Faculty News

2023 Faculty News

Chris Dayley, Meghalee Das (MATC alum and Texas Tech Doctoral Candidate), Isidore Kafui Dorpenyo (George Mason University), Aimee Kendall Roundtree, and Miriam F. Williams’s article, “Evaluating Immigrants’ Perceptions of U.S. Banks’ Diversity and Inclusion Claims/Initiatives,” will be published in the next guest-edited special issue of Technical Communication. This IRB-approved study included text-mining, content analysis, thematic analysis, and interviews with U.S. immigrants from the Global South. 
Miriam Williams was the 2023 recipient of the Society for Technical Communication’s Ken Rainey Award for Distinguished Research. The citation reads, “For exemplary leadership in the field of technical communication, demonstrating excellence in research methods, application of public policy, key scholarship on issues of race and ethnicity, and promotion of research that not only ‘is good’ but also ‘does good’ throughout the field and society.” Miriam received the award at the organization’s 2023 STC Summit Honors Event in Atlanta, GA in May 2023. 
Chris Dayley and Isidore Kafui Dorpenyo (George Mason University) Co-Edited a 2-part special issue in the journal Technical Communication titled “Practices, Reflections, and Methodologies: What Is Successful Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Technical Communication Workplace?”
Chris Dayley’s article “How Marginalized Students Persist in TPC Academic Programs” was published in the journal Technical Communication and Social Justice. 
Chris Dayley’s article Increasing Inclusion in Technical Communication Academic Programs was published in the journal Technical Communication. 

2022 Faculty News

 
Chris Dayley was the recipient for the 2022 Programmatic Perspectives Research Article Award for his article, “Combatting Embedded Racism in TPC Academic Programs: Recruiting for Diversity Using Student-Informed Practices.” The award citation reads, “This award recognizes important critical and/or analytical insight that contributes something new to program administration in Technical and Professional Communication.” A formal announcement and recognition will take place at the 2022 Council of Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication Annual Conference. 
Chris Dayley's article, “Ethical Deception: Student Perceptions of Diversity in College Recruitment Materials,” was published in the journal Communication Design Quarterly. It is available online here: https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3507454.3507458 
Scott Mogull published the article, “Ethics and Practice of Knowledge Integrity in Communicating Health and Medical Research” in the journal Rhetoric of Health and Medicine. The full article is posted at: http://medicalrhetoric.com/journal/4-4/mogull/ 
Scott A. Mogull’s “Legal and Ethical Issues in Technical Content Marketing” was published in the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) Journal. In this article, he examines content marketing for technology through a technical communication lens covering intellectual property, truth in advertising, comparative advertising, and local/global reach. The full article is available at: https://www.amwajournal.org/index.php/amwa/issue/view/10 
Miriam F. Williams was SIGDOC’s 2022 Rigo Award Winner. The Special Interest Group on the Design of Communication (SIGDOC) is a subgroup of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), an international society that brings together researchers and other professionals who are involved in the advancement of computing. The Rigo Award was established in honor of Joseph Rigo, the founder of SIGDOC, and is dedicated to outstanding achievements in the development of communication projects. As the 2022 Rigo Award Winner, Miriam presented the keynote address in October at SIGDOC’s 40th Annual Meeting in Boston, MA.

2021 Faculty News

Aimee Roundtree was appointed Faculty Fellow for the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP). The ORSP Faculty Fellow appointment is designed to complement leadership development programs in higher education and provides direct, hands-on experience in learning all dimensions of research administration. 
Aimee Roundtree’s “Ethics and Facial Recognition Technology: An Integrative Review” was published in  IEEE’s 2021 3rd World Symposium on Artificial Intelligence (WSAI). Aimee will serve as keynote speaker at the 11th Annual Symposium on Communicating Complex Information. 
Octavio Pimentel participated in the City of Kyle’s “Dialogue for Peace and Progress 2021 – Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month” 
Chris Dayley’s article “Combatting embedded racism in TPC academic programs: Recruiting for diversity using student-informed practices” was published in the journal Programmatic Perspectives. 
Octavio Pimentel presented “Empowering Latinx Composition Students: Recognizing their Lenguage y Cultura en la Clase de Escritura (Language and Culture in the Writing Classroom)” at the 2022 CCCC Annual Convention in Chicago, Illinois. 
Miriam Williams’ article, “Archives, Rhetorical Absence, and Critical Imagination: Examining Black Women’s Mental Health Narratives at Virginia’s Central State Hospital from 1891-1936,” (co-authored with Natasha N. Jones of Michigan State) was published in a special issue on social justice in IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. 
Octavio Pimentel presented, “Black Lives Matter and Antiracist Projects in Writing Program Administration,” at the 2021 NCTE Annual Convention in Louisville, KY. 
Octavio Pimentel’s article, “The Push for the 1974 Statement…Once Again,” was published in Writing Program Administration

