Early in the fall of 1956, Mr. Harry Meinert, Supervisor of Drafting for the Illinois State Board Education’s Department of Adult Vocational and Technical Education (I.S.B.E. – D.A.V.T.E.), Springfield, encouraged Robert Bokenkamp, a drafting instructor at Champaign Senior High School to survey secondary school drafting instructors in the State of Illinois. His purpose was to determine if there was any interest in providing organized input into programming for the Illinois Vocational Assoication – Illinois Industrial Education Association (I.V.A. – I.I.E.A.) sectional meetings on drafting. At that time there were approximately 90 drafting instructors downstate with another 150 in the city of Chicago. Nearly 50% of those teachers held membership in the IVA-IIEA and attended its state convention and meetings held every other year. Alternate years the American Vocational Association (A.V.A.) held its national convention and meetings. The results of this survey indicated a majority of the instructors supported the formation of an organization to provide the IVA-IIEA program input and, possibly, a series of drafting teacher workshops. Survey results were presented at the IVA-IIEA Drawing Teachers Sectional Meeting held at the Hotel Sherman in Chicago on April 5, 1957. At that meeting, a committee was appointed to prepare a slate of officers and hold an election by mail. Those elected were: President – Hugh Reid of Danville High School, Secretary – James Banks of Alton Senior High School and Treasurer – John Cavanagh of United Township High School in Moline. Serving on the nominating committee were: Elizabeth Miller of Edwardsville, Warren Koerner of Chicago, Henry Meinert of Springfield and Robert Bokenkamp of Champaign. The first meeting was held at the IVA Convention in the Jefferson Hotel in St. Louis on February 28, 1958. The program consisted of a panel speaking on, “Current Trends In Drafting”. Topics touched on included: “What Industry Requires”, “Demands in Architectural Drawing”, and “Commercial Art in Industry”. A committee of James Crowe, George Senteney and John Hawse was appointed to recommend a name and check for conflicts with state and national organizations. The 1957 officers were re-elected for a second term in 1958. Since the newly formed organization had not determined the amount of dues to be collected, a voluntary collection yielded $35.21. Door prizes were contributed by Grammercy Company (2 beam compasses) and Post Company (6, Tru-Up T-squares). Dietzgen Company provided room service for a planning meeting of the officers, the Post paid for dinner for the officers and guest speakers. Grammercy served coffee throughout the main meeting. A committee chaired by Robert Bokenkamp made plans with Mark Klopp, Elmo Ricci and Warren Koehner to organize a workshop with the theme, “Upgrading Instruction in Drawing through New Techniques, New Processes and New Materials.” On October 10 and 11 in 1958, the first drafting workshop was held at the Abraham Lincoln Hotel in Springfield. The evening session began at 8:00 p.m. Jack Kitchen of Lakeview High School in Decatur presented, “Airbrush Techniques in the Drafting Room”. Dr. Robert Tinkham of the University of Illinois in Urbana spoke on “Simplified Drafting”. Clinton Carlstrom of New Trier East High School in Winnetka demonstrated “Architectural Models”. Hubert Reid of Danville High School demonstrated, “How to Compile an AIA File”. Finally, Ken Paulson of Aurora East demonstrated, “Plastic Models”. At the Saturday session, Thomas Brownfield, drafting technician with Continental Can in Chicago was the keynote speaker. He was follwed by Professor R.P. Hoelscher from the University of Illinois at Urbana who spoke on, “The Significance of American Drawing Standards for High School Teachers”. The final presentation was made by the Charles Bruning Company of Chicago. It was titled, “Drawing Reproduction in Color”. Five months later the assoication made notable progress when they met with the IVA on March 20, 1959 at the Pere Marquette Hotel in Peoria. A constitution was adopted and a vote was taken to accept the organizational title of the Illinois Technical Drafting Teachers Association – I.T.D.T.A.. The word drawing was eliminated to avoid confusion with art instructors. The workshop program included, “Graphic Illustration by Fredrick Jantz, a Senior Design Group Leader in Product Engineering with the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors Corporation in Lansing, Michigan. L. Morgan Yost, an architect from Kenilworth spoke on, “Home Design and Construction for Modern Living”. The association again took voluntary contributions until the Allerton Park , Monticello, meeting where, on November 19, 1960, the constitution was amended to provide for an annual dues structure of $2.00 per member. The organization’s name was changed to the Illinois Drafting Educators Association – IDEA at the fall meeting of 1986.  In 2011 the previous Thursday/Friday format was decided to change to Thursday for IDEA and Friday for IDEA/TEAI members in the new fall ITEC conference format.  In 2013 the organization ratified an updated constitution that changed the previous elected format from member at large, secretary, vice-president, president, & past president to its current format of 2 year elected positions which are decided after each election.  In 2014 the organization added two new team competitions for architecture and engineering design.  In 2017 the organization’s name and logo was changed to the Illinois Design Educators Association to reflect current teaching and industry standards.  In 2018 the traditional Thursday fall conference was merged with ITEC to form a new combined format for Friday and Saturday.  

