May 30, 2008

LIVINGSTON, Ala.--Dr. Ken Tucker, dean of The University of West Alabama College of Business, was recently selected to serve on the 2008 Alabama Quality Award Board of Examiners. One of 35 examiners chosen statewide, Tucker will work with a team of business leaders and quality professionals over the next five months to evaluate Alabama organizations based on their innovations in production, service or management that have resulted in increased productivity and quality. 

Administered by the Alabama Productivity Center since 1986, the Alabama Quality Award promotes understanding of the requirements for performance excellence and competitiveness improvement. The Award also encourages information sharing on successful performance strategies and the benefits derived from using these strategies.

Examiners, who are appointed to serve a one-year term, are chosen based on their knowledge of quality and business; length, breadth and type of experience; communication skills; education and training; and achievements and recognition.

“I am very honored to be selected to serve on the Alabama Quality Award Board of Examiners,” Tucker said. “The Award recognizes and honors organizations which employ practices leading to improvements in quality and competitiveness. Organizations completing the application process not only increase their own performance, but also contribute to the overall economic well-being of the state.”

“As examiners, we are required to undergo a rigorous training process designed to increase our knowledge and understanding of the requirements for performance excellence and competitiveness improvement,” he continued. “The performance criteria we use to evaluate an organization are not based on theories of how organizations ought to run to be good, but on a compilation of the management practices shared by the world’s top performing organizations.”

Tucker, who also serves as a management professor, has directed both UWA’s Regional Center for Community and Economic Development and the Small Business Development Center, acting as a facilitator of economic development in the Black Belt region. He was director of training and education for Weyerhaeuser Corporation’s 24 primary mills and 78 converting plants in North America. He has also served as director of human resources and special projects for Bryan W. Whitfield Memorial Hospital and director of the Center for Forestry, Paper and Chemical Technology at the Alabama Technology Network.

In addition to a 1991 University of Alabama doctorate in administration of higher education, Tucker holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from UA and a master’s degree in management from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Tucker serves on the Marengo County Commission, West Alabama Regional Alliance Board of Directors and Alabama Workforce Development Regional Advisory Board. A Paul Harris Fellow in the Demopolis Rotary Club, he is chairperson of the UWA Foundation Board of Directors. He is also a graduate of Leadership Alabama and a charter member of Leadership Marengo County. In addition, he served as president of the Demopolis Area Chamber of Commerce and chairperson of the Demopolis City Schools Board of Education. Named Demopolis Citizen of the Year in 1996, Tucker also serves in numerous other professional and community organizations. 

The Alabama Quality Award is presented to businesses in the manufacturing, service and small business sectors as well as education, health care and non-profit organizations. The Award is modeled after the annual Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, which was established by Congress in memory of the former Secretary of Commerce.