Miriam Williams’ article, “Gun Control and Gun Rights: A Conceptual Framework for Analyzing Public Policy in Technical Communication,” was published in the August issue of Technical Communication Quarterly.  

Scott Mogull's article, "Developing Technical Videos: Genres (or “Templates”) for Video Planning, Storyboarding, Scriptwriting, and Production," was published in the August 2021 issue of Technical Communication. 
Scott Mogull’s article, “Technical Content Marketing Along the Technology Adoption Lifecycle,” was published in Communication Design Quarterly. 
Aimee Roundtree was the recipient of the Mariel M. Muir Excellence in Mentoring Award for 2021. These awards are given annually to one faculty member and one staff member who demonstrate an exceptional commitment to assisting less experienced individuals in becoming more proficient in their professional activities.
In the editorial for the May 2021 issue of Technical Communication, Miriam Williams interviewed New York Times bestselling author, editor, and cultural critic Dr. Roxane Gay. Dr. Gay, who holds a PhD in Rhetoric and Technical Communication from Michigan Technological University, discussed the importance of technical communication in her work and her vision for the future of the discipline. Technical Communication is available here: https://www.stc.org/techcomm/  

2020 Faculty News

Pinfan Zhu’s article "Well-received Chinese Rhetorical Strategies as Identified in the Public Speeches and Reports of Chinese Leaders" was published in the Journal of Media and Communication Studies. https://academicjournals.org/journal/JMCS/article-abstract/5B8FED865476
Miriam Williams accepted an invitation to serve on The Ohio State University’s Department of Engineering Education Advisory Board. In October she participated in a virtual panel discussion at the University of Houston-Downtown’s Biannual Forum on Plain English. In November she participated in a virtual panel discussion on plain language at the National Communication Association’s 106th Annual Convention.
Chris Dayley and Aimee Roundtree presented as part of a five person invited plenary panel at the 2020 CPTSC annual meeting. The plenary panel led a discussion on the COVID-19 crisis and how it affects TPC academic programs. 
Miriam Williams and co-author Natasha Jones were awarded the 2020 CCCC Scientific and Technical Communication Award in the category of Best Article Reporting Historical Research or Textual Studies in Technical and Scientific Communication. Dr. Williams and Dr. Jones received this award for their article “Technologies of Disenfranchisement: Literacy Tests and Black Voters in the US from 1890 to 1965." 

2019 Faculty News

Aimee Roundtree and co-investigator Craig Hanks were awarded research funds from the NEC Foundation for their proposal, “Investigating Perceptions of Biometric Data for Higher Education and Emergency Response: Weighing Issues of Ethics, Privacy, Ownership, Consent, and Justice." The Foundation is the charitable arm of the NEC Corporation, a multinational tech company that specializes in facial recognition.
Miriam Williams presented the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) Kickoff Keynote to the Texas A&M University Central Texas community on September 4, 2019. The QEP is a SACS accreditation requirement to help universities improve student learning outcomes. Miriam's talk discussed her writing experiences with regulatory and environmental agencies and made recommendations for implementing the university's writing-focused QEP. 
Aimee Roundtree published “A Qualitative Approach Towards Understanding HIV-Related Stress in Texas” in Texas Medicine; the study based upon quantitative research was written with several colleagues and a Texas State graduate student from the Psychology program on whose thesis committee she served: https://www.texmed.org/Aug19Journal/ 

