connections matc 1999-2009. program highlights dr. june hankins wrote the proposal for the matc in...
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ConnectionsConnections
MATC 1999-2009MATC 1999-2009
Program Highlights
Dr. June Hankins wrote the proposal for the MATC in fall 1998-spring 1999.
The MATC was approved by the Texas State Board of Regents in summer 1999.
Dr. Libby Allison came on board as the program director in fall 1999. There were “no courses, no faculty, and no students” when she first stepped into the position.
The first MATC classes were held in portable buildings at the Multi Institute Teaching Center (MITC), a collective facility for different campuses, near Westwood High School.
The first class Dr. Allison taught was Foundations in Technical Communication in fall 1999. Dr. Williams was a student in her class.
The inaugural class, consisting of Miriam Williams and JoAnn Jarl, graduated from the program in 2001.
Dr. Katherine Ledbetter and Dr. Rebecca Jackson were among the first MATC faculty.
Dr. Miriam Williams joined the MATC faculty as a lecturer in fall 2004, while she completed her dissertation, and in fall 2005 she began as an Assistant Professor. She has recently earned tenure and a promotion to Associate Professor.
In fall 2006, Dr. Pinfan Zhu and Dr. Deborah Balzhiser joined the MATC faculty as Assistant Professors.
The MATC began to offer online hybrid courses when the MITC moved to the Round Rock Higher Education Center (RRHEC) in fall 2006.
Dr. Williams taught the first online MATC course, Writing Public Policy, in fall 2005. Now more than half of the courses are offered as online hybrid classes.
In fall 2006, Texas State transitioned from Blackboard to TRACS, and the MATC began to use this web-based collaborative environment for its hybrid online classes.
In fall 2008, the MATC revised its degree plan. The revised degree plan requires students to submit a portfolio developed from coursework as their final exam. Additionally, the cognate/minor is now an optional supplement (rather than a requirement) to the degree.
Total number of MATC graduates: 58 as of spring 2009, 60 anticipated by fall 2009.
More MATC students are coming from outside the region, particularly as distance learning courses have become more integral to the program.
MATC students have learned software programs such as Framemaker, RoboHelp, Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver), and Microsoft Office.
Of the MATC program, Dr. Allison says, “We’ve morphed as the times have changed.” In part, technology has shaped the program, and in part the program has developed through the faculty’s diverse expertise and research interests. The two most important things in university teaching, says Dr. Allison, are to remain “current and relevant.”
While scholars continue to debate and negotiate a definition of technical communication, Dr. Allison warns against defining the field too narrowly: “Once you start defining it, once you start building the boundaries, it becomes a box.”
The University Council has formally endorsed the Department’s proposal to offer the MA in Technical Communication as a hybrid degree (in-person/online). Congratulations to Dr. Libby Allison and the MATC faculty for this next step in the evolution of the program.
Alumni Profiles
Lauren Allen
Graduated: 2005
Current Position: Project Manager, National Emergency Response and Rescue Training Center
How has the MATC degree benefited you?
“The MATC courses are the knowledge base that has allowed me to groom my experience in emergency management, a discipline once foreign to me, into a fast advancing and rewarding career.”
Melissa Boettcher
Graduated: 2008
Current Position: Executive Assistant, End Op, LP
How has the MATC degree benefited you?
“It really helped me better formulate my thoughts into writing. I find I use my degree every time I draft a contract.”
Bryce Dishongh
Graduated: 2007
Current Position: Technical Writer, Prologic Technology Systems, Inc.
How has the MATC degree benefited you?
“The program taught me how to think analytically as a communicator. …looking at various types of discourse through theoretical perspectives showed me how those discourses work socially, ethically, and culturally, and why they are or are not effective.”
Jo Jarl
Graduated: 2001
Current Position: Technical Writer, IBM
How has the MATC degree benefited you?
“I am using my MATC degree to learn about new technology and about the way Information Technology enterprise solutions help companies set up and maintain their databases, storage facilities, and product dashboards.”
