GRCC Organizational Model

GRAND RAPIDSGrand RapidsCommunity College is the recipient of The Michigan Quality Council’s 2007 Quality Leadership Award, becoming the first Michigan college or university to win what is considered the state’s highest honor for organizational performance excellence.

“GRCC has demonstrated systematic implementation of processes that achieve results for all its stakeholders, students, employees and the community,” said Geri Markley, MQC executive director. “They aimed for the top and have shown remarkable progress that may be a role model for other organizations in Michigan and in education.”

The program is modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Leadership program, which evaluates an organization for excellence in seven categories: leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, measurement, analysis and knowledge management, staff focus, process management, and organizational results. The award is decided after a rigorous review by a team of examiners who perform a comprehensive site visit and then submit a report for final evaluation by an independent panel of judges.

GRCC is only the second KentCounty winner in the program’s 14-year history.

“Working together does work,” said GRCC President Juan R. Olivarez, Ph.D. “We have always felt that we are good at what we do and that our reputation for affordable, excellent education is strong. But we wanted to move from good to great. This award verifies that we are on our way.”