2018 Faculty News

Miriam Williams’ article, “Technologies of Disenfranchisement: Literacy tests and Black voters in the U.S. from 1890-1965" (with Natasha Jones of the University of Central Florida) will be published in the Society of Technical Communication’s Journal, *Technical Communication,* in the fall 2018 Special Issue on Election Technologies. Her essay, “#BlackLivesMatter: Tweeting a Movement in Chronos and Kairos,” is included in Octavio Pimentel and Cruz Medina’s edited collection, which was recently published by Computers & Composition Digital Press. 
Pinfan Zhu presented his paper, “Well-Received Rhetorical Strategies as Demonstrated in the Speeches and Reports by Chinese Leaders” at the Annual International Conference of the International Organization of Social Science and Research on March 20. He was also recently invited to be on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Media and Communication Studies and currently serves as a member on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine by Hunan University, China. 
Scott Mogull was interviewed by Jack McLellan with Creative Tucson. 
Aimee Kendall Roundtree’s article “Dialogic of Social Media in Healthcare Settings: Text Mining the Rules, Attitudes, and Behaviors of Health Organizations and the Public” appears in the current issue of the American Communication Journal. 
On March 13, Scott Mogull chaired the session “Critical Discourse Analysis of Technical Communications in Capitalist Medicine” at the 21st annual conference of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing in Kansas City, KS.  The participants presented research on healthcare communications in industry.

Deb Balzhiser and Amanda Scott from the English Department, and Assistant Professor of Curriculum Instruction Charise Pimentel, recently presented a panel titled “Matters of Form: Questions of Race, Identity, Design, and the U.S. Census” at the annual Association of Teachers of Technical Writing conference in Kansas City, Kansas." 

