RPW Newsletter: Volume 2, Number 1

We have two new homes…

First, for instructors, majors, and minors still at the University of Hartford, we’ve developed a Blackboard location: RPW Clearinghouse. We’ll be adding you majors and minors to the roster over the next few weeks. No quizzes or papers here—it’s a virtual meetup, not a class.

For majors, minors, instructors, and graduates, we’ve developed a blog:

http://rpwclearinghouse.blogspot.com/

Both of these sites are places where we can stay in contact, share resources, educate each other, disseminate information, tips, links.

Some content will be shared across both sites. We’ll do our best to keep everyone in contact with the state of the field of professional writing—and with each other.

And don’t forget…

We are officially the Rhetoric and Professional Writing Program, even if some people and documents refer to us as “RLC.”

We have a great website, too!

http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/rpw/

Please scroll through and enjoy. There are tabs dealing with current and past students, faculty, course descriptions, requirements, and more.

This super site was designed and built by RPW student Max Fine, but please send comments, corrections, and suggestions not to Max, but to brichards@hartford.edu.

Writing Will Always Play a Major Role in My Life: Interview with David Hicks

Recently, we caught up with RPW major David Hicks and asked him about writing in the classroom setting and in the professional world. Here’s what he had to say.

RPW: What can you tell us about your experience in the RPW Program at University of Hartford?

DH: This was both a fun and a challenging experience. I initially went into the program thinking that it wasn’t going to be as fun or challenging. Up until this point I did well in all my writing classes so I felt I’d be fine. This program showed me in various ways that I still needed improvement in both my writing and the analytical thought process. Through Professors Diaz, Richards, Jones, Oswald and Highberg’s various teaching and writing techniques I learned a great deal. Those professors have helped mold me into the student I am today. They made writing classes fun, thought–provoking, and engaging, and for that I will always be grateful.

RPW: Classroom experiences?

DH: I have had so many great classroom experiences that it is actually hard to pick one. When I look back on it now there was one experience in particular that essentially opened my eyes and made me realize how challenging this was going to be. The moment came during my first PTW 215: Intro to PTW class. We were asked by Professor Sushil Oswald to create a paper airplane, then create a step-by-step manual that explains how create a paper airplane and throw it.

I initially thought this was going to be no problem but I realized how hard it actually was. When I originally wrote the manual it sounded clear to me but when the professor and other students read it, the results weren’t what I expected. I learned in that class how to appeal to different audiences and essentially “dummy proof” the work, meaning that I have to make sure it is so simple to understand a child could do it.

RPW: How about your experiences outside the classroom?

DH: Working at the Connecticut General Assembly was a very eye-opening experience because I was able to use my skills to write press releases for my boss, State Representative Douglas McCory. The press releases I wrote are on his webpage in the General Assembly official website. Seeing my work online for the first time was fun and I was proud of the work as well.

Q: Favorite moments?

DH: To be honest the whole overall experience of learning was my favorite moment. Learning from my own mistakes and rectifying them to make my writing better is what has driven me as a student and a person. Being in the RPW program isn’t any different.

RPW: What drew you to writing professionally?

DH: I originally wrote many different comic book stories when I was younger and I knew that I would have writing in my life in some way, shape, or form. I knew that in all honesty it would be hard to find a good job so I turned elsewhere. My other interest was in the business world and when I found technical writing it fit like a glove. Technical writing allows me to work for a corporation and write at the same time. I can’t complain about that!

RPW: Tell us about your current work and work environment.

DH: As of the end of the summer I worked the last year and a half at Hamilton Sundstrand, which is an Aerospace and Manufacturing Company owned by United Technologies in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. I worked in the Information Systems department and before that I worked in Operation Procurement in the Supply Chain Management department. As an intern, I use Windows applications, and I also work with an in-house system called the Workflow, which is a process and documentation tool. I also work with databases and write manuals when they need them.

The work environment is great. Everyone is extremely helpful and easy to talk to. Both my old boss and my new boss are great; they trusted me with great projects, and these projects have helped in expanding my learning curve and my transition from student to professional.

RPW: How did the University of Hartford prepare you for your job?

DH: All of my classes helped a lot but there were probably two classes that helped out the most: My PTW 211: Business Writing, taught by Professor Richards, and my MIS 350: System Analysis and Design. The PTW class taught me how to write for a corporation, as well as teaching me the difference between academic writing and technical/business writing. The MIS class allowed me to understand the process side of system development.

RPW: How do you define writing?

DH: Writing is learning and writing is doing. To me writing represents two areas in life: who you are and who you will become. As a freshman I realized I was probably a B- writer at best in terms of both academic and technical writing, but now I feel that I am an A- to A+ writer. I see writing as a thought process that helps me find ways to better myself not only as a writer but a professional, and more importantly a person.