  • Past Presidents List:
    • Year         Educator                        Institution                                              AT
    • 1957        Hubert D. Reid                  Danville High School                              Danville
    • 1958        Hubert D. Reid                  Danville High School                              Danville
    • 1959        Clinton Carlstrom            New Trier High School                           Winnetka
    • 1960        William E. Reynolds        Not Known                                                  Not Known
    • 1961        Kenneth Paulson             Aurora East High School                       Aurora
    • 1962        Ed Ferree                             Illinois Central College                          East Peoria
    • 1963        Craig Hancock                   LaSalle-Peru High School                    LaSalle
    • 1964        Robert W. BokenKamp   University of Illinois                               Urbana
    • 1965        Doug Bowers                       Illinois Central College                         East Peoria
    • 1966        Warren R. Anderson          Elgin High School                                   Elgin
    • 1967        Charles T. Mahon                Morton East High School                    Berwyn
    • 1968        Donald W. Bauc                  Thornridge High School                      Dolton
    • 1969        George W. Senteney          Main North High School                     Des Plaines
    • 1970        Herb Dwyer                           Thornridge High School                     Des Plaines
    • 1971        Vernon L. Rauch                  Main North High School                     Des Plaines
    • 1972        Richard J. Smit                    Proviso East High School                    Maywood
    • 1973        Jim Mizener                         Downers Grove South High School  Downers Grove
    • 1974        Gordon E. Martin                University of Illinois                               Champaign
    • 1975        Byron Urbanick                   Oak Park High School                            Oak Park
    • 1976        Roger Dunn                           Illinois Central College                          East Peoria
    • 1977        E. Allan Boehm                    Centennial High School                        Champaign
    • 1978        Tom Walsh                             Kaskaskia College                                   Centralia
    • 1979         Elizabeth Fowler                Computervision Corporation            Rolling Meadows
    • 1980         Byron S. Fortney                Centralia High School                           Centralia
    • 1981         Jim Given                              Triton College                                          Riverside
    • 1982         C. William Watson              Eastern Illinois University                  Charleston
    • 1983          Perry Young                         University High School                        Normal
    • 1984          John Jacobs                       Belleville High School                           Belleville
    • 1985          Isiaha Curry                         Simeon High School                              Chicago
    • 1986          Larry Swope                       Carbondale Community High School    Carbondale
    • 1987          Arch Montgomery             Belleville Township High School      Belleville
    • 1988          Betty Fuller                          Thorton High School                              Harvey
    • 1989          Gene Schaefer                    Collinsville High School                        Collinsville
    • 1990          Ronald Sutliff                      Eastern Illinois University                    Charleston
    • 1991          Lincoln Dorsey                    Kankakee Community College          Kankakaee
    • 1992          Ralph Dirksen                      Western Illinois University                   Macomb
    • 1993          James Petersen                   Dundee Crown High School                Carpentersville
    • 1994          Bill Kolton                               Elgin Community College                   Elgin
    • 1995          Mike Soehn                            Streamwood High School                    Streamwood
    • 1996          Daniel Snyders                      Macmurray College                              Jacksonville
    • 1997          Mark DeJarnatt                     Washington Community High School   Washington
    • 1998          Mel Schmidt                           Niles West High School                        Skokie
    • 1999          Dave Schippert                     Normal Community West High School  Normal
    • 2000          Louis H. Torres                      Niles North High School                        Skokie
    • 2001          Bob De Vries                           Pittsfield High School                            Pittsfield
    • 2002          Mike Morgan                          Lewis and Clark Community College    Godfrey
    • 2003          Tim  Bacak                              Crystal Lake Central High School         Crystal Lake
    • 2004          Chip Finck                              New Trier High School                          Winnetka
    • 2005          Mark DeJarnatt                   Washington Community High School   Washington
    • 2006          Kevin Koeppen                    Prarie Ridge High School                     Crystal Lake
    • 2007          Jessie Bater                         Elgin Community High School              Elgin
    • 2008          Nick Lowe                              Prarie Ridge High School                     Crystal Lake
    • 2009          Gary Hatfield                       Mount Vernon High School                  Mount Vernon
    • 2010          Jennifer O’Leary                Geneva High School                                Geneva
    • 2011          Kevin Weston                       Rend Lake College                                   Ina                      
    • 2012          Steve Skorup              Waubonsie Valley                                   Aurora                                             
    • 2013          Steve Skorup              Waubonsie Valley                                    Aurora
    • 2014          Steve Skorup              Waubonsie Valley                                    Aurora
    • 2015          Steve Skorup              Waubonsie Valley                                    Aurora
    • 2016          Steve Skorup              Waubonsie Valley                                    Aurora
    • 2017          Brian Rick                   Vienna High School                                 Vienna 
    • 2018          Brian Rick                   Vienna High School                                 Vienna
    • 2019          Brian Rick                    Vienna High School                                Vienna     
    • 2020          Jeff Brown                  Lockport HS 
    • 2021          Jeff Brown                  Lockport HS   
    • 2022          Jeff Brown                  Lockport HS
    • 2023-          Chris Komer               Carl Sandburg HS                                                

Upcoming Dates:

Regional Registration Deadline: February 1st, 2023

Regional Competition- 2/17-3/24/2023

State Competition:- April 22, 2023- IN PERSON Illinois State University- Tentative Date

 

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