2017 Faculty News

Aimee Roundtree's funded research projects are highlighted in Engaging Research, which is the Office of Sponsored Programs' Faculty Research Spotlight.
Scott Mogull's book was recently published by Routledge, Scientific and Medical Communication: A Guide for Effective Practice, the first practice-line book in the ATTW-Routledge Book Series in Technical and Professional Communication. URL: https://www.routledge.com/Scientific-and-Medical-Communication-A-Guide-for-Effective-Practice/Mogull/p/book/9781138842557. Scott also published a research article in the prominent scientific/medical journal PLOS ONE, titled “Accuracy of Cited ‘Facts’ in Medical Research Articles: A Review of Study Methodology and Recalculation of Quotation Error Rate.” In the article, Dr. Mogull corrected the error rate of cited research "facts," which are inaccurate summaries of previous research studies. He found that 14.5% of claims in the original medical studies are inaccurately summarized or presented when compared to the data and claims in the original studies. He is also the author of “Science vs. Science Commercialization in Neoliberalism (Extreme Capitalism): Examining the Conflicts and Ethics of Information Sharing in Opposing Social Systems,” a chapter in Scientific Communication: Practices, Theories, and Pedagogies. The book is part of the Routledge Series in Technical Communication, Rhetoric and Culture. Dr. Mogull also presented a research paper at the Rhetoric of Health & Medicine Symposium entitled, “Direct-to-Consumer Advertising in a Late-Capitalist, Saturated Pharmaceutical Drug Market: Discord in the Treximet Marketing as Greed Outpaces Innovation.”
Miriam Williams' article, "The Social Justice Impact of Plain Language: A Critical Approach to Plain Language Analysis," (co-authored with Natasha Jones of University of Central Florida), will be published in the 2017 Plain Language Special Issue of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Transactions on Professional Communication.
Aimee Roundtree has been selected as the new Associate Dean for Research in the College of Liberal Arts. Aimee will begin her assignment this fall, replacing Brit Bousman of Anthropology, who served in the position since 2011.
At the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW) 2017 conference in Portland, Oregon, Miriam Williams was named a Fellow of the organization. As noted on the ATTW website proclaiming the honor, "the elevation of Professor Miriam Williams to the rank of ATTW Fellow is a historic moment in this organization. In a technical communication career that has, so far, spanned over twenty years, Dr. Williams has distinguished herself as a practitioner, a teacher, a scholar, and as an academic program administrator, and she is now the first person of color to be recognized as a Fellow...".
In early February, Scott Mogull will present research entitled, “Intersection of Technical Communication and Marketing Genres: Spanning Silos through Product Documentation” at the Fifth Colloquium Technical Communication in the Field, hosted by the Université Paris Diderot. 
Aimee Roundtree was interviewed on the “10 Minute Tech Comm” podcast about her article, "Social Health Content and Activity on Facebook: A Survey Study." The episode is available here. Aimee also received a $20K grant from State Farm to research and design an intervention for improving fire incident reporting strategies. She will use text mining and qualitative research methods to characterize best practices and identify barriers that hinder report accuracy, consistency, and quality. The project will help San Marcos and College Station Fire Departments set reporting guidelines, create reporting templates, and train firefighters.
At the Health Scholar Showcase on February 10, Scott Mogull and Aimee Roundtree will present on Medical Communication: Patients, Providers, and the Public. Dr. Mogull will present his review of citation accuracy in medical research and Dr. Roundtree will present her work on autism community activism on Twitter. 
Aimee Roundtree won a teaching grant along with Dr. Hunter Close (Physics), Dr. Kristina Collins (Education), Dr. Grayson Lawrence (Art and Design), and Dr. Ziliang Zong (Computer Science). She will serve as Project Director on “Coding Across the Disciplines,” a $100K project to teach computer programming skills to middle and high school teachers from all disciplines. The project was funded by WeTeach_CS, a program of The University of Texas at Austin’s Center for STEM Education.
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  • Aimee Roundtree's funded research projects are highlighted in Engaging Research, which is the Office of Sponsored Programs' Faculty Research Spotlight.
    Scott Mogull's book was recently published by Routledge, Scientific and Medical Communication: A Guide for Effective Practice, the first practice-line book in the ATTW-Routledge Book Series in Technical and Professional Communication. Scott also published a research article in the prominent scientific/medical journal PLOS ONE, titled “Accuracy of Cited ‘Facts’ in Medical Research Articles: A Review of Study Methodology and Recalculation of Quotation Error Rate.” In the article, Dr. Mogull corrected the error rate of cited research "facts," which are inaccurate summaries of previous research studies. He found that 14.5% of claims in the original medical studies are inaccurately summarized or presented when compared to the data and claims in the original studies. He is also the author of “Science vs. Science Commercialization in Neoliberalism (Extreme Capitalism): Examining the Conflicts and Ethics of Information Sharing in Opposing Social Systems,” a chapter in Scientific Communication: Practices, Theories, and Pedagogies. The book is part of the Routledge Series in Technical Communication, Rhetoric and Culture. Dr. Mogull also presented a research paper at the Rhetoric of Health & Medicine Symposium entitled, “Direct-to-Consumer Advertising in a Late-Capitalist, Saturated Pharmaceutical Drug Market: Discord in the Treximet Marketing as Greed Outpaces Innovation.”
    Miriam Williams' article, "The Social Justice Impact of Plain Language: A Critical Approach to Plain Language Analysis," (co-authored with Natasha Jones of University of Central Florida), will be published in the 2017 Plain Language Special Issue of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Transactions on Professional Communication.
    Aimee Roundtree has been selected as the new Associate Dean for Research in the College of Liberal Arts. Aimee will begin her assignment this fall, replacing Brit Bousman of Anthropology, who served in the position since 2011.
    At the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW) 2017 conference in Portland, Oregon, Miriam Williams was named a Fellow of the organization. As noted on the ATTW website proclaiming the honor, "the elevation of Professor Miriam Williams to the rank of ATTW Fellow is a historic moment in this organization. In a technical communication career that has, so far, spanned over twenty years, Dr. Williams has distinguished herself as a practitioner, a teacher, a scholar, and as an academic program administrator, and she is now the first person of color to be recognized as a Fellow...".
    In early February, Scott Mogull will present research entitled, “Intersection of Technical Communication and Marketing Genres: Spanning Silos through Product Documentation” at the Fifth Colloquium Technical Communication in the Field, hosted by the Université Paris Diderot.
    Aimee Roundtree was interviewed on the “10 Minute Tech Comm” podcast about her article, "Social Health Content and Activity on Facebook: A Survey Study." The episode is available here. Aimee also received a $20K grant from State Farm to research and design an intervention for improving fire incident reporting strategies. She will use text mining and qualitative research methods to characterize best practices and identify barriers that hinder report accuracy, consistency, and quality. The project will help San Marcos and College Station Fire Departments set reporting guidelines, create reporting templates, and train firefighters.
    At the Health Scholar Showcase on February 10, Scott Mogull and Aimee Roundtree will present on Medical Communication: Patients, Providers, and the Public. Dr. Mogull will present his review of citation accuracy in medical research and Dr. Roundtree will present her work on autism community activism on Twitter.
    Aimee Roundtree won a teaching grant along with Dr. Hunter Close (Physics), Dr. Kristina Collins (Education), Dr. Grayson Lawrence (Art and Design), and Dr. Ziliang Zong (Computer Science). She will serve as Project Director on “Coding Across the Disciplines,” a $100K project to teach computer programming skills to middle and high school teachers from all disciplines. The project was funded by WeTeach_CS, a program of The University of Texas at Austin’s Center for STEM Education.