Jennifer C. Ramirez Johnson
Graduated: 2007
Current Position: Supervisor, Information Development/Product Manager, Special Projects, Di Nippon Printing, Photo Imaging America Division
How has the MATC degree benefited you?
“The many years I spent managing both the MATC website and Blackboard (Gato), has helped immensely. I have created a systematic go-to site for some of our more complex projects so that installers, trainers and sales people can all have their questions answered quickly and correctly.”
Carol Landry
Graduated: 2004
Current Position: Manager, Information Technology Services at the Texas Department of Insurance
How has the MATC degree benefited you?
“My MATC degree helped me feel more prepared to write and edit the many reports and technical documents that are completed in my area of the information technology division.”
Laura Lavergne
Graduated: 2003
Current Position: Communications Director, Office of Admissions at the University of Texas at Austin
How has the MATC degree benefited you?
“One of the best things about going through the MATC program is that it gave me the opportunity to focus on what matters in communication.”
Susan Leininger
Graduated: 2005
Current Position: Owner, Leininger LLC
How has the MATC degree benefited you?
“The MATC offered credibility as I re-entered the workforce after being on the “mommy-track” for 15+ years. Having the degree on my resume helped bridge the time-gap on my resume.”
Lonie McMichael
Graduated: 2005
Current Position: Ph.D. Candidate, Graduate Part-time Instructor, and Assistant Editor to TCQ, Texas Tech University
How has the MATC degree benefited you?
“Master’s was required before PhD, prepared for scholarly career.”
Cheri Mullins
Graduated: 2006
Current Position: Consultant, Mullins Consulting; Writing Center Consultant, UT Dallas
How has the MATC degree benefited you?
“My MATC [degree] was an important credential for me in negotiations with and management of overseas operations. It was also essential for my admission into the PhD program at Texas Tech.”
Jennifer Thomas
Graduated: 2007
Current Position: Freelance Copyeditor
How has the MATC degree benefited you?
“Through MATC, I improved my writing and communication skills, especially in the technical and teaching fields. …As a copyeditor, I not only correct grammatical errors—I also make suggestions to improve the reader’s experience with the material.”
Alyson Wagner
Graduated: 2008
Current Position: Legal Administrative Assistant, Nickens Keeton Lawless Farrell & Flack LLP
How has the MATC degree benefited you?
“Earning this degree gave me a great sense of achievement, inciting me to expand the vision of my current job to the role of technical communicator and to further develop my interests in writing, editing and graphic design.”
Brooke Wehrmann
Graduated: 2007
Current Position: Technical Writer, National Instruments
How has the MATC degree benefited you?
“I have been able to present on and apply concepts I learned in Document Design courses. Also, the real-world group projects we did in the MATC program prepared me for similar projects at work.”
Bradford Wible
Graduated: 2008
Current Position: Technical Writer, X Technologies, Inc.
How has the MATC degree benefited you?
“I probably would not have been awarded this job without an advanced degree, since I did not have any previous technical writing experience.”
Miriam Williams
Graduated: 2001
Current Position: Associate Professor of English, MATC at Texas State University
How has the MATC degree benefited you?
“During my time in the MATC program, I realized that I wanted to conduct research related to government discourse and intercultural communication. The MATC program was the impetus for continued studies in the field.”
Sarah Wilson
Graduated: 2003
Current Position: Project Editor, Voyager Learning Company
How has the MATC degree benefited you?
“My MATC degree has provided me with a skill set that is different from the majority of my coworkers, who are former elementary and secondary teachers. I have been exposed to research methods, academic concepts, and publishing tools that help me fill a niche in my department.”
Alumni/Student News
MATC student Vita Haake’s book review of XML in Technical Communication by Charles Cowan was published in the August 2009 issue of the STC journal Technical Communication. Vita wrote the review as an assignment as part of a graduate course she took last fall.
