It’s a positive sight to see all of the 2013-14 Print and Graphic Scholarship (PGSF) recipients, and we wish them the best of luck in their education and future careers! Did you know that since 1956 recipients like them have been making significant impacts as industry professionals? And PGSF is still pushing forward to give more print and graphic arts students an education upon which they can build thriving careers. We caught up with Joseph Schember of Mohawk Paper, a former PGSF Scholarship recipient who’s just joined the new PGSF Board of Directors. Here he talks about his experience as a student recipient and now as an accomplished industry professional. Joe was excited to share his story and eager to leverage his new role as a board member to give back to PGSF, which he credits as the platform for his success. From where he sits in his big office at Mohawk today, he still expresses his gratitude to PGSF and its drive to help students go from the classroom to the pressroom, boardroom, or wherever opportunity lies. Q: Tell us about your current work in the graphic arts industry and what you’ve accomplished since graduation. Joseph Schember: I have been with Mohawk Paper for the last 2½ years as Specialty Digital Product Manager. I assess our clients’ needs and how we can help them make high-value products using their digital equipment by using premium substrates. I enjoy my work here at Mohawk and respect how the company has expanded over the last 80 years and expanded their brand around products for the rapidly growing digital printing market. Before Mohawk, I was with Canon USA doing product marketing of the Canon Color imagePRESS family of digital presses after graduating from Rochester Institute of Technology. Working with two different suppliers allowed me to see the market as a whole—while with Canon, I would help printers by selling them needed equipment; now with Mohawk, I’m talking to those same printers, but this time I’m showing them ways to leverage their digital printing equipment to produce premium customer applications on high-value substrates. It’s given me a round perspective of their operations and how they work together—finding out where the opportunities are for them to make money. Q: How did PGSF support your career? JS: PGSF supplies financial benefits, of course, but there are many other ways they’ve helped me get to where I am. I got involved in the industry immediately through networking. We (PGSF Scholarship recipients) are encouraged to write a letter to a different donor or sponsor for each year we are in the scholarship program updating them on what we’re learning. These contacts are from all across the industry,...

The following is a guest blog from Daniel G. Wilson. In addition to being author of The New PrintScape: A Crash Course in Graphic Communications, he is a professor in the Department of Technology and coordinator of the Graphic Communications degree program at Illinois State University.  There is a growing trend toward an environment of accountability in higher education today.  Current U.S. Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan is proposing that federal dollars be linked to college program “quality.” Early in 2006, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings issued “A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U.S. Higher Education.” A major conclusion of the report is that there is a lack of accountability and transparency in colleges and universities. As a result, there is a major movement toward systems of continuous improvement, and a new emphasis is being placed on a kind of quality assurance called “learning outcomes assessment,” mandated by many states for colleges and university degree programs.  In college programs, it used to be enough to test the students in each course and assess learning in little bits and pieces along the way and just give out grades. I sit on the accreditation board for graphic communications-oriented college programs, called the Accrediting Council for Collegiate Graphic Communications (ACCGC). We just met at PRINT 13. What accreditation assures is, essentially, that a system or quality assurance is in place for the educational program. This is achieved mainly through a process of learning outcomes assessment. The essential concept of learning outcomes assessment is to develop very broadly stated knowledge and/or skill-based outcomes that graduates of the degree program are expected to have learned, and then to figure out ways to measure the outcomes. For example, our faculty and advisory board for the graphic communications degree program at Illinois State University have developed these six learning outcomes: Create and manage digital media content, including photographic, illustration, video, and animation. Develop production-ready graphic layouts for digital media, print products, and cross-media products like publications, packages, labels, and signage. Participate productively in a range of graphic production processes, including printing (litho, flexo, digital), e-publishing, cross-media, and website development. Employ a technology management skill set, including project management, quality control, and business practices. Learn independently within the context of the graphic communications discipline. Solve problems within the context of the graphic communications discipline. How to measure these outcomes effectively is a challenge. We do this in our program at ISU through a number of different measures. Students have to complete a senior project, we survey employers of our graduates, and we survey graduates themselves: the resulting data give us a pretty accurate picture of learning. But that’s not enough: once measured the program faculty...

