ISE alumna named president-elect of IISE

Victoria Jordan, a doctoral graduate of Auburn University’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE), has been named president-elect of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE). She began serving the one-year term in April and will serve the following year as president, and an additional year as past-president. Each person that holds these three titles serves on the board of directors and presides over the annual conference that is held each May. 

Jordan earned a bachelor’s degree in statistics from the University of Kentucky in 1983, a master’s degree in industrial and systems engineering from Auburn University in 1987, a master’s in business administration from The Ohio State University in 1989, and a doctorate in industrial and systems engineering from Auburn in 2006.

Jordan said she learned how to apply her knowledge of statistics to optimize processes through ISE.

“I love industrial and systems engineering because it combines math, engineering and business to improve efficiency and quality,” she said. 

Jordan also spent time teaching at Auburn as an ISE instructor from 1999 to 2006 and an assistant professor of statistics from 2006 to 2007. Highlights of her career also include working as the director of performance improvement for Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the executive director of performance improvement at MD Anderson Cancer Center. She has also been named an IISE fellow and was named the Auburn University Industrial and Systems Engineering Alumni of the Year in 2017.

She is currently the vice president of quality and patient safety at Emory Healthcare and oversees 110 employees.

“The Quality and Patient Safety team at Emory Healthcare supports our clinical teams and ensures we have processes in place to improve patient safety and the delivery of care,” Jordan said. “That includes process improvement, regulatory reporting and compliance, stroke and bariatric certifications, infection prevention, clinical analytics, patient safety, and policy management. At Emory, I have enjoyed making a positive impact and working with a great team of people.”

Jordan was raised in Auburn and has many fond memories of her time here. She remembers North Gay Street as a dirt road on which her father drove her to kindergarten, and recalls listening to the radio while doing chores when Auburn beat Alabama 17-16 in the famous “Punt Bama Punt” game of 1972.

“One special memory of my time as a student was right after my daughter was born,” Jordan said. “I was nursing her and didn’t have time to go home between classes so Dr. Maghsoodloo let me bring her to class. We joked that she was the only one allowed, even encouraged, to sleep through his lectures!”

Jordan said she is honored to serve as president-elect for IISE.

“I accepted the position because it is such an honor,” she said. “I love the field of industrial and systems engineering and want to do my part in helping it advance.”