RPW: What are the roles it has in your life?

DH: It is still with me—in my recreational time through my comic books, and professionally when I work. By the grace of God writing will always play a major role in my life.

The Future of Professional Writing?

The question I’ve been asked the most lately—other than whether the Red Sox wil win the World Series two years in a row—is “What are the future prospects for professional writers?” I don’t have access to a crystal ball, but I do have a few observations to share.

It’s Not Just Writing

At an April 2008 Society for Technical Communication meeting, a presenter from Honeywell, Inc. described the technical writing department’s efforts to develop a system to manage the flood of documents acquired through mergers and acquisitions. Yes, the writers have to research, design, and write user manuals, service manuals, and technical specifications for fire safety systems. However, a significant part of the “writing” entails dealing with massive amounts of information—keeping it updated, knowing where every edition resides in the feedback loop, and tracking updates from multiple stakeholders. In companies of any size, this combination of writing and project management skills is essential for success in the field.

Lean Production

Another speaker noted her company’s efforts to debulk their print and online documentation, to reduce the costs of translating documentation and help files into multiple languages. She noted that the writers never imagined, before the company-wide analysis, that the “finished” documents needed yet more editing. However, their nearly 30% reduction in word weight showed that senseless repetition had crept in over time.

Don’t Just “Follow the Software”

Over the years, our faculty (and faculty everywhere) have debated the optimum balance between “theoretical” and “practical” coursework. The debate is aided by pressure from businesses to “follow the software” and train students on every possible software tool—Framemaker! AuthorIT! RoboHelp! DITA! HTML! XML!

Such balance is, of course, mythical, but students do need computer-based skills. I’ve talked with many area writers, who always begin with “Don’t underestimate MSWord.” The RPW program has also begun to incorporate the Adobe Creative Suite into classes and is using wikis and blogs to simulate collaboration and corporate communication scenarios. Instructors continue to use internships and class projects that collaborate with industry to help students understand how writing fits with the rest of the business cycle.

That said, the RPW program remains committed to the rhetorical foundation of writing, and even though that may sound a bit old-fashioned, it isn’t. Underneath all the new terminology—lean projects, knowledge management, information architecture—lies the reality: superb rhetorical and writing skills never go out of date. They are applicable anywhere and everywhere. And companies today are hungry for people who think clearly and can place that thinking in a complex context that meets a need.

Expertise Counts

As I talk to program graduates, I realize that many are successful because they have realized the advantage of being what I call “super SMEs” (“smeez”), Subject Matter Experts. Once upon a time, there were SMEs and there were writers. The writers learned to ambush the SMEs (who never wanted to talk to the writers because they asked so many questions) and found creative ways to pry essential information from the SMEs’ reluctant grasp. Not surprisingly, it was an uneasy alliance.

In many ways this program was ahead of the curve in recognizing the value of multiple areas of expertise. I watch students in this program embrace the advantages of being experts in a subject (or subjects) and being experts in writing, editing, design, collaboration, and rhetorical analysis. Many of our graduates have become the abovementioned “super SMEs”—experts in multiple subject areas (sometimes related, sometimes not)—and able to write about the subjects and teach them to others.

So what does the future hold? A lot of change, a great deal of excitement, and plenty of challenges. Everyone in this program is excited about the possibilities. In some ways “Rhetoric and Professional Writing” continues to be a tough sell, as firstyear students don’t always have the experience to understand its benefits. If you have ideas about effective ways to talk with current (and potential) students, based on your experience in the working world, please let me know.

And as always (even if you don’t have answers to all my questions) I’m glad to hear from you—what you’re doing, how your work is going, and any adventures in your life. Please stay in touch.

Beth Richards

The Rhetoric and Professional Writing (RPW) certificate is now available through the University of Hartford’s SaturdayTerm program. SaturdayTerm classes meet for 3-1/2 hours on Saturday mornings or afternoons, for 10 weeks, 4 terms per year. These classes are designed for adult learners who work and wish to pursue a Bachelor of University Studies (BUS) degree or a certificate such as RPW.

Many of the RPW courses will be offered online, either as 100% online courses or as hybrids, with some online and some on-site meetings. Students can complete the RPW certificate’s 24-credit-hour (8 course) requirements in about 18 months.

For more information on SaturdayTerm, visit their Web site: http://admission.hartford.edu/saturdayterm/

For more information on the Rhetoric and Professional Writing Certificate, please visit http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/rpw/ and click on “Requirements.”

Keeping in Touch

We know, from prior experience, that our graduates have gone on to work in the military, computer science, technology, manufacturing, non-profit, corporate communications, and education—but we’d like to hear from you, whatever you’re doing.

