Washington,
D.C. – Ms. Louisa
A. Nielsen, has been named the 2010 Broadcast Education
Association’s Distinguished Education Service Award (DESA)
winner.
Ms. Nielsen was the first, full time, Executive Director of the
Broadcast Education Association at the National Association of
Broadcasters, in Washington, D.C from 1987-2006. In that position,
she reorganized BEA from an all volunteer operated organization to a
legally incorporated and professionally operated higher education
association.
Prior to her position at BEA, in 1986, Ms. Nielsen was worked as
liaison with INTELSAT for the George Washington University managing INTELSAT Project SHARE ,
Satellites for Health and Rural Education, to South America and
Africa. She was a Visiting
Assistant Professor at George Washington University from l983-85 in the
Radio & Television Department. In l982, Ms. Nielsen was Director of
Cable Television Program Services for the National Captioning
Institute. From l980-82, Ms. Nielsen was a Program Officer at the
National Endowment for the Humanities, in Media Program. From 1976-1980,
she initiated the area of Educational Services at the National Public
Radio headquarters, Washington, DC. Ms. Nielsen served as a full
time faculty member at Howard
University, School of
Communications,
from 1976-1977, on the planning team to build the PBS affiliate station,
now WHUT-TV. Ms. Nielsen earned a B.A from The College of Notre Dame of
Maryland in l972, and a M.A in Media:
Policy, Planning and Administration from Antioch University, Baltimore in l975.
The DESA is awarded to an individual who has made a significant and
lasting contribution to the American system of electronic media
education by virtue of a singular achievement or continuing service on
behalf of electronic media education. The award will be presented
to Ms. Nielsen at BEA's 2010 annual convention ceremony in Las
Vegas on Thursday, April 15th.
