At the Opening General Session for the 2014 STC Summit in Phoenix, President Nicky Bleiel named two members as recipients of the President’s Award. The President’s Award honors one or more persons or institutions that have made distinguished contributions to the profession or the Society.
This year’s honorees are Pam Estes Brewer and Sally Henschel.
“I chose Pam and Sally for the President's Award this year because of their ‘above and beyond’ dedication to tech comm students, the profession, and STC,” explained Nicky Bleiel. “They have worked together and separately on a variety of STC initiatives that support our student members and I am honored and pleased to recognize their hard work with this award.”
Pam Estes Brewer is an associate professor at Mercer University in the department of technical communication, school of engineering. She is a graduate of Texas Tech University. She researches online rhetoric, applied specifically to global virtual team communication and online education. She regularly uses virtual teams in her teaching and is under contract with Wiley/IEEE Press for a book on global virtual teaming. Pam has published articles and book chapters on these topics as well. She is an Associate Fellow in STC and Academic SIG Manager; a member of IEEE PCS; a board member for the Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication; and a member of the editorial staffs for IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication and Technical Communication. She has also worked as a technical communicator for such companies as Mead Data Central (now LexisNexis) and Cincom Systems.
Her citation reads: For your exceptional work with the Academic SIG, and the Sigma Tau Chi and Alpha Sigma Honor Societies, and your commitment to your students, the profession, and the Society.
Sally Henschel is an assistant professor of English and the online writing curriculum coordinator at Midwestern State University. She earned her PhD in technical communication and rhetoric from Texas Tech University and specializes in technical and professional communication, rhetoric of technology, and information design. Sally’s research includes programmatic issues in technical and professional communication, and trends in the communication and English core curriculum. Her work has been published or accepted for publication in a variety of journals, including Technical Communication, Programmatic Perspectives, Intercom, Kairos, and the Journal of the American Studies Association of Texas. She has presented research at the Conference of the Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication, the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing Conference, the Conference on College Composition and Communication, the Computers and Writing Conference, the International Professional Communication Conference, and the STC Summit. A Senior Member of STC, Sally serves as the student liaison for the Academic SIG Administrative Council.
Her citation reads: For your dedication to your students, the profession, and STC, as well as your outstanding work with the Student Outreach Task Force, the Student Poster Competition, and the Academic SIG.
Congratulations to both Sally and Pam, and thank you for your service to STC and to the profession of technical communication.