Name:

Address:

Year Graduated:

Concurrent Major or Minor:

Current Job:

New email address:

Experience you’d like to share, from your time at the University of Hartford, or from your recent experience:

Email your information to brichards@hartford.edu

Future Newsletters

Coming newsletters will feature more interviews with graduates and faculty, discussions of trends and issues in technical communication and rhetoric, and news for past and current RLC/RPW students. Stay tuned to our print, website, Blackboard, and blog incarnations.

If you have questions, comments, corrections, and observations about this newsletter, contact editor Graham Christian at graham.christian@gmail.com.

If you have general questions or comments about the RPW program, or just want to say hello, contact Beth Richards at brichards@hartford.edu

It's true: old news.

Yes, that's right. I've posted our *old* newsletter data, just as the new newsletter is almost ready to hit the streets and shoot across the 'net.
We're not generally in the business of old news, but we thought it just as well, as we get our blog rolling, to post the old newsletter as "archival material."
Enjoy this "back number," and we'll see you again soon.

For history's sake--our Newsletter from Spring 2008

We’ve changed…

We have a new name, a new faculty member, a new director, and a new public face (see below).

Please, call me “RPW.”

We are now officially the Rhetoric and Professional Writing Program. This change reflects the revision of general education requirements across the University, as well as changes in the discipline and profession of technical communication. This change applies to the major, minor, and certificate programs.

New Faces…

We warmly welcome William Breeze to the faculty. See below for an interview with Professor Breeze.

We also welcome Beth Richards in a new capacity. A long-time member of our teaching faculty, she is now the new director of the RPW program.

and a New Interface.

We are thrilled to announce our new website (http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/rpw/), designed by RPW student Max Fine. Please scroll through and enjoy. There are tabs dealing with current and past students, faculty, course descriptions, requirements, and more. Please send comments, corrections, and suggestions to brichards@hartford.edu.

“Question Convention”: a Conversation with Alumnus Kevin Lamkin

Kevin Lamkin was graduated from the University of Hartford in 1999, and since then he has worked at Capital Community College, taught composition, and completed a Master’s degree in English. He helped to found an alternative print publication called the Hartford Undercurrent, and co-writes and co-produces a weekly public affairs radio show called RadioActive that airs on WWUH 91.3fm and WESU 88.1fm. He researches, edits, and writes reports for the Center for Social Research.

RPW: What moved you to major in writing? Was it a particular class, a particular professor?

KL: Actually, my interest in writing at the college level started in RLC 110/111, largely because of the instructor Sue Stamm, who last I knew was teaching in All University Curriculum. I enjoyed creative writing in high school, but was not a big fan of English, or high school writing in general. The first year composition courses at Uha opened up a new world of writing for me. I remember really latching onto the notion that college level writing and beyond would allow me to write my own perspective, not just the extracted meaning of a text as is the expectation of a lot of high school writing. I always liked current events and tough issues, and in my first year RLC courses these were the basis of the writing. As students we had to think critically about the issues presented and articulate our thoughts. Through this process I felt that my opinions mattered. I felt like an active participant rather than just someone who was trying to find "the right answer." Therefore, my early experiences in college writing were very empowering.

RPW: How did your writing change? What was your experience of the department and the major?

KL: The first change, as I said earlier, was empowerment. The more I studied writing, the more empowered I felt, the more able I felt to express my own perspectives and critical thinking. This was most immediately applicable to my involvement in student activism. My experiences in the major helped me become a more critical thinker, a critical consumer of information.

RPW: What courses did you take after 110? What were they like?

KL: Many courses stand out from my experiences as a major. Critical Literacy, Collaboration and Revision, Foundations of Argument, Effective Business Communication, Creative Non-fiction, the theory course, the portfolio capstone, etc. Overall, the courses gave me a diverse sense of how writing can be crafted and the importance of critical thinking in the writing process. There's definitely a theme to the major – that writing and thinking should not be separated.

RPW: What sorts of experiences from your writing at the University of Hartford did you find most helpful in locating a job? On the job now?

KL: In the major there was a consistent focus on writing with a purpose and using organization. To do this, you must know your audience. What's true of writing is true for any form of communication. My experiences as part of the writing major prepared me for many different tasks, whether simply writing an effective resume, preparing a proposal for a conference or publication, creating a syllabus, or organizing an interview strategy.

On the job now, every day I use something I learned from my experiences in the writing major. I teach critical thinking skills to my students, how to read a text, how to ask good questions and incorporate their perspectives. I work with a diverse group of students and coworkers, many with different native languages or cultures than mine. Therefore, I must constantly monitor and adapt my communication style, written or verbal. When I'm writing research reports, I must always be cognizant of my audience and purpose, and I must organize and effectively convey large amounts of data.

RPW: Is there anything you'd like to say to students now in the major, or considering the major?