MATC student Janice Ringersma presented at the 2009 Computers and Writing conference at the University of California-Davis on using technology for service learning projects in rural communities.
MATC student Emmelyn Wang was elected to serve a second season as the Director of Education, Seminars, and acting Program Manager for the Austin chapter of the STC. She also received the Graduate Scholars Scholarship.
2008 MATC graduate Michael Trice, who was recently named 2009 Outstanding Graduate Student in English, has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship. He will work on a Master of Arts degree in Communication Studies at the University of Leeds’ Centre for Digital Citizenship in England. Trice’s research looks at how groups use specialized wikis—collaborative websites whose content can be edited by anyone who has access to them—to store community histories and practices.
MATC student Rebecca Abbott received the Celebrity Classic Scholarship.
MATC student Sean Doran, a technical writer for Biomat’s Austin Testing Laboratory, has been invited by Grifols—Biomat’s parent company and the third largest supplier of plasma products in the world—to train employees about technical writing for Grifols’ new International Training Academy in Arizona.
MATC student Jennifer Osburn has been hired as a technical writer for Texas Parks and Wildlife.
MATC student Amanda Grover’s presentation, “The Perils of Teaching Technical Writing for the Hypothetical Workplace: How Avoiding Pseudotransactionality Can Lead to Megacognitive Curriculum,” was accepted by the Arkansas Philological Conference at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith in October 2008.
Faculty News
Miriam Williams has accepted an invitation to join the editorial review board of the Journal of Business and Technical Communication (JBTC). The JBTC is a top journal in the field of Technical Communication.
Dr. Pinfan Zhu’s article, “Semantic Problems that Affect International Business,” was published in the June issue of Journal for Global Business Education. Also, Dr. Zhu has been invited to serve as a referee for Technical Communication. His article, “An Application of Robert Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction to the Teaching of Web Localization,” will appear in an upcoming issue of Technical Writing and Communication.
Dr. Libby Allison, Dr. Deborah Balzhiser, Dr. Miriam Williams, and Dr. Pinfan Zhu were featured in the current issue of Hillviews in an article highlighting the MATC program.
Congratulations to Dr. Miriam Williams for earning tenure and promotion to associate professor.
Dr. Pinfan Zhu’s article, “An Application of Robert Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction to the Teaching of Web Localization,” will appear in an upcoming issue of Technical Writing and Communication. “Language Problems to be Coped with in Web Localization” has been published in the current issue of the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication. “Cultural Blunders from a Semantic Perspective in International Technical Communication” will appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication. Also, Zhu’s “Semantic Problems that Affect International Business” was accepted by the Journal for Global Business Education.
Dr. Libby Allison has been chosen as one of three Texas State faculty who will serve as Service-Learning Fellows for 2009-2010. Dr. Allison’s proposal is to include a service-learning component in the graduate online/hybrid course Medical Rhetoric and Writing, in which students provide writing and editing consulting services to nonprofit health-care organizations in the region.
In March 2009, Dr. Miriam Williams presented at the meeting of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing, held in conjunction with CCCC.
Dr. Libby Allison and Dr. Miriam Williams co-wrote the textbook Writing for the Government, published in October 2007 by Pearson Education.
Dr. Pinfan Zhu presented “New Teaching Method: the Podcast as Applied in a Technical Communication Class” in the “Forces of Change in Technical and Professional Communication” session at the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association convention October 8-10, 2009.
Dr. Miriam Williams’ article, “Understanding Public Policy Development as a Technological Process,” was accepted by the Journal of Business and Technical Communication. Williams’ article, “Embracing New Policies, Technologies, and Community Partnerships: Using Technical Communication to Improve Air and Water Quality,” written with Daisy James, an environmental scientist, was accepted for publication in the 2008 Science and Public Policy issue of Technical Communication Quarterly (TCQ).
