Maryland Performance Excellence Awards program.

The presenters will discuss 1) getting leadership and staff on board, 2) resources used to learn and implement the criteria, 3) approaches to writing the application, 4) core values-what are they and how are they used in the Baldrige Criteria, 5) results-how to select, measure and benchmark, 6) how they are sustaining progress made using the Baldrige management framework, 7) using consultants or not, 8) lessons learned, and 9) Q & A.

The meeting will be held from 1 PM to 3 PM on Thursday, July 10 in the Kim Engineering Building at the University of Maryland in College Park. Visit www.mpea.umd.edu for more information and directions. There is no charge to participate, but you must pre-register by contacting Marty Stephens at or call 301-405-7173.

The Maryland Performance Excellence Awards program helps Maryland organizations become high-performing, high-integrity, ethical organizations that excel in their market using the nationally-recognized Baldrige management framework. The annual awards program is based at the University of Maryland and is sponsored by U.S. Senators Barbara Mikulski and Benjamin Cardin. For more information, visit www.mpea.emd.edu.

June 21, 2008

Where Quality Meets: Meetings of Local Interest

A short list of upcoming meetings that may be of interest to our local membership.

May 17, 2008

Section Executive Board

The Section Board is presenting your officers for the 2008-2009 Program Year.

• Chair - Eric Whichard ("Eric W")

  Eric Whichard (BS, MBA) is past Vice-Chair and previously held the position of Treasurer while also assisting in the Arrangements role. He has 20+ years experience in chemical manufacturing quality, currently as manager in a divisional quality organization of W.R. Grace & Co. (HQ in Columbia, MD). He is a senior member with certifications including QM, QE, and SSBB, who joined in 1982.
  

• Vice-Chair - Joan Richter

  Joan Richter, CQA, remains Vice-chair of the ASQ Baltimore section 0502. Her other duties within the Section Board include Education Chair and Certification Chair. JR is currently a Senior Quality Assurance Specialist for IDS, a subsidiary of ICON Clinical Development, a Clinical Research Organization based in Columbia Maryland. She has 15+ years experience in chemical manufacturing quality.
  

• Treasurer - Mark Berron

  Mark Berron is the Board Evaluations Chair. Mark Berron is a regular speaker at ASQ Baltimore breakfast and dinner meetings. He has worked for over 10 years in the Quality area for both Computer Sciences Corporation and ARINC. He has the ASQ CQE and CSQE designations and is a certified Black Belt.
  

• Secretary - Eric Finegan ("Eric F")

  Eric Finegan CQA, CBA, is past Secretary, current Placement/Jobseekers Chair, as well as the Webmaster for the ASQ Baltimore section website. Eric is currently VP, Regulatory and Quality Affairs at DeJarnette Research Systems, Inc, a medical imaging software company in Towson, MD. He has 15+ years of software development and software quality experience in the financial, air traffic control and medical imaging sectors.
  

May 17, 2008

Where Quality Meets: Meetings of Local Interest

A short list of upcoming meetings that may be of interest to our local membership.

April 24, 2008

MPEA Workshops

Information on upcoming MPEA workshops/user group meeting has been posted on the MPEA website:

Upcoming Dinner Meeting

April 23, 2008

May Dinner Meeting - MPEA Award Winners

Social Meeting - Thank you for attending

April 7, 2008

April Social Meeting - Night at the National Aquarium in Baltimore

The Social Meeting was a success and an enjoyable time. Thanks to Susan Spurgeon who arranged the meeting, and to all attendees.

Program Committee

Upcoming Social Meeting

April 7, 2008

April Social Meeting - Night at the National Aquarium in Baltimore

April 7, 2008

Where Quality Meets: Meetings of Local Interest

A short list of upcoming meetings that may be of interest to our local membership.

March 12, 2008

Breakfast Meeting Announcements

Due to logistical constraints, there will be no March Breakfast Meeting.

The April Breakfast Meeting will be hosted by ARINC in Annapolis. Join us for breakfast on April 16 for Mark Berron's presentation! Watch for details to follow.

Thanks to Mark Berron and ARINC for arranging this breakfast meeting!

Do you have ideas for this year's breakfast meeting for the 2007-2008 Program Year?? Are you willing to host an ASQ Breakfast meeting during the 2007-2008 Program Year?? Contact Jo McLaughlin at .

March 12, 2008

Maryland Performance Excellence Awards Program Information

Since 1983, Maryland's U.S. Senators have honored the quality, productivity and business achievements of Maryland organizations by presenting the Senate Productivity Awards for Maryland. In 1997, they built on these prestigious awards by creating the 1997 Maryland Quality Awards -- a new and expanded recognition and learning process for leading Maryland organizations. Both the Senate Productivity and Maryland Quality Awards are offered through the Maryland Performance Excellence Awards Program, part of MTECH.

ASQ Baltimore has been a proud supporter and sponsor of Maryland Performance Excellence Awards Program, and for the May program, holds a Dinner Program where our members can hear the stories of that year's winners.

March 1, 2008

Joseph M. Juran, 1904-2008

A pioneering architect of the science of managing for quality, Joseph M. Juran, passed away February 28 at the age of 103. Known as the "father" of quality, he said, "It is most important that top management be quality-minded. In the absence of sincere manifestation of interest at the top, little will happen below."

Dr. Joseph M. Juran passed away on February 28, 2008 of natural causes. He was 103 years old and was physically and mentally active until his death. Although Dr Juran had retired from the Juran Institute in 1994 he will be missed by all of his family, friends and employees for the guidance and support.

