“I attended my first CUPRAP spring conference just 10 days after starting my first position in higher education. I hadn ™t even left my job in publishing yet, and I received an email from my future boss that said: œYou have  to go to this.” I haven ™t missed one since and I have encouraged all of my staff to attend. The power of this organization isn ™t just the programming; it ™s the people. It ™s the commiseration over shared pain points, the validation that you ™re on the right track, and the sometimes enlightening realization of what the right track even looks like. In a field where university communicators are so outnumbered by our faculty colleagues, the CUPPIE awards also serve a noble purpose in recognizing work that sometimes goes unnoticed (or under-appreciated) by those on the other side of the academic isle. I am so grateful that I was forced to go to that first conference. I assure you, the rest have been by choice.”