Libby Allison, Miriam Williams, and Pinfan Zhu’s panel, “Communicating to Help the Public: Technical Communication as a Catalyst for Change in National Weather Advisories, Environmental Regulation, and Health Care Information,” was accepted for the 2008 Conference on College Composition and Communication. Allison presented “The Perfect Words: How the Reality of Storm Disasters Changed the Language of National Weather Service Advisories.” Williams presented “Documentation and Civic Participation: How the Reality of Pollution Changed Environmental Inspections and Monitoring.” Zhu presented “Bad Design, Bad Treatment: How the Reality of Poor Document Design Hinders Health Care Communication.”
Dr. Deb Balzhiser with Dr. Rebecca Jackson published “Becoming Landscape Architects: A Postmodern Approach to WAC Sustainability” in the WAC Journal.
Dr. Miriam Williams’ book, From Black Code to Recodification: Removing the Veil from Regulatory Writing, was accepted for publication by Baywood Press. The book appears in Baywood’s highly regarded Technical Communication Series.
Dr. Octavio Pimentel, along with Dr. Ana Juarez (Texas State Department Of Anthropology) and eight students, went to Guatemala to study Guatemala’s education system. Since returning from Guatemala he continues to mentor eight students who are continuing their ethnography research in Guatemala. This project is funded by a $300,000 National Science Foundation Grant. He is also the first author on the book that will arise from this research project.
Dr. Pinfan Zhu’s presentation, “Using Active Practice Theory in Designing a Course of Technical Communication,” was accepted into the 53rd Society of Technical Communication (STC) Conference proceedings book. Also, his chapter, “Translation of Traditional Chinese Medicine: Gains vs. Losses,” was accepted for the book, Gained in Translation: World Literature and Cultural Imagination, by Karen R. Keck, for publication by Cambridge Scholars Press and due out in January. In addition, his conference paper, “Problems in Traditional Chinese Medicine Translation from Semantic and Syntactic Perspectives,” has been accepted for the American Translators Association’s 47th Conference in November in New Orleans. Zhu has also received a library grant for approximately $800 for resources on using multimedia in online international technical communication courses.
Dr. Octavio Pimentel worked with Melissa Moreno (a PhD candidate from the University of Utah) this summer on her research project on Chicano Activism. This project was funded by the graduate school at Texas State.
Dr. Deb Balzhiser co-wrote the article “If You *Build* It, Will They Come? Maybe. Maybe Not” featured in Computers & Writing. Balzhiser also published the article “Technology Program Development Workshop: Reviewing, Revamping and Creating Undergraduate Majors” and has been appointed the Communications Editor for the journal Kairos.
Dr. Pinfan Zhu and Kirk St. Amant of Texas Tech’s article, “Taking Traditional Chinese Medicine International and Online: An Examination of the Cultural Rhetorical Factors Affecting American Perceptions of Chinese-created Web Sites” was published in the May 2007 edition of Technical Communication, the STC journal. Zhu’s article, “Language Problems to Be Coped with in Web Localization” was accepted and published by the Journal of Scientific and Technical Writing.
Two of Dr. Octavio Pimentel’s essays appear in books: “Uncovering the White Man’s Dominance in Writing Centers: Brown Cuentos (Critical Narratives) from the Margins” was included in The Other Sides of Silence: Negotiating Race in Writing Center Discourse and Practice, edited by Laura Greenfield and Karen Rowan; and “Haciendo Lugar Para Todos (Making Room for Everyone). . . Including Those Students who are Brown,” was published in Inventing Identities in Second Language Writing.
Photo Gallery
Acknowledgments
Program DirectorDr. Libby Allison
Committee CoordinationCarol Landry
CommunicationsTerri SpeeceJennifer Johnson
Scholarship Planning Patsy Pohl Linda Coker
Catering Jo Ann Jarl
Event MediaAlyson Wagner
MATC Reunion Committee
To all faculty, alumni, and students:
Thank you for contributing to the success of the MATC Program’s first ten years!
