(ASQ: Milwaukee) -- The American Society for Quality (ASQ) recently announced the new Spencer Hutchens Jr. medal for social responsibility. The medal recognizes the achievements of an individual who demonstrates outstanding leadership as an individual, business leader, and cause advocate for social responsibility—primarily focusing on the marketplace, environment, workplace, and community.

"The medal will showcase how the recipient's results have led to societal change," says Roberto Saco, ASQ president. "Medal recipients will be instrumental in making the difference within today's—and tomorrow's—socially responsible world."

The medal is named after Spencer Hutchens Jr., an ASQ past president from Los Angeles, whose personal and business life reflects and demonstrates the desired attributes in the definition and model of social responsibility.

The announcement of the new medal comes on the heels of a major national initiative launched by ASQ in April called The SRO (Socially Responsible Organization) to help the world understand the value of, and the business case for, social responsibility and the role of quality to achieve results. The next steps for The SRO initiative include:

• Establishing an International Social Responsibility Think Tank later this year that will bring together some of the world's leading experts.
• A conference in Milwaukee in 2010 featuring executive roundtables to mark the release of the new ISO 26000 Guidance on Social Responsibility Voluntary Standard.

The Spencer Hutchens Jr. social responsibility medal will be presented annually beginning at ASQ's World Conference for Quality and Improvement in 2010. Eligibility information and nomination forms are available at www.asq.org/about-asq/awards/hutchens.html. All nominations are due by October 1, 2009.

The addition of the social responsibility medal brings the number of global medals offered by ASQ each year to 13.

Additional information on ASQ's social responsibility initiatives can be found at www.TheSRO.org.