  • Aimee Roundtree was named an Alphi Chi Favorite Professor for Fall 2016.

    Aimee Roundtree’s research on how the autism community uses Twitter for advocacy was accepted for presentation at the Center for Disease Control’s National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing and Media, taking place this August in Atlanta. Her work, "#TweetLikeANeurotyical: Understanding Diagnosis Attitudes and Experiences of the Autism Community Online," situates hashtags used by the community as a form of linguistic reclamation similar to other minority groups.

    The following candidates from the Department of English for tenure and/or promotion in 2015-2016 have received letters of approval from the Provost, subject to final approval by the Board of Regents at a meeting later this spring: Suparno Banerjee, Joe Falocco, and Scott Mogull have received the Provost’s approval for tenure and promotion to associate professor; Octavio Pimentel and Pinfan Zhu have received the Provost’s approval for promotion from associate to full professor. 

    Scott Mogull will present research on the accuracy of cited claims in the medical literature at the 42nd Conference of the European Medical Writers Association, which will be held in Munich, Germany this May.

    The Conference on College Composition and Communication has selected Miriam Williams and Octavio Pimentel’s Communicating Race, Ethnicity, and Identity in Technical Communication as the winner of the 2016 CCCC Technical and Scientific Communication Award in the category of Best Original Collection of Essays in Technical or Scientific Communication. Octavio and Miriam will be presented with the award at the Awards Session of the 2016 CCCC Convention in Houston this coming April.

    At the 2016 Association for Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW), to be held in Houston this April, Aimee Roundtree, Deb Balzhiser, and Miriam Williams will present research in a panel discussion titled, "Social Justice on Social Media: The Impact of Digital Technology on Political and Health Communication and Advocacy.” The focus of this year's ATTW conference is citizenship and advocacy in technical communication.

    Aimee Roundtree’s "Social Health Content and Activity on Facebook: A Survey Study,” was accepted for publication in the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication.

     

  • MATC faculty Deb Balzhiser along with coauthors Paul Sawyer (Southeastern Louisiana University) and MATC graduates Shen Womack-Smith and J A Smith's article, "Participatory Design Research for Curriculum Development of Graduate Programs for Workplace Professionals ,” was published in the Fall 2015 issue of Programmatic Perspectives.
     
    Miriam Williams and Octavio Pimentel’s Communicating Race, Ethnicity, and Identity in Technical Communication, published in 2015 by Baywood Publishing Company, has been nominated for the 2016 Technical and Scientific Communication Awards sponsored by the Conference on College Composition & Communication.

    MATC faculty Scott Mogull and Deb Balzhiser co-authored "Pharmaceutical Companies are Writing the Script for Health Consumerism," published in the August 2015 issue of Communication Design Quarterly as part of a special issue on medical rhetoric.

    Aimee Roundtree's book, Computer Simulation, Rhetoric, and the Scientific Imagination: How Virtual Evidence Shapes Science in the Making and in the News, was favorably reviewed in two technical communication journals. See excerpts from reviews below:

    [This book] is a timely exploration of computer simulation in scientific argument. The book is a needed foundation for future investigations into simulations and their construction and function in professional, scientific discourse as well as how simulations are used and discussed in public debates about climate change and other contentious scientific and technical debates. . . .Roundtree makes a well-argued and -supported exploration of a topic important to technical writers and science communication specialists. . . .Technical writing instructors would do well to consider ways to situate the writing about and inclusion of simulated evidence into students’ writing education, and she suggests that we can think about how to help simulation scientists understand the rhetorical choices they make to improve their work as well . . . Roundtree’s research supports these efforts and offers a framework for more scholarship on the construction, presentation, and reception of simulations.

    — Technical Communication Quarterly, June 2015 (24:3)

    In her stimulating book . . . Aimee Kendall Roundtree shows how computer simulations provide an alternate way of conducting science. . . .Roundtree’s thought-provoking analysis is recommended as a sourcebook for technical communicators seeking to understand how rhetoric works in scientific documentation, especially that involving computer simulations of procedures, usability interfaces, and other dynamic online content.

