IPI Editor Bob Neubauer Inducted Into ACUP+ Hall of Fame

By Bob Neubauer

A surprised Bob Neubauer thanks ACUP for the Hall of Fame award.

I was pretty green when I attended my first Association of College and University Printers (ACUP) conference in 1995. Back then, big names like Joe Goss from Indiana University, and Harv Dahl from Kansas State University, ruled the roost, and I stayed pretty quiet. Just the same, they welcomed me into the group, and over the next 30 years of covering ACUP conferences, I’ve always felt like one of them, and made many friends in the higher-ed printing community.

The ACUP+ Hall of Fame award

Still, I was caught completely off guard Wednesday night during the ACUP awards when President Tom Lydon made an announcement at the end of the awards dinner. The group had just honored my friend Donna Horbelt from the University of California, Davis, by inducting her into the ACUP+ Hall of Fame, a prestigious group that includes both Goss and Dahl, as well as a number of other influential ACUP names from the past. I was busy sending that news to some absent university managers and was only half listening when Tom announced ACUP would be giving out a second Hall of Fame award.

“Hmm, who could that be?” I wondered. When he said my name, I think my jaw dropped to my chest.

2024 ACUP+ Hall of Fame award recipients Bob Neubauer and Donna Horbelt.

I had looked at the program, which listed all the winners, and only Donna’s name was there for the Hall of Fame. I later learned that my table had a separate awards program without my name in it. And my friends in the room had all kept mum. Hopefully my look of shock was a nice reward for them.

It is indeed an honor to join my ACUP friends in the Hall of Fame. I know all of them and treasure the times I spent with them at conferences over the years. I’ve learned a lot from ACUP and made contacts that fueled many IPI articles. ACUP has brought me to places all over the country, from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Clearwater, Florida, and dozens of cities in between. I’ve not only documented all of these conferences in articles and photos, but also, since 2007, in videos, many of which are still on YouTube. I’ve given presentations many times at ACUP, which have hopefully benefited attendees. In fact, I gave two presentations this year, one on the history of ACUP, which was a lot of fun, and another on higher-ed in-plant trends.

I just want to thank ACUP members, past and present, for accepting me into this group and honoring me with this Hall of Fame award. I’ll always treasure this along with my memories from three decades of ACUP conferences.

Past and present ACUP+ Hall of Fame award recipients (from left) Steve Dimond, Donna Horbelt, Andrew Scott, Lisa Scott, Bob Neubauer, and Gina Harris.

0 Comments

View Comments

Bob Neubauer Author's page

Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 180 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.