NEWS RELEASE

Dr. Richard Kunkle

November 30, 2010

SVC MCKENNA SCHOOL’S DR. RICHARD KUNKLE

NAMED TO SHINGO PRIZE BOARD OF EXAMINERS

LATROBE, PA — Richard F. Kunkle, M.D., FACEP, instructor in management and program director of Operational Excellence at the Saint Vincent College Alex G. McKenna School of Business, Economics, and Government, has been named to the board of examiners for the Research and Professional Publications Award and the Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence.

The Shingo Award promotes use of world-class operational excellence strategies and practices to achieve world-class results in business and public sector/government-owned facilities and the Research Award promotes research and writing regarding new knowledge and understanding of operational excellence.

The Shingo Prize is considered America’s most prestigious award recognizing excellence in lean implementation and operational excellence. It is named for Japanese industrial engineer Shigeo Shingo who distinguished himself as one of the world’s leading experts in improving manufacturing processes. He has been described as an engineering genius who helped create and write about many aspects of the revolutionary manufacturing practices which comprise the renowned Toyota Production System.

The prize was established in 1988 and is administered by the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. Recipients of the prize are honored at the International Shingo Prize Annual Conference and include world class enterprises from the United States and around the globe.

Saint Vincent College is unique in that it has the nation’s first undergraduate program to offer a minor in Operational Excellence and is one of only a few institutions of higher learning in the U.S. to offer a graduate program in Operational Excellence.

Saint Vincent College’s Alex G. McKenna School of Business, Economics, and Government and the McKenna School’s Kennametal Center for Operational Excellence established the program in 2003. Interest in the program has steadily increased. There are currently 35 graduate students enrolled in the program in addition to undergraduate minors in Operational Excellence.

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For Information:

Don Orlando, Director, Public Relations

Saint Vincent College, 300 Fraser Purchase Road, Latrobe, PA 15650-2690

Phone 724 805-2010, FAX 724 805-2019, pr@stvincent.edu, www.stvincent.edu