    — Technical Communication, Feb 2015 (62:1)

    Pinfan Zhu's article "Against Cultural Influence on Structuring a Discourse for Cross-Cultural Communication" was published as the lead article in the March 2015 issues of International Journal of Liberal Arts and Social Science. “The Impact of Business Cultural Values on Homepage Design That May Affect International Business" has been accepted by the Journal of Technical Writing & Communication.

    Libby Allison has been invited to participate in Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute, sponsored by Texas State’s Center for Diversity and Gender Studies.

    Miriam Williams has accepted an invitation to serve as guest speaker during Texas Tech University's Ph.D. in Technical Communication & Rhetoric Program's May Seminar, to be held May 22nd through June 4th, 2015.

    Scott Mogull’s article “Direct-to-Consumer Advertising and Health Consumerism” has been accepted for publication in Fall 2015 as part of a special issue of Communication Design Quarterly exploring health and medical discourses. CDQ is the peer-reviewed journal of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Design of Communication.

    Aimee Roundtree presented "Uncertainty in Healthcare Decisions" as a part of the Philosophy Dialogue Series.

    Scott Mogull's presentation, "Practices of Visual Inscriptions in Science and Engineering Discourse: Implications for Teaching," has been accepted at ProComm 2015, the annual conference of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Professional Communication Societ, to be held in Limerick, Ireland on July 12-15, 2015.

    Deb Balzhiser's article, “Participatory Media & Culture: The Spirit of the Human," written with Caroline Jones and former MATC students Julie Good and Tate English, appears in the latest issue of Technoculture.

    Pinfan Zhu’s article "On the Right Strategy for Translating Technical and Business Information" was published in the latest issue of the International Journal of Education and Social Science. His "Translation Criteria: How They May Affect International Business" was accepted by the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication for a forthcoming issue.

    Deb Balzhiser's article, "Community Guides: Disrupting Oppression in Comment Threads on Social Sites," written with Stephanie Vie (University of Central Florida) and Devon Fitzgerald Ralston (Miami University, Ohio), appears in the latest issue of Technoculture.

    Miriam Williams and Octavio Pimentel’s edited book collection, Communicating Race, Ethnicity, and Identity in Technical Communication, was favorably reviewed in the December 2014 issue of the Society for Technical Communication Journal.  The reviewer noted, "Communicating Race, Ethnicity, and Identity in Technical Communication has wide-reaching potential for readers and uses. Possible readers include scholars in technical communication and intercultural communication, practicing technical writers, and graduate students. Numerous possibilities exist for using this book in graduate courses, such as introduction to technical communication, intercultural rhetoric, proposal and grant writing, and courses that incorporate discussion about social justice."

    Miriam Williams accepted an invitation to serve on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication.

    Pinfan Zhu attended the International Organization of Social Sciences and Behavioral Research conference in Las Vegas on October 13-14, presenting "Translation Criteria: How They Affect International Business."

    Aimee Roundtree has accepted an invitation to serve on Texas State University's Institutional Review Board (IRB) Committee, which is the committee responsible for ensuring the ethical treatment of human research subjects. Aimee's book, Computer Simulation, Rhetoric, and the Scientific Imagination: How virtual evidence shapes science in the making and in the news, was favorably reviewed in the fall issue of Business and Professional Communication Quarterly.

    Scott Mogull's research article entitled "Integrating Online Informative Videos into Technical Communication Courses," has been accepted for publication in the December issue of IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. The case study describes the development and assessment of online informative videos integrated into introductory technical communication courses.

    Libby Allison will present  “The Risk of Teaching Writing in Context: The Lost Rewards of Writing about Difference” at the 2015 Conference on College Composition and Communication in Tampa, FL. Her presentation is part of a panel entitled “Twenty-Five Years after the 'Troubles at Texas’: Learning from Linda Brodkey and the Risks of Writing Pedagogy.”

    Aimee Roundtree will present her paper, "Computer Simulation as Rhetoric," at the National Communication Association Conference in Chicago, in November. Her book, Computer Simulation, Rhetoric, and the Scientific Imagination, was a finalist in the Foreword Book of the year award, in the Science category.

    Through the May 2014 Graduating Student Recognition of Campus Support Program, sponsored by the Texas State Office of Student Retention, the following faculty, staff and graduate assistants were identified by students as having had a significant impact on them during the students’ time at the university: Libby Allison, Deb Balzhiser, Scott Mogull, Miriam Williams, and Pinfan Zhu.

