Higher Ed Vertical Earns Five Nominations in AVNation Awards
The annual tradition of kicking off the new year with the AVNationTV Reader’s Choice Awards has continued with the “Best of 2022” voting now open. The higher ed vertical received five nominations, tying it with last year’s count for the most thus far in one year by the vertical. The nominations include:
AV Professional of the Year
– Annie Foster, Associate Director of Classroom Technologies, Washington and Lee University
– Mike Pedersen, Audiovisual Experience Manager, Iowa State University
– Justin Dawson, Senior Technical Officer, Dublin City University
Best Education
– HETMA, Higher Education Technology Managers Alliance
Best Technical Support
– HigherEdAV-IT Slack Channel
Beyond the roles at their institutions, all three nominees for “AV Professional of the Year” are highly active in the AV industry and higher education vertical. Annie Foster serves as the Secretary on the Board of Directors of HETMA, is instrumental in the implementation of the Prism Scholarship supporting HETMA’s DEI initiatives, and was recently named to Commercial Integrator’s 40-Under-40 list. Mike Pedersen authors the monthly “Integrator Insights” column for Higher Ed AV Media, served as a founding advisory board member of HETMA and chair of the AVIXA Technology Managers Council, and is a former AVIXA CTS Holder of the Year. Justin Dawson hosts the “All Things TechIE” Podcast, contributes to Higher Ed AV’s “Across the Pond” column, and was also the 2018 AVNation AV Professional of the Year.
This is HETMA’s second nomination for “Best Education,” following last year’s nomination. HETMA is known for leading educational panels at conferences and tradeshows across the globe, hosting its annual Virtual Conference that brings together the leading SMEs in the industry, and its robust online community. HETMA has formerly won the AVNation Award for “Best Virtual Event” for its annual conference.
The higher education vertical gets its first appearance in the awards category for “Best Technical Support” with the HigherEdAV-IT Slack Channel, hosted by James King of UNLV. The Slack channel is known to the higher ed community as the “best known secret in AV,” serving as an interactive opportunity for tech managers to discuss issues they face daily with their installations, support, and leadership needs.
The higher education vertical has previously faired well in the final voting of the AVNation Awards, with three former “AV Professional of the Year” winners, including Lex Evans of USC winning last year’s 2021 award, Joe Way of USC winning in 2019, and Justin Dawson being 2018’s winner. HETMA has previously won for “Best Virtual Event” in 2020 for their work over the pandemic in bringing the AV community together. And, USC won “Project of the Year” in 2021 for their virtual classroom upgrade project.
Voting is now open at: https://www.avnation.tv/avnation-best-of-2022-awards/. The voting is performed in three rounds, with the quarter finals running from January 2-7, semi-finals January 8-14, and final round January 15-31. So hang on tight, it’s a long month, and be prepared to vote in each round in support of the well-deserving higher ed nominees.
Connect and learn more about the nominees and organizations:
Annie Foster: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankneefoster/
Mike Pedersen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-pedersen-cts-d-cts-i-7477191/
Justin Dawson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinrdawson/
HETMA: https://www.hetma.org
HigherEdAV-IT Slack Channel: https://higheredavit.slack.com
AVNation: https://www.AVNation.TV
AVNation Awards: https://www.avnation.tv/avnation-best-of-2022-awards/
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