Dr. John Dew
Director of Continuous
 Improvement and Planning;
University of Alabama

• John Dew is Director of Continuous Quality Improvement and Planning at The University of Alabama. Reporting to the Provost, John facilitates strategic planning activities for the University and assists academic and administrative units in improving processes, understanding stakeholder needs, and improving teamwork and collaboration. He serves as the Director for the University’s Leadership Academy, coordinates campus-wide efforts to improve classroom teaching, and serves as the University’s privacy officer for HIPAA compliance.
 

• Prior to joining the University, John worked for 23 years with the Lockheed Martin Energy Group as a quality and training manager. John’s work supported the government’s nuclear fuel program, research activities at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and production activities in the nation’s nuclear weapons complex. He served Lockheed Martin as a corporate ethics trainer, managed executive development programs for the Oak Ridge facilities, and facilitated company-wide projects dealing with performance improvement.
 

• In addition to his work with Lockheed Martin, John has provided consulting support to NASA, the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Sandia National Labs, and has assisted numerous hospitals in their efforts to diagnose and prevent medical errors. His publications on root cause analysis were the primary reference for the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Health Care Organizations in their guidelines for analyzing medical errors.

• John is the recipient of the ASQ, Energy & Environmental Division's highest award, "The Basile Award", for technical and management contributions to the quality profession and for service to the Division.
 

• John earned his Doctorate in Education from the University of Tennessee. He is the author of four books: Empowerment and Democracy in the Workplace; Managing in a Team Environment; Quality-Centered Strategic Planning; and Diagnosing and Preventing Adverse and Sentinel Events. His fifth book, Continuous Quality Improvement In Higher Education, will be published in 2004 by the American Council on Education.