The Officers of SME Chapter 079 Announce Our September, 2009 Technical Presentation

"Current Thoughts on Improving our Education System"

Directions

Summary:

How is quality defined in our colleges and universities? Can we use Lean concepts in our universities? These were some of the topics addressed in the "Quality in Education" special issue of ASQ's Journal for Quality and Participation, published this past April. Dr. Veenstra will answer these questions; discuss the ASQ Education Division’s involvement with this special issue; and present ideas for a systemic approach to improving our education system. In her presentation, she will also discuss her research on improving freshman engineering retention conducted at the University of Michigan.

Less than 10% of all high school students are interested in an engineering career, including manufacturing engineering. As are many engineers, Cindy is concerned with how we can increase interest among our high school students in engineering. She sees new hope from current engineering colleges’ outreach programs and will discuss some of the current research and outreach efforts for increasing interest in engineering.

If you are involved with K12 outreach programs, this presentation will be of interest! This is a presentation that spouses would also enjoy and find informative.

The Journal for Quality and Participation’s special issue on quality in education is available from the ASQ website. Click here to be redirected to the ASQ Site. Note: registration may be required for access this material.

About Our Speaker:

Cindy Veenstra, Ph.D. is the principal consultant of Veenstra and Associates. In 2008, she completed her Ph.D. in Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan on “Modeling Freshman Engineering Success”; as a result, she has a research-based approach to systems thinking about the transition of students from high school to engineering college. Prior to earning her Ph.D., she was a process engineer/ quality manager at G.M. and Motorola. She brings her experience from industry to the discussion of improving education in both school systems and engineering colleges.

Dr. Veenstra is an SME member and the chair-elect for the American Society for Quality’s Education Division. She is also an ASQ-Certified Reliability Engineer and ASQ Fellow. She has published in the Journal of Engineering Education, the Annals of Research in Engineering Education, the Journal for Quality and Participation and the ASQ Higher Education Brief, of which she is an advising editor.

Admission:

No fee; a light supper will be provided free of charge.

Recertification:

Attendees will earn credits/RCUs toward SME/ASQ certifications.

Space for this unique event is limited.

Please e-mail your RSVP to smechapter79@gmail.com