October 12, 2007: Volume 71, Number 6

Feigenbaum Forum set for Thursday

“Social, Economic and Technological Convergence: The Impact on Education” is the focus of the 12th Annual Armand and Donald Feigenbaum Forum, Thursday, Oct. 18, 3:30-5 p.m.

The event, in the conference room of Feigenbaum Hall, will feature a welcome and introduction by President Stephen C. Ainlay and opening remarks by Donald S. Feigenbaum ’46, executive vice president and chief operating officer of General Systems Company, Pittsfield, Mass.

Mark W. Walker, the John Bigelow Professor of History, will speak on “A Comparative History of Radical Curricular Change,” and Samantha Beatty ’09 will discuss “Public Opinion and Persuasion.”

Closing remarks are by Armand V. Feigenbaum ’42, president and chief executive officer of General Systems Company.

The Feigenbaum Forum is designed to stimulate dialogue about the integration of corporate management principles to the administration of institutions of higher education.

Armand Feigenbaum was worldwide manager of manufacturing operations and quality control for General Electric, and Donald Feigenbaum had major management responsibilities in GE’s jet engine business when they founded General Systems Company in 1968. The Pittsfield-based international systems engineering firm designs and implements integrated management systems for major corporations throughout the world.

Armand also is the originator of Total Quality Control. His 1951 book on the subject, published as a 50th anniversary edition in 2002, has been translated into many languages and is the basic text on quality systems and improvement. Donald is one of the acknowledged world leaders in systems management and systems engineering and was the founding chairman of the systems engineering committee of the American Society for Quality Control.

Earlier this month, Armand delivered the opening address of the 42nd International Congress of Quality in Management in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Last spring, at the inaugural Conference of the Middle East Quality Association, the Feigenbaums met with Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai. Shaikh Mohammed was the inaugural recipient of the Feigenbaum Leadership Excellence Award in 2006, to honor men and women in the Arab world for their exemplary leadership.

The Feigenbaums’ most recent book is “The Power of Management Capital” (McGraw-Hill, 2003).

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