|
ISA Announces 2009 "True Professionals of Arboriculture"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For More Information
Sonia Garth
Public & Industry Relations Manager
International Society of Arboriculture
217-355-9411, EXT. 217
CHAMPAIGN, IL (August, 2009)-The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) has announced their recognition of seven individuals as "True Professionals of Arboriculture." ISA's immediate past president and panel judge, Lauren Lanphear, introduced the award winners before fellow arborists and peers at July's opening ceremony of the 85th ISA Conference & Trade Show held in Providence, Rhode Island.
ISA launched "True Professionals of Arboriculture" to recognize professional arborists who help increase public understanding of arboriculture and the professional skills of today's arborists.
"ISA's highly-skilled members are practicing the profession at a remarkable level, in ways that ensure the safe and effective care of our world's trees-and help people to understand the importance of trees and the necessity for their proper care," said Jim Skiera, Executive Director of ISA. "We want to honor those ISA members who advance our profession through education, communication and outreach. "
Profiles and case studies of the arborists will be featured on the ISA website (www.isa-arbor.org) and highlighted in future ISA publications. Sharing their achievements and tactics with ISA's membership and certified professionals allows practicing arborists to model their successes and better interact with their own clients, employees and community. "ISA is dedicated to making arboriculture better by teaching people about trees and why they need professional care," continued Skiera. "We created this initiative to recognize our ambassadors, celebrate their efforts and learn from them."
The 2009 winners were selected from a pool of over 50 nominees. Entries were reviewed by the judging panel and finalists were chosen based on representation of various attributes of professionalism including a dedication to the profession, commitment to community outreach and education, innovation in client communication techniques and unique achievements linking arboriculture with the general public.
"'True Professionals' was designed to highlight a group of today's arborists who represent our profession in the most positive light," says Lanphear. "By recognizing these individuals and their accomplishments within the communities in which they live and work, their actions can be modeled by other arborists as we strive to better our world one tree at a time."
2009 True Professionals of Arboriculture:
- Sandy Clark - Mount Prospect, IL
- Gerard Fournier - Didsbury, AB Canada
- Edward B. Hopkins -Rochester, NH
- Dave Leonard - Lexington,KY
- Harold Spiegel - Dallas, TX
- Dennis Swartzell - Las Vegas, NV
- Philip van Wassenaer - Mississauga, ON Canada
About the "True Professionals of Arboriculture"
In April of 2009, ISA began accepting nominations for the "True Professionals" program. More than 50 nominations were collected from the industry's leading arborists and subsequently reviewed by the judging committee. ISA's "True Professionals of Arboriculture" judging committee included Justin Hancock (Senior Online Garden Editor, Better Home & Gardens), Jill Johnson (Coordinator, Midwest Center for Urban & Community Forestry), Dan Lambe (Vice President of Programs, National Arbor
Day Foundation), Lauren Lanphear (President, ISA), Sandra Mason (Horticulture Extension
Educator, University of Illinois Extension) and Tom Mugridge (Membership Committee Chair, ISA).
The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), headquartered in Champaign, IL, is a nonprofit organization supporting tree care research and education. To promote the importance of arboriculture, ISA manages the consumer education web site, www.treesaregood.org. As a part of ISA's dedication to the care and preservation of shade and ornamental trees, it offers the only internationally-recognized certification program in the industry. ISA represents more than 33,000 professional arborists around the world. For more information on ISA and Certified Arborists, visit www.isa-arbor.com.
|