The following is a guest blog from Daniel G. Wilson. In addition to being author of The New PrintScape: A Crash Course in Graphic Communications, he is a professor in the Department of Technology and coordinator of the Graphic Communications degree program at Illinois State University.  There is a growing trend toward an environment of accountability in higher education today.  Current U.S. Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan is proposing that federal dollars be linked to college program “quality.” Early in 2006, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings issued “A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U.S. Higher Education.” A major conclusion of the report is that there is a lack of accountability and transparency in colleges and universities. As a result, there is a major movement toward systems of continuous improvement, and a new emphasis is being placed on a kind of quality assurance called “learning outcomes assessment,” mandated by many states for colleges and university degree programs.  In college programs, it used to be enough to test the students in each course and assess learning in little bits and pieces along the way and just give out grades. I sit on the accreditation board for graphic communications-oriented college programs, called the Accrediting Council for Collegiate Graphic Communications (ACCGC). We just met at PRINT 13. What accreditation assures is, essentially, that a system or quality assurance is in place for the educational program. This is achieved mainly through a process of learning outcomes assessment. The essential concept of learning outcomes assessment is to develop very broadly stated knowledge and/or skill-based outcomes that graduates of the degree program are expected to have learned, and then to figure out ways to measure the outcomes. For example, our faculty and advisory board for the graphic communications degree program at Illinois State University have developed these six learning outcomes: Create and manage digital media content, including photographic, illustration, video, and animation. Develop production-ready graphic layouts for digital media, print products, and cross-media products like publications, packages, labels, and signage. Participate productively in a range of graphic production processes, including printing (litho, flexo, digital), e-publishing, cross-media, and website development. Employ a technology management skill set, including project management, quality control, and business practices. Learn independently within the context of the graphic communications discipline. Solve problems within the context of the graphic communications discipline. How to measure these outcomes effectively is a challenge. We do this in our program at ISU through a number of different measures. Students have to complete a senior project, we survey employers of our graduates, and we survey graduates themselves: the resulting data give us a pretty accurate picture of learning. But that’s not enough: once measured the program faculty...

We all want to see our companies grow. Even if we’re not the CEO, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander as they say! A company with a strong foundation of leadership and employee dedication benefits everyone within the organization. It allows for expansion into new markets, technologies, networks, and overall success. The 2014 Binding Industries Association (BIA) Annual Conference* is all about building strong bonds. Over the years this event has built a dedicated following of trade binderies, graphic finishers, information packaging companies, and custom loose-leaf manufacturers seeking the information they need to build their business. Attendees learn leadership skills through a variety of applications for a holistic understanding on the best ways to lead a successful company. Topics include: Leading your organization to success Connecting with innovators, peers, and suppliers in your industry Using the latest technologies to build your business Cultivating a motivating employee culture Mark your calendars for the 2014 BIA Annual Conference, March 31–April 2, 2014, at the Fairmont Dallas Hotel in Dallas, TX. Don’t miss the exciting plant tours and special networking sessions to get the most value from your trip. You can find plenty more binding, finishing, and related resources through Printing Industries of America. For everything there is to know about binding, check out A Short History of Binding that takes you from Mesopotamia to today’s technologies. Always carry the handy A Field Guide to Folding featuring an anytime reference that includes the award-winning FOLDRiteTM system. For more information about BIA, visit www.printing.org/bia or contact Mike Packard, Director, Binding Industries Association, at mpackard@printing.org. *More information about the event coming...

We all want to see our companies grow. Even if we’re not the CEO, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander as they say! A company with a strong foundation of leadership and employee dedication benefits everyone within the organization. It allows for expansion into new markets, technologies, networks, and overall success. The 2014 Binding Industries Association (BIA) Annual Conference* is all about building strong bonds. Over the years this event has built a dedicated following of trade binderies, graphic finishers, information packaging companies, and custom loose-leaf manufacturers seeking the information they need to build their business. Attendees learn leadership skills through a variety of applications for a holistic understanding on the best ways to lead a successful company. Topics include: Leading your organization to success Connecting with innovators, peers, and suppliers in your industry Using the latest technologies to build your business Cultivating a motivating employee culture Mark your calendars for the 2014 BIA Annual Conference, March 31–April 2, 2014, at the Fairmont Dallas Hotel in Dallas, TX. Don’t miss the exciting plant tours and special networking sessions to get the most value from your trip. You can find plenty more binding, finishing, and related resources through Printing Industries of America. For everything there is to know about binding, check out A Short History of Binding that takes you from Mesopotamia to today’s technologies. Always carry the handy A Field Guide to Folding featuring an anytime reference that includes the award-winning FOLDRiteTM system. For more information about BIA, visit www.printing.org/bia or contact Mike Packard, Director, Binding Industries Association, at mpackard@printing.org. *More information about the event coming...