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Housatonic to receive quality award

Published: Fairfield County Business Times August 1, 2004

BRIDGEPORT, CT – Housatonic Community College will receive a silver Connecticut Quality Improvement Award (CQIA) Innovation Prize plaque at CQIA’s upcoming 17th Annual Conference on Quality and Innovation Oct.13.

Housatonic will be recognized for the numerical results of its Connecticut Business Strategic Planner (CBSP) that provides real-time job, occupational, and demographic analyses.

“Housatonic is pleased to accept CQIA’s recognition,” said Janis Hadley, President of the college. “This award recognizes HCC’s commitment to provide the Greater Bridgeport Area with solid business data, increasing management’s research ability to provide empirical data for current program review, new program development, strategic planning, cost-containment, new revenue generation, and legislative accountability.”

The entry level CQIA Innovation Prize is broadly based on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for Performance Excellence’s three principles of Approach, Deployment and Results that are translated into CIP’s criteria of Opportunity, Innovation and Numerical Results.

Kathy Saint, President of the Bridgeport Chamber of Commerce, congratulated the college, noting “Housatonic’s Research Institute (HRI), a joint effort by the college, the Washington D.C.-based Association of Community College Trustees, CCbenefits, Inc. of Moscow, Idaho, and the Bridgeport Chamber of Commerce, utilizes CBSP’s in-depth information about job and occupational trends, and demographic data. Using CBSP’s, state-of-the-art software, which draws on 24 state and national databases, HRI can provide information in each of the three categories 15 years into the future. Information and projections are provided for the nation, state, and each of Connecticut’s eight counties, and can be accessed in any combination.”

This year the CQIA Partnership, the State’s leader for creating and recognizing Performance Excellence in Connecticut organizations, received 111 CQIA Innovation Prize applications from 67 organizations, including manufacturers, service companies, schools, universities, hospitals, and not-for-profit organizations as well as local and state government.

“CQIA Innovation Prize award winners embody the critical intellect that is the foundation of Connecticut’s long-term growth,” said Sheila Carmine, Founder and Executive Director of the 17-year old Connecticut Quality Improvement Award Partnership. “By applying this Connecticut Intellect, each of the prize winners is focused on helping humanity and improving our lives with novel and superior products and services. They are creating better health services, improving resource use, widening communications, enhancing education, and increasing safety for us all.”

“The ingenuity of these award winners attracts more talented people to Connecticut, multiplying the business possibilities, and further strengthening the reputation of the Connecticut Intellect.”

All 111 CIP applications were judged by 15 Baldrige trained CQIA examiners who read, ranked and met for consensus before determining the platinum, gold and silver winning levels.