The Academic Advisory Council for Signage Research and Education (AACSRE) has been incorporated as a non-profit 501(c) 3 organization. Dr. Dawn Jourdan (pictured), associate professor and director of the Regional and City Planning program at the University of Oklahoma, serves as the chairperson of the Council. Dr. Gene Hawkins, associate professor, Zachry Department of Civil Engineering at Texas A&M University and research engineer with the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), serves as vice chairman.
AACSRE strives to provide independent leadership for the development of new knowledge and educational experiences for the purpose of advancing the science, technology, art/advertising and regulation of signage, specifically on-premise signage. Faculty from thirteen universities along with thought leaders from the sign industry serve on the AACSRE Board of Directors.
In making the announcement about AACSRE, Chairperson Dawn Jourdan noted “the scope of work defined by AACSRE is a robust one and engages academia in innovative research, collaborations and practitioner education. There is great excitement for the dialogue being conducted within academia related to signage. Also the development and publication of a signage journal will provide a major resource for thought leadership from multiple disciplines and professional practices.”
Dr. Jourdan also elaborated on AACSRE’s priorities which include:
+ Developing a process to engage the broader academic community in important research issues related to signage.
+ Identifying research, educational needs, and opportunities within academia and professional settings.
+ Recommending priorities for research and education initiatives.
+ Creating cross-disciplinary dialogue on signage research needs.
+ Identifying emerging topics/trends for signage applicability and research.
+ Generating benchmarking exercises.
+ Measuring the impact of generated work products.
+ Providing assessment and guidance to the Signage Foundation’s current and future peer-review processes.
+ Identifying new funding opportunities.
+ Identifying a comprehensive network of subject-matter experts.
+ Identifying a multi-disciplinary component within each university.
+ Expanding AACSRE involvement to additional universities.
+ Identifying and aligning with professional associations and related organizations.
+ Implementing immersion and integration efforts that build on innovative strategies from each university.
+ Participating in the peer-review research process.
+ Providing technical expertise on how signage is addressed within each academic discipline.
AACSRE received a generous challenge donation for program support from a donor who has been very successful in implementing his vision of growing the sign industry to a world-class industry through extensive collaborations with academia including several disciplines. AACSRE will be working to cultivate funding from diverse sources in response to this challenge.
For additional information on AACSRE, please contact Patty Herbin at 336/260- 3197 or by email at [email protected] or Dawn Jourdan at [email protected].
