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For the second time in the past year, H. Thomas Johnson, Portland State Accounting professor, has been recognized and honored. The American Society for Quality awarded Johnson the 2007 Deming Medal in honor of the late W. Edwards Deming. The medal, which recognizes Johnson’s contributions to the new theory for managing for quality, will be presented at the society’s World Congress on Quality and Improvement in Houston, May 5, 2008.

The Deming Medal is presented to those who, like W. Edwards Deming, have successfully combined the application of statistical thinking and management so that each supports and enhances the other, thus leading to quality in products and services. Johnson was nominated for the award by members of the American Society for Quality, which counts 100,000 members. Deming, a leading scholar, teacher and consultant in the area of quality management, was influential in the rise of the Japanese manufacturing system throughout the decades after World War II.

H. Thomas Johnson was also recently awarded the prestigious American Accounting Association Seminal Contributions to Accounting Literature Award for his book “Relevance Lost: The Rise and Fall of Management Accounting,” co-authored by Robert Kaplan. The American Accounting Association presented the award to Johnson at their annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois, on August 8, 2007.

This particular award from the American Accounting Association is given no more frequently than once every three years for a work that has been published more than 15 years prior and has demonstrated lasting significance. The award, one of only five ever given, recognizes works that have had a lasting and fundamental impact on accounting research. Previous winners have come from some of the nation’s leading universities, including Stanford University, University of Chicago and University of Rochester.

Johnson, who has taught at Portland State University since 1988, is also a two-time recipient of the prestigious Shingo Research Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing, and is a foremost authority on Toyota Corporation and its management systems.

PSU School of Business Administration
The School of Business Administration at Portland State University, the largest business school in the Pacific Northwest, offers top caliber programs and nationally recognized faculty to its more than 400 graduate students. Additional options in Management of Innovation and Technology, Master of International Management , and Master of Science in Financial Analysis (MSFA), and a certificate in Food Marketing and Logistics are also available, along with an online eMBA. The school is also home to the new Center for Design and Innovation for Business and Sustainability, the Center for Professional Integrity and Accountability, the Food Industry Leadership Center and the Interdisciplinary Center for Law and Entrepreneurship.

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