Diane M. Barrafato Named by Worldwide Branding as Executive of the Year for a Distinguished Career in Quality Assurance and Academic Leadership

    ONTARIO, CANADA, November 6, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Diane M. Barrafato, President and Secretary of COVENTRY HIGHER ED. CONSULTING LTD., has been named by Worldwide Branding as Executive of the Year in Quality Assurance and Academic Leadership. While inclusion in Worldwide Branding is an honor, only a small selection of members in each discipline are chosen for this distinction. These special honorees are distinguished based on their professional accomplishments, academic achievements, leadership abilities, years of service and the credentials they have provided in association with their Worldwide Branding membership.

As the founder of COVENTRY HIGHER ED. CONSULTING LTD, Ms. Barrafato brings more than two decades of industry experience to her position as the firm's president and secretary. Prior to her current role, she held positions at Mohawk College as professor, associate dean, acting executive dean and chairperson. The consultancy, started by Ms. Barrafato in 2013, provides quality assurance consulting services to the higher education sector. Recognized for her expertise in auditing and quality assurance, she calls upon her extensive background in higher education. With first-hand experience and research in program development, program evaluation and review processes, program accreditation and institutional level quality assurance audits and processes, Ms. Barrafato is uniquely qualified to advise academic organizations on quality assurance practices and processes to assist with internal and external reviews and ongoing continuous improvement.

Ms. Barrafato holds an Executive MBA degree from Athabasca University in Alberta, Canada, earned in 2011. While completing the MBA degree, her research, entitled "Program Evaluation in Ontario Community Colleges: Developing a Provincial Program Performance Scorecard," provided a critical examination of the literature of current practices related to program evaluation and measurement of "quality" in postsecondary education in Canada. This study examined current approaches to regular program evaluation and review in the 21 of 24 Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAATs) that participated in this study. Reflecting on these approaches and the available literature, a proposed model for a College Program Scorecard was developed to offer a balanced, comparative and quantitative approach to regular evaluation of college programs of instruction. Regular program evaluation, for the purpose of this study, refers to the process that takes place either every year or every two years to evaluate all active programs of instruction that a college offers.

With this extensive professional background, it comes as no surprise that Ms. Barrafato has been honored with numerous awards throughout the course of her career. She received the Alumni of Distinction Award from Mohawk College in 2000 and was also nominated by Mohawk College for the Premier's Award of Excellence in Health Sciences in 1994. In addition, Ms. Barrafato was presented with the Trillium Award in 1984 and 1980, the Percy Ghent Memorial Award in 1984, and, in 1980, the Jack Coones Memorial Award and the Silver Medal for the Gevaert (student) Essay Competition at the Canadian Level.

Ms. Barrafato has established COVENTRY HIGHER ED. CONSULTING LTD. due to her extensive experience in higher education and the recognition of the need for consulting services within this sector, specifically in the area of quality assurance in higher education. She feels her success can be most aptly attributed to hard work and her long-term vision. In order to stay current in her field, Ms. Barrafato maintains a professional affiliation with a number of organizations including the Ontario College Quality Assurance Services and the College of Medical Radiation Technologists of Ontario. She makes charitable contributions to World Vision, Inc., and enjoys spending time with her family and traveling. For more information you can contact Ms. Barrafato at [email protected] or on LinkedIn at http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/diane-barrafato/48/b98/317.

About Worldwide Branding
For over 15 years, Worldwide Branding has been the leading, one-stop-shop, personal branding company, both in the United States and abroad. From writing professional biographies and press releases, to creating and driving traffic to personal websites, our team of branding experts tailor each product specifically for our clients needs. We are dedicated to empowering our 600,000 clients with effective branding tools to help them achieve success. From healthcare to finance to education and law, our constituents represent every major industry and occupation, at all career levels.

An international company, we provide our members with access to members in over 52 countries including, the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, South Africa, Belgium, Mexico, Italy, Brazil, Sweden and The United Arab Emirates, just to name a few.

We presently have two offices, but we are headquartered on Long Island. Our team comprises more than 100 staff members and spans 10 key departments.

For more information, please visit http://www.worldwidebranding.com.

Contact:
Ellen Campbell
Director, Media Relations
[email protected]

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