A brief history and description of Total Quality Management introduces a discussion of a teacher education improvement project at Northeastern Illinois University. The project grew out of a conference (1991) hosted by the university titled "Developing University/Business Partnerships for Restructuring Teacher Education." The Coalition of Universities and Businesses for Education (CUBE) resulted from this conference. In September 1992, a group from Motorola (Northeastern's CUBE business partner) introduced administrators and faculty to the "learning leadership team model." This model was based on the premises that change must be systemic; a team for change must be a vertical structure; and a student-focused approach must be used to determine changes to be made. A process based on Total Quality Management was initiated. In February 1996, following a community-faculty dialogue, the College of Education met again in a brainstorming session to develop new models of teacher preparation for the 21st century. At the center of each of the proposed models was the integration of cultural and linguistic diversity in curricular design. Some of the most successful efforts at Northeastern have been the Minority Mentorship Program, matching incoming freshmen with faculty who build a personal support relationship; the Summer Transition Program, assisting first generation college students in a "head start" immersion to campus life; and a Ford Foundation grant supporting a variety of efforts in faculty professional development to meet the challenges of a multicultural student body. A time line, flow charts, and a bar graph describe and summarize the processes and models. The Mission Statement is attached. (ND)