New QUEST Students Test Out Survival Instincts at Intense Orientation

Although there was no bug-eating or immunity challenges at the annual QUEST Program orientation retreat, walls were climbed, alliances were formed, and participants got to know themselves a little better.

New QUEST Program (Quality Enhancement Systems and Teams) students spent this past weekend in Camp Horizons in Harrisonburg, Va., at their three-day annual orientation retreat.

The agenda was designed to introduce the students to each other and the program, provide an opportunity for team building both for the entire class and their smaller project teams, as well as an initial introduction to quality principles, said Tami Rosenberger, acting associate director of the program. We did a number of hands-on activities - like high and low ropes - as well as some instructional sessions like introducing them to quality concepts and the Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator.

The QUEST Program is a collaborative effort between the Smith School and the A. James Clark School of Engineering consisting of four team-based courses that places students in the workplace for research and group problem solving. Students complete three courses devoted to the integration of quality in the workplace, applying the knowledge and skill-set they have gained from their major in the field of engineering, business, or computer science. The capstone course gives QUEST students the opportunity to apply the principles of cross-functional thinking in a corporate environment. Formed in 1992 with a grant from IBM, the IBM TQ Program first accepted students in the fall of 1993. In 1996, it was renamed the QUEST Program.

Forty-six new students, with an average GPA of 3.6, are entering the QUEST Program this year: 26 business majors, 15 engineering majors, and five computer science majors. This is the first year that computer science students have been accepted. There are approximately 140 students actively participating in the QUEST Program.

QUEST welcomes a new executive director this year, Rick Edgeman, teaching professor of decision and information technologies. Edgeman said that the primary reasons for coming to the Smith School were the opportunities to serve in a premier university and business school, to be a part of a dynamic organization and - most importantly - to direct a program that is very nearly unique in the United States, that is, a cross-functional academic program focused on the core components of quality improvement, leadership and teamwork.

Edgeman is enthusiastic about his new role and hopes to make significant contributions and to attract students from a broader University of Maryland base.

Currently, QUEST students are primarily ones majoring in either a business or engineering discipline, said Edgeman. The principles emphasized by QUEST, though, are applicable to any field of endeavor.