San Luis Obispo – Cal Poly professor Brian P. Lawler – a writer, historian, photographer, typographer, entrepreneur and balloonist – has won this year's Educator of the Year Award for Higher Education from the Electronic Document Systems Foundation.

The award is presented to academic professionals who are dedicated to the advancement of the industry through education and who have made significant contributions in the classroom with their students, in curriculum development and within the document management and graphic communications marketplace.

"The EDSF Awards Selection Committee had a difficult task this year. We were fortunate to have very strong submissions, worldwide. It is an honor to recognize you and your program," Brenda Kai of EDSF noted in a letter to Lawler.

Lawler teaches color management, digital printing, and typography at Cal Poly. He is a graphic arts and photographic expert with more than 30 years of experience in photography, typography and prepress. His specialty is color management and the integration of color systems in prepress work flows. He has also taught a humanities course, Values and Technology, for several years.

Prior to his career in academia, Lawler worked for as a consultant Kodak, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Adobe Systems, Epson and Nikon. He founded Tintype Graphic Arts, later a subsidiary of Blake Printery, and ran it as its president for more than 18 years.

"Brian Lawler's vast industry experience and global presence in the graphic communication profession gives him a unique perspective that he brings to the classroom," said Harvey Levenson, head of Cal Poly's Graphic Communication Department.

For several years Lawler wrote blogs for Graphic Arts Monthly and Converting magazines. He now writes a blog for WhatTheyThink.com. Lawler is also the author of the "Official Adobe Print Publishing Guide, Second Edition," which is available in English, French and Turkish editions. At Cal Poly, he leads the Instructional Advisory Committee on Computing.

Lawler is taking part in a research project that involves digitizing wood and metal type fonts that are part of Cal Poly's Shakespeare Press Museum collection. He arranged a sales agreement with Ascender Corporation to market the fonts, with proceeds going to the museum for development and student scholarships. Some of the new fonts will be released in summer 2010.

"Brian is the ultimate 'Renaissance Man.' " Levenson said. "Besides his entrepreneurial business approaches, his scholarship, writings and diverse teaching, he flies a hot-air balloon and has ballooned over France, Russia, Holland, Mexico, Germany and throughout the United States."

Lawler received his EDSF Educator of the Year award at the EDSF Industry Leader's Reception in Philadelphia, during AIIM OnDemand exposition and conference.