BIG RAPIDS – Jim Woolen of Big Rapids was appointed by Dr. Patrick Gallagher, deputy
director of the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology,
to the 2010 Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Woolen
is Accountancy, Finance and Information Systems department head at Ferris State University.
The award, created by public law in 1987, is the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a United States organization can receive. The board is composed of approximately 500 leading experts selected from industry, professional and trade organizations, education and health care organizations, and government. As an examiner, Dr. Woolen is responsible for reviewing and evaluating applications submitted for the award.
As a member of the Certification Council for the Institute for Certification of Computer Professionals, Woolen helps design and update national certification exams for computer professionals. After being selected as a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award examiner, he has expanded his interests to include accreditation processes and assessment of instruction.
Woolen’s research interests include computer ethics, employee motivation, teaching methodologies for computer courses, the management of technology and societal impacts of technology. During his 34 years of experience in the information technology field, Woolen has assumed such industry leadership positions as chief information officer, associate vice president, executive director, director, associate director and supervisor, as well as held applications development positions such as systems analyst and programmer. He has taught traditional classroom courses in programming languages (COBOL, BASIC), introduction to information technology for non-Computer Information Systems majors and computer concepts. He has also taught on-line courses in project management.
Those examiners selected to the board 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.
Awards may be given annually in each of six categories: Manufacturing, Service, Small Business, Education, Health Care and Non-profit. Awards have been presented to 77 organizations, including 2008 award recipients Cargill Corn Milling North America, Iredell-Statesville Schools and Poudre Valley Health System.
Woolen earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Georgia State University, Master of Business Administration from Savannah State University and Doctor of Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University.