Publications > Dateline Houston > March 2003 > From the President

Volume 42, Issue 7

March 2003

From the President

The Scholarly Side of STC Houston, Part 2

by George Slaughter, Technical Writer, The Integrity Group

Last month, we introduced you to the scholarly side of STC Houston as it pertained to members publishing their research findings. This month, we introduce you to STC Houstonians who participate in local technical communication programs that can help you master knowledge for success.

People

Locally, two academic programs have taken leadership roles in helping people learn technical writing skills: Community College and the University of Houston-Downtown.

You'll find STC Houstonians at both colleges. In recent years, several chapter members were among HCC faculty, and still other members took courses there. HCC offers an associate's degree program in technical communication.

At UHD, STC Houstonians such as Dr. Ann Jennings and Dr. Pat Golemon serve on the faculty, and members such as Melanie G. Flanders and Wayne Schmadeka also teach courses. Linda Oestreich, our director-sponsor, also taught at UHD for several years. UHD offers a bachelor's degree program in professional writing, and the plan is to eventually have a master's degree program in this discipline.

Members such as Lori Buffum, Jamie Diamandopoulos, Erika Frensley, and Nicole Wycislo have visited the classroom to share their perspectives with students.

Another university, Texas Tech, offers an online master's degree in technical communication. STC Houstonians Jeff Staples, Joelle Hallowell, and your chapter president participate in this program.

This is only a partial listing, to be sure, but hopefully the example of these people will give you an idea of how our local members are reaching out to help others.

Programs

Here is contact information about these three programs in which your colleagues participate:

• Houston Community College: contact Carolyn Moseley, department secretary, at Carolyn.Moseley@hccs.edu.
• University of Houston-Downtown: contact Ann Jennings, program director, at Jenningsa@uhd.edu.
• Texas Tech University: contact Locke Carter, acting program director, at Locke.Carter@ttu.edu.

The STC web site—www.stc.org—also features a list of colleges and universities with technical communication programs.