STC has named Dr. Sam Dragga of Texas Tech University as the new editor of its journal Technical Communication. Dr. Dragga will begin reviewing manuscripts on 15 June 2015 and will be editor of record for a three-year term beginning in January 2016. Technical Communication publishes articles about the practical application of technical communication theory and serves as a common arena for discussion by practitioners and scholars.
When asked about his new role, Dr. Dragga said, “As a researcher, Technical Communication has been my journal of choice for 25 years. I’ve published the majority of my favorite articles here. To be the new editor is a great privilege, and it comes with the responsibility to keep STC members proud of the journal and invested in its influence on the field. My intention is to build on the extraordinary achievements of Menno de Jong, George Hayhoe, and Frank Smith.”
Dr. Dragga will assume the editorship currently held by Dr. Menno D.T. de Jong, professor of communication science at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. Dr. de Jong served as editor from 2008 to 2015.
STC’s CEO Chris Lyons is enthusiastic about the journal’s future. “It has been STC’s honor to have Dr. Menno de Jong as the editor of Technical Communication for the past six years. During this time, the journal has continued to be one of the top scholarly publications in the field and several articles have won awards. We wish Dr. de Jong great success in the future. We are equally honored to bring Dr. Sam Dragga to the helm and for the generous support of his editorship by Texas Tech University. Under his leadership, we are confident that Technical Communication will continue its record of excellence and focus on the newest developments in research in the field.”
Dr. Sam Dragga is professor of technical communication in the Department of English at Texas Tech University and served as department chair from 2002 to 2012. He is a past president of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (1997-1999) and initiated ATTW’s annual convention in 1998. He is co-author of Essentials of Technical Communication (Oxford University Press, 2010, 2012, 2015); A Writer's Repertoire 1, 2, and 3 (Cengage Learning, 2010); Reporting Technical Information (Oxford University Press, 2006); and Editing: The Design of Rhetoric (Baywood, 1989). He has also published journal articles on professional ethics and technical communication. Dr. Dragga is a Fellow of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing and a recipient of the Society for Technical Communication’s Jay R. Gould Award for Excellence in Teaching Technical Communication and the National Council of Teachers of English Award for Best Book in Technical and Scientific Communication.
Dr. Dragga will be attending STC’s annual Technical Communication Summit in Columbus, OH, 21-24 June 2015. For more about the journal, visit http://techcomm.stc.org/ or email Dr. Dragga at tceditor@stc.org.