This entry is being posted on behalf of Kylie Jacobsen, candidate for Nominating Committee in the 2021 STC election.
Hello! My name is Kylie Jacobsen, and I am an assistant professor of writing at Grand Valley State University. I am running for a position on the Nominating Committee because I am passionate about service to my profession because I want to contribute to an industry that I am preparing students to engage in after they graduate. I think there is a reciprocal relationship and responsibility that needs to happen between the academy and the industry – they cannot be mutually exclusive if we want to support and sustain generations of technical communicators who must be prepared to document and manage knowledge in ways we can't fathom yet. I believe finding qualified, energized young professionals who want to contribute to the future of this organization is one way I can contribute in a meaningful way.
Experience with STC
I joined STC as a master’s student at Iowa State University in 2012, where I served as the vice president of the student chapter. After I graduated from ISU, I decided to pursue a PhD in technical communication and rhetoric at Texas Tech University, whose STC student chapter was recently reinvigorated by a committed faculty and student group. Soon, I found myself serving as the president of the TTU Student Chapter from 2016-2018. During those years, the chapter was awarded a Pacesetter Award, a Platinum Community Achievement Award, and Most Improved Chapter. I recently published about my experience in STC student chapters in Intercom.
To stay actively involved in STC after graduating in 2019, I joined a few committees:
- Chaired the STC Scholarship Committee (2020-2021)
- Sigma Tau Chi and Alpha Sigma Honor Societies Committee (2020-2021)
- DSAS-DCSA Committee (2019-2021)
- Website task force (2021)
I am a member of the Michigan Great Lakes Chapter and had the honor of winning the logo design contest this past fall.
Educational Background
I pursued a bachelor’s degree in professional writing and communication from Southwest Minnesota State University, where I wrote for and edited the school newspaper. After graduation, I spent a year with AmeriCorps and took freelance writing jobs before enrolling in graduate school at Iowa State University. I earned a master’s degree in rhetoric, composition, and professional communication from ISU and shortly began my doctoral work at Texas Tech University. At TTU, I taught technical writing courses, teacher assisted (TA) a usability research methods course, conducted research as a research assistant for the Usability Research Lab, and worked as the assistant director for the technical communication program.
Contact
Please email me at jacokyli@gvsu.edu, connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylie-m-jacobsen/, reach out on Twitter at @kyliemjacobsen, or ask a question on Slack.