After spending a year evaluating its processes, systems, and policies then undergoing a 3-day, 7-person site evaluation visit, Black River Technical College has been awarded the highest level, the Governor’s Award for Performance Excellence, of the Governor’s Quality Award Program offered by the Arkansas Institute for Performance Excellence in partnership with the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce. This program is based upon the Baldridge Performance Excellence Program known for supporting organizational performance excellence across the globe.
In 2021, BRTC was awarded the Challenge Award, the first level of the Governor’s Quality Award Program. According to the Arkansas Institute for Performance Excellence, the Governor’s Award, which generally takes 4 years to achieve, is “presented to organizations that have demonstrated through their practices, results, and achievements, the highest level of performance excellence. Organizations at this level are outstanding examples of quality organizations in the State of Arkansas, exhibiting ‘Role Model’ processes and corresponding results.” It is not awarded every year.
“We are grateful and proud that our efforts have been considered worthy of this distinguished award,” said Dr. Martin Eggensperger, BRTC president. “ I believe this prize was the result of the sincere willingness of our people to improve all that we do in the pursuit of our mission.”
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BRTC is 1 of only 3 organizations in the Arkansas program’s history to have made the jump from the first or second level of the program to the 4th level in just one year and the only institution of higher education to have made the jump. Further, BRTC is 1 of only 2 institutions of higher education in Arkansas to have ever achieved this top award; North Arkansas Community College in Harrison won the Governor’s Award in 2015.
As a Governor’s Award recipient, BRTC is eligible during the next 5 years to pursue the national Baldridge Performance Excellence Program competition offered through the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) with the U.S. Department of Commerce. According to the program, “The Baldrige Program oversees the nation\’s only Presidential award for performance excellence.”
For more information about quality at BRTC, contact Sissy Gray, Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness at sissy.gray@blackrivertech.edu or visit https://blackrivertech.org.