I have been trying to pull together a student-guest-edited issue of Intercom for two years, and thanks to Liz Herman’s help in finding the right students and arranging the timing, here it is! I’ve always admired the technical communication faculty and programs at Texas Tech University, and this issue demonstrates that the students are top notch, as well.
In my short time working with this issue’s guest editors, I was impressed with their vision for the issue, their professionalism, and their willingness to roll up their sleeves and dig into the work—even when it ran up against final exams.
Heavenly Freeman is a Student Member of STC and a master’s degree student in technical communication. She is also a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Texas Tech and is passionate about her recently adopted dog, Cooper—I can relate!
Jelilat Adesiyan is a Student Member of STC, a PhD student in technical communication, and a part-time Graduate Instructor at Texas Tech. A devotee of interior and fashion design, she’s passionate about bringing art to the technical, and she’s looking to transition from academia to industry—hiring managers, act fast!
Rebekah Smith is a Student Member of STC and a master’s degree student in technical communication at Texas Tech. She’s interested in the rhetoric of online miscarriage narratives and document design, among other research topics, and she’s looking forward to the next steps after graduation—I envision much success!
I encourage you to delve into Rebekah, Jelilat, and Heavenly’s excellent guest editorial and the outstanding feature articles they have curated for this issue. If you are not a student, as you read, remember what it was like when you were a student—that’s what I did—and consider the highly educated and motivated new graduates from these programs as you are searching for new hires.
My thanks again to Liz Herman; to Craig Baehr, Texas Tech STC Student Chapter advisor; and especially to Rebekah Smith, Jelilat Adesiyan, and Heavenly Freeman for their hard work on this issue. I also thank the authors who have provided such a rich portrait of the 2020 student perspective: Liz Jeffries, Jonah Schwartz, Omar Melhem, Patrick Behrens, Katie Tighe, Meghalee Das, and Kylie Jacobsen.
As always, we have a great column lineup for you, as well.
- In keeping with this issue’s theme, Kit Brown-Hoekstra and Cindy Currie answer student questions in “Ask a Manager.”
- Russell Willerton explores the ethical use of data in “Ethics.”
- Kirk St.Amant describes how technical communicators can contribute to pandemic procedures in “Health & Medical Communication.”
- Scott Abel interviews Stuart Culshaw of Technical Writers Without Borders in “Meet the Change Agents.”
Don’t miss all the latest STC news in the Society Pages, and be sure to engage the guest editors, the feature authors, the columnists, and me in discussion about the content. Reach out online at www.stc.org/intercom, by email (all of our email addresses are included), or by social media. We look forward to a great discussion about current student perspectives!
Until next time: To your studious success!