Dr. Juran was referred to as the father of modern day Quality Management. He had many accomplishments in his life. He named the Pareto Principle; he provided a roadmap to improve organization-wide quality; he traveled the world to teach others how to improve quality; and he founded the Juran Institute Inc (JII) in 1979 at the age of 75.

JII initially focused on providing training to improve enterprise quality. It grew over the years to provide clients and society with a full compliment of tools and techniques to improve business results. Many of Dr. Juran’s techniques to improve business performance are still in use today in as the Lean and Six Sigma, tools and principles used all around the world.

Upcoming Dinner Meeting

February 28, 2008

March Dinner Meeting - Software Quality

February 15, 2008

Where Quality Meets: Meetings of Local Interest

A short list of upcoming meetings that may be of interest to our local membership.

February 5, 2008

ASQ Newsletter - February 2008 Issue published

Volunteers Needed

February 2, 2008

Judges needed to volunteer for the 53nd Annual Baltimore Science Fair

The ASQ Baltimore Section has once again been invited to participate in the 53rd Annual Baltimore Science Fair held at Towson University. As in past years, the Baltimore Section again will provide volunteer judges and awards to students participating in the Baltimore Science Fair.

1. Section members volunteer as independent judges for ASQ.
2. Judging will take place on March 29th and the awards ceremony will be on March 30th.
3. It will take place at the Towson University Student Union.
4. Judges will adjudicate the student exhibits for their use and understanding of statistical principles and statistical thinking,
5. The Section will also recognize teams of students for effectively working together to solve their chosen problem.
6. Members interested in volunteering to be a Judge may contact the Science Fair Committee Chair, Kevin Gilson at 410-884-9165 or .

The Fair attracts winners of school and county-based science fairs from Maryland's Baltimore Region. Students represent public, private, home schools with students in middle (Division 1) and high (Division 2) schools within Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, and Howard Counties and Baltimore City. The Fair is sponsored by the following organizations: Towson University, Kiwanis Club of Towson-Timonium, Kiwanis Club of Baltimore City, Lockheed Martin Corp., Baltimore County Public Schools, Constellation Energy Group, and Howard Co Public Schools.

Is your organization on this list? Your organization can also be a Fair sponsor. Contact Kevin for information.

Winners from the Baltimore Science Fair will compete in the International Science and Engineering Fair in May.

This is a great way to give back to the local community.

Quality Community - Science Fair Committee

February 2, 2008

Voice Mail system is not working properly

Please note at this time, the ASQ 0502 Voice Mail system is not working properly. If there is any reason you need to contact the ASQ 0502 Section, please use the website contact forms or our Section email:

Voice Mail

January 31, 2008

ASQ Baltimore Meetings - Save these dates for the end of the Program Year

These are the planned upcoming dates for our meetings. If you have any questions, please check our Calendar page or email us.

February 2008

Dinner Meeting. Cancelled. There will be no Feb Dinner Meeting

Breakfast Meeting. There is no scheduled Feb Breakfast Meeting

Feb 26 - Section Board Meeting. Topic to be discussed will be Membership (fullfillment / retention / increase)

March 2008

Mar - Breakfast Meeting. Details being worked out.

Mar 11 - Dinner Meeting. Marcus Watkins (NASA Goddard), Brett Shank (Northrup Grumman)

Mar 25 - Section Board Meeting

April 2008

Apr - Breakfast Meeting. Plan for Mt. St. Marys. Details being worked out. Website will be updated when plans are firmed up.

Apr 10 - Social Meeting. Note the date change.

            The Social Meeting will be at the Baltimore Aquarium. Details to come.

Apr 29 - Section Board Meeting

May 2008

May 13 - Dinner Meeting. Winners of the MPEA Awards

Breakfast Meeting. not scheduled yet. More information to come.

May 20 - Section Board Meeting.

Section members are welcome to attend any of the meetings. We look forward to seeing you.

January 31, 2008

Where Quality Meets: Meetings of Local Interest

A short list of upcoming meetings that may be of interest to our local membership.

January 22, 2008

Website Updates

This is just to let the membership know that I have not gone away, just am very busy to keep the website up-to-site. I am working on catching up on the number of updates that I need to complete. Thank you.

Webmaster

January 1, 2008

January Breakfast Meeting - Breakfast at at Northrop Grumman, BWI

Please join us for breakfast and to discuss Knowledge Management. with Judy L. Smith, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Mission Assurance, Northrop Grumman Electrical Systems.

Please join us January 16th for Breakfast at Northrop Grumman, BWI.

Reservations must be made one week in advance and only US citizens are permitted. No walk-ins allowed. Register electronically by emailing your name, company name and phone number to Susan Spurgeon at by noon by January 10th.

Do you have ideas for this year's breakfast meeting for the 2007-2008 Program Year?? Are you willing to host an ASQ Breakfast meeting during the 2007-2008 Program Year?? Contact Jo McLaughlin at .

January 1, 2008

ASQ Mounts Campaign to Encourage President Bush to Attend Baldrige Award Ceremony

ASQ Mounts Campaign to Encourage President Bush to Attend Baldrige Award Ceremony

ASQ has begun a grassroots letter-writing campaign to encourage President George W. Bush to attend the next Baldrige Award ceremony and personally present the awards to the recipients.

Keeping with tradition, President Bush presented the awards in 2000, 2001, and 2003. In four of the last five years, however, the vice president has stood in for the president at the ceremony.

"The president's participation in the ceremony adds to the luster of the Baldrige Award, whose recipients represent the best of America," said Mike Nichols, ASQ president.

January 1, 2008

Happy New Year

The ASQ 0502 Section Board wishes all of its members a happy and healthy and productive 2008. Look forward to seeing you in the upcoming year.

Section Board

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