New Awards at 2011 CEFPI Annual Conference
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI) presented two new awards, the CEFPI Fellowship Award and the Industry Partner Award, at its 88th Annual World Conference & Expo in Nashville, Tenn., at the Gaylord Opryland Resort.
The Fellowship Award is one of the organization’s most distinguished honors, conferred by the Council to members who have provided exemplary contributions to CEFPI for many years. Charter members of the Fellowship group were selected at the September event.
The award went to fellows from Stanton Leggett & Associates, tBP/Architecture, DeJONG, Tandus Flooring, Fanning Howey, Planning Advocates Inc., Kirkbride Associates, The Beresford Co., McKnight Associates, and Planning Alliance. The fellows are long-standing recognized experts in their fields who push the industries and the associations forward by volunteering for committee assignments and positions of leadership, lending innovation and progressive thinking.
As the most respected members of the CEFPI community, they represent the mark of excellence in the industries in which they serve tirelessly and selflessly in support of the associations, according to CEFPI.
Ushering in the Industry Partner Award, CEFPI recognized VS America Inc. as its first award winner as well as Tandus Flooring and FrontRow as runners-up. This newly established award is designed to highlight innovation in materials, technology, products and services that are key elements in defining healthy, high performance schools. The competition recognizes the efforts and foresight of the companies whose policies bring new products that simulate life and growth in educational facilities.
VS America’s ergonomically designed furniture is produced by Vereinigte Spezialmoebelfabriken GmbH & Co. KG, a German manufacturer that has focused on the educational market for more than 100 years. It utilizes a management system based on the ISO 9001:2008 standard to meet higher quality and rigorous environmental standards. Founded in 2003, VS America uses raw materials with minimum environmental impact and follows safe, environmentally sound manufacturing processes, including raw material procurement and manufacturing recyclable furniture. Product lines are safely produced from recyclable materials, are low emitting, and meet strict GREENGUARD certification requirements and the worldwide environmental policy, ISO 14001.
Tandus Flooring provides a product line of Powerbond, modular, broadloom and woven products that work in tandem to provide "fit-for-purpose" flooring systems that enhance educational environments. Powerbond, a recipient of the Antron Sustainable Flooring Performance Award, is a hybrid resilient sheet flooring that suits any classroom and is more durable than carpet, VCT, linoleum and rubber flooring.
With more than 45 years in education, FrontRow systems are designed specifically for speech intelligibility, childhood development, evolving technology, and real-world usability. FrontRow classroom amplification systems can improve a teacher’s clarity so that children in the back of the classroom can hear just as clearly as those in the front. The firm’s products are used in over 60 countries and tens of thousands of classrooms worldwide. With FrontRow systems, classroom sound quality is improved, thus increasing student comprehension and test scores while reducing behavioral problems.