KL: Question your teachers. Question convention. Keep writing. The writing won't always come to you. You may have to create the avenues for your writing. Regardless of the career path, the skills of the critical writer will be among your best assets. Most of all, use writing as a means to empower yourself and others.

Remember that writing can be dangerous if you do it right!

For the full text of this interview, see our website: http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/rpw/

“Think Outside the Walls”: a Conversation with Professor William Breeze

Professor William Breeze is the newest full-time member of our faculty; he comes to the University of Hartford from Ohio. We’ll let him tell you the rest.

RPW: Professor Breeze, welcome to the University of Hartford. What has your experience of the university and its students been so far?

WB: I’ve had a wonderful experience at the university. I’m coming from a much larger institution—Ohio University—and I’m struck by how easy it has been here to quickly become a part of the school. I have also had a chance to get to know students more quickly because the university is so close-knit. Connecting with students can make teaching a much more rewarding experience and I’ve found my students to be eager and interested in the work of the classroom.

I see professional and technical writing as a place where we can encourage students to think outside the walls of the classroom—to see how the work we do here will have long-reaching effects on their life after graduation. The courses we offer teach diverse writing skills while also emphasizing a critical understanding of social and professional interaction. I think that this is the ideal goal for any writing program: to teach writing as a long-term social investment.

RPW: What in your background might come as a surprise to us?

WB: This is always a tough question. Being familiar with myself, nothing seems surprising. I think most people are surprised to hear that I am a Navy and Gulf War veteran. I usually don’t think to talk about it with people and it only comes up after people have known me for a while. Perhaps people expect me to have taken a more traditional path through academia.

RPW: Can you tell us more about your teaching philosophy?

WB: Education is what helped me find a calling and to get a real sense of who I am and what I believe. Everything I know and everything I stand for comes from the role language has played in my life. Through writing I am able to articulate who I am and what the world means to me.

RPW: You have done some interesting work in male feminist teaching. What is male feminism? How did you come to it?

WB: Feminism, for me and many others, is part of a broader social philosophy that embraces progressive politics and issues of justice and equality. Thus feminism, from my point of view, is inextricably linked to interrogations of how race, gender, and class function in society. A man embracing feminist ideas may share the same concerns with feminist women, but with the added need to constantly self-reflect about the role his gender plays in the very issues to be interrogated.

RPW: What are some of the future directions you see for rhetoric and professional writing, both here at the University of Hartford and in the broader world?

WB: I anticipate the program at Hartford to grow stronger and more popular. It’s clear that the word is getting out that the courses we teach are quite beneficial to a number of majors. Writing and critical thinking are at the heart of what we do and are the two skills employers believe college graduates most lack. A recent New York Times article (August 26, 2007) noted that, in a survey of 100 human resources executives, “Nearly half [. . .] said that entry-level workers lacked writing skills, and 27 percent said that they were deficient in critical thinking.” In the past couple of decades, education has been concerned with teaching students to work with technology. If writing and critical thinking have taken a back seat, rhetoric and professional writing programs here and across the country are well-placed to address the problem.

For the full text of this interview, see our website: http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/rpw/

Keeping in Touch

We know, from prior experience, that our graduates have gone on to work in the military, computer science, technology, manufacturing, non-profit, corporate communications, and education—but we’d like to hear from you, whatever you’re doing. Tell us what you’re doing now.

Name:

Address:

Year Graduated:

Concurrent Major or Minor:

Current Job:

New email address:

Experience you’d like to share, from your time at the University of Hartford, or from your recent experience:

Email your information to brichards@hartford.edu

Future Newsletters

Coming newsletters will feature more interviews with graduates and faculty, discussions of trends and issues in technical communication and rhetoric, and news for past and current RLC/RPW students. Stay tuned.

If you have questions, comments, corrections, and observations about this newsletter, contact editor Graham Christian at graham.christian@gmail.com.

If you have general questions or comments about the RPW program, or just want to say hello, contact Beth Richards at brichards@hartford.edu

Good news!

For those of you still strolling the groves of Academe--in other words, University of Hartford's undergraduate majors and minors--we've just established a para-course in Blackboard. Stay tuned!

I'll Add My Welcome

Thanks to Graham for developing a place where RPW majors and minors can meet. We look forward to your comments and questions.

If you know anyone who is interested in the program, there's an open house on October 21 to provide information and introduce students to the program. If you know someone who is interested, have them email me at brichards@hartford.edu for more information.

Hope you're having a great semester!
Beth

Welcome to the University of Hartford's RPW Clearinghouse!

This blog is a shared information resource for professional writers associated with the University of Hartford's Rhetoric and Professional Writing Program--professors, instructors, majors, minors, and graduates. Welcome!
Watch this space for documents, newsletters, and updates of all sorts.