It is with great honor we announce that PGAMA's Vice President, Paul Foster has been awarded the Graphic Communications Education Assocation's Earl I. Sundeen Award.  

This award, established in 1980, was created to recognize sustaining members who have made highly significant contributions to graphic arts education over an extended period of time.  The award was not established as an annual award, but rather as an honor that would only be presented to truly outstanding candidates.

Paul Foster, Vice President PGAMA has dedicated his career to the furthering of industry education at the local, state, and national levels. Using his 16 years of industry experience as a foundation, he taught Graphic Communications/Printing at Sollers Point Technical High School in Baltimore County, MD from 2000 to 2007. While at Sollers Point Paul was recognized as 2005 Teacher of the year by the Dundalk Chamber of Commerce, his program was selected as the 2006 Outstanding Secondary Career and Technology Education Program by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), and was presented with the 2006 PIA/GATF Education Award of Excellence.

Working at PGAMA for the last 9 years, he has been a strong advocate for PrintED accreditation of printing and graphics programs at the secondary level. Paul has worked with MSDE, the Graphic Arts Education and Research Foundation (GAERF), and the Graphic Communications Education Association (GCEA) to provide PrintED instructors professional development, both locally and nationally, based on PrintED competencies. Currently he is working on a workforce training program for the industry made possible by a grant from the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation.

Paul finds himself in outstanding company.  Prior recipients of the award include Trish Witkowski (2015), Ralph Nappi (2009), Michael Makin (2005) and Jim Workman (2004) to name just a few.