Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Dan Wilson, D.I.T., Professor, Illinois State University, and Kip Jarrett, Service Representative, Heidelberg USA, are the latest recipients of the Printing Industries of America Education Awards of Excellence.  The award is given annually to one academic representative and one industry representative in recognition for leadership that has directly resulted in a distinguished education service, program, project, or other accomplishment in graphic communications.

Dan Wilson was recognized for leading the development of one of the best university graphic communications programs in North America and promoting the graphic arts as an exciting and viable career path for his students. Under Wilson’s leadership, graduates are working in all facets of the industry, and are well versed in the printing processes, packaging applications, digital media, cross-media, content management, quality systems, and project management.

Wilson supports the graphic communications industry both in and out of the classroom. He chairs the Great Lakes Graphics Association (GLGA) Illinois Education Task Force, is a member of the Illinois Advisory committee and the GLGA Board of Directors, and organized the Illinois Graphic Communication Scholarship Consortium for GLGA. He is on the Executive Board of the Accrediting Council for Collegiate Graphic Communications and has been active in the Graphic Communications Education Association, including hosting one of its conferences.  He has also authored several books and training programs, including The New PrintScape: A Crash Course in Graphic Communications 3^rd Edition, Lithography Primer 3^rd Edition, and Web Offset Press Operating 5^th Edition. 

“The two most important traits that Dr. Wilson possesses are his passion for the graphics industry, and his dedication to his students,” said one student nominator. “Nobody ever fell asleep in his class. As boring as substrate acidity sounds, somehow he was able to make it interesting. He was able to relate everything we learned to real-life scenarios.”

Kip Jarrett was recognized for his dedicated leadership of local, state, and national graphic communications competitions conducted by SkillsUSA.

“This award would not have been possible without each member of my SkillsUSA Team, who has supported me and the SkillsUSA National Graphic Communications Contest,” said Jarrett. “The support of our industry and its belief in supporting our future workforce has allowed me to be recognized for such an award.”

For the last two years, Jarrett has served as Chair of the National Technical Committee for the graphic arts at SkillsUSA and has developed a national website for students and instructors to become better acquainted with the national contests and the printing industry. Under his leadership, the competitions have been improved and updated. The national competition, for example, now requires student contestants to demonstrate competency in layout, preflighting, digital printing, offset presswork,  cutting, folding, and production planning. “The passion he has for his work and the patient transfer of knowledge to both eager and not-so-eager students is second to none,” said a nominator. “The hours that he gives of his personal time to make the SkillsUSA competition challenging, rewarding, and fun for the student competitors are uncountable.”