New Position Will Oversee Education and Training to Member Units
Milwaukee, Wis., March 23, 2009 — After an extensive search, ASQ is proud to announce that Robert Watters has been promoted to ASQ Learning Institute director effective May 1, 2009. In this new role, Watters will be responsible for the continued development and implementation of the ASQ Learning Institute™.
During these challenging economic times, continued education and training is critical to remaining competitive in the workplace. To help quality professionals and practitioners obtain the skills they need, ASQ developed the Learning Institute—a comprehensive, online professional development resource. The system encompasses learning events throughout the organization and houses all of ASQ’s learning offerings in one convenient location.
“The ASQ Learning Institute is a transformative and innovative step forward for ASQ,” Watters said. “With all of the system tools available to enhance learning and add value, I am extremely excited to work with the quality community on their education and training needs.”
Previously, as senior manager of learning offerings at ASQ, Watters has been instrumental in the implementation of the ASQ Learning Institute. Prior to ASQ, Watters worked in a leadership role for the Crisis Prevention Institute. In this role, he had the opportunity to work on international assignments, training third-party organizations in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan in effective crisis prevention and intervention strategies.
Watters earned a bachelor’s degree from Western Illinois University and a master’s degree in training and performance improvement from Capella University.
About the ASQ Learning Institute
In October 2005, the need to create a unified vision for how ASQ carries out its education and training emerged. As a result, the ASQ Learning Institute was developed to enable anyone, anywhere, anytime to improve themselves, their organization and their world through quality concepts, technologies and tools. Scheduled to launch in May 2009, the system will be free to Full members and will include the following features:
- Competency Matrix: Plot the knowledge and skills needed for various job functions.
- Curriculum Road Map: Create a unique path for professional development
- Learning Plan: A personalized route (path) to achieve education goals
- ASQ Learning Institute Calendar: View all professional development opportunities over an 18-month period
About ASQ
ASQ, www.asq.org, has been the world's leading authority on quality for more than 60 years. With more than 90,000 individual and organizational members, the professional association advances learning, quality improvement and knowledge exchange to improve business results and to create better workplaces and communities worldwide. As a champion of the quality movement, ASQ offers technologies, concepts, tools and training to quality professionals, quality practitioners and everyday consumers, encouraging all to Make Good Great®. ASQ has been the sole administrator of the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award since 1991. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., ASQ is a founding partner of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a prominent quarterly economic indicator, and also produces the Quarterly Quality Report.