    In 2013-14, more faculty from the English Department served on Faculty Senate committees than from any other department including, Miriam Williams: Library Committee.

    Congratulations to Miriam Williams, who has been recommended for promotion to full professor.

    Pinfan Zhu completed the Sloane-C Online Certificate Program, which is a rigorous online training program that prepares faculty to improve online teaching.

    The American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) Southwest Chapter Conference will be held at Texas State University on June 21, 2014. Dr. Scott Mogull will present at the conference and is serving as conference host.

  • Pinfan Zhu attended the International Organization of Social Sciences and Behavioral Research conference in Las Vegas on October 13-14, presenting "Translation Criteria: How They Affect International Business."

    Aimee Roundtree has accepted an invitation to serve on Texas State University's Institutional Review Board (IRB) Committee, which is the committee responsible for ensuring the ethical treatment of human research subjects. Aimee's book, Computer Simulation, Rhetoric, and the Scientific Imagination: How virtual evidence shapes science in the making and in the news, was favorably reviewed in the fall issue of Business and Professional Communication Quarterly.

    Libby Allison will present  “The Risk of Teaching Writing in Context: The Lost Rewards of Writing about Difference” at the 2015 Conference on College Composition and Communication in Tampa, FL. Her presentation is part of a panel entitled “Twenty-Five Years after the 'Troubles at Texas’: Learning from Linda Brodkey and the Risks of Writing Pedagogy.”

    Aimee Roundtree will present her paper, "Computer Simulation as Rhetoric," at the National Communication Association Conference in Chicago, in November. Her book, Computer Simulation, Rhetoric, and the Scientific Imagination, was a finalist in the Foreword Book of the year award, in the Science category.

    Through the May 2014 Graduating Student Recognition of Campus Support Program, sponsored by the Texas State Office of Student Retention, the following faculty, staff and graduate assistants were identified by students as having had a significant impact on them during the students’ time at the university: Libby Allison, Deb Balzhiser, Scott Mogull, Miriam Williams, and Pinfan Zhu.

    In 2013-14, more faculty from the English Department served on Faculty Senate committees than from any other department including, Miriam Williams: Library Committee.

    Congratulations to Miriam Williams, who has been recommended for promotion to full professor.

    Pinfan Zhu completed the Sloane-C Online Certificate Program, which is a rigorous online training program that prepares faculty to improve online teaching.

    The American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) Southwest Chapter Conference will be held at Texas State University on June 21, 2014. Dr. Scott Mogull will present at the conference and is serving as conference host.

  • Pinfan Zhu's book, Communicating Traditional Chinese Medicine Across Cultures, was published by Scholars Press in November 2013.

    Scott Mogull has accepted an invitation to serve on the advisory committee for the Business & Technical Communication program at Austin Community College.

    Pinfan Zhu presented "Effective Information Design as a Means to Ensure the Success of International Business" at the Annual Conference of International Organization of Social Science and Behavoral Research, held Oct. 14 in New Orleans.

    Octavio Pimentel and Miriam Williams will present "Opening Technical Communication to Discussions of Race and Ethnicity: A Conversation between Scholars in Technical Communication and Rhetoric and Composition" at the Conference on College Composition and Communication, taking place in March 2014.

    On September 5 & 6, 2013, Scott A. Mogull spoke at a two-day trans-disciplinary symposium at the University of Cincinnati. Approximately 50 scholars from Communication and English Studies (technical and professional writing and composition & rhetoric) met for the first time at an event dedicated solely to the study of health and medical discourse. At this peer-reviewed, invitation-only event, speakers were selected based on their reputation as significant and widely respected scholars in the field of health and medical discourse. The event was sponsored by the Taft Research Center, the Urban Health Research Center, the Taft Research Center Medical Humanities Group, and the University of Cincinnati Faculty Development Council.

    Through a program coordinated by the Office of Retention Management and Planning, the following faculty and staff received letters of recognition from students graduating in December 2012 and attesting to the impact they had on the students’ lives and university careers: Libby Allison, Deb Balzhiser, Scott Mogull, and Pinfan Zhu.

    Miriam Williams and Octavio Pimentel's edited book collection, Communicating Race, Ethnicity, and Identity in Technical Communication, has been accepted for publication in Baywood Publishing's Technical Communication Series. Octavio’s article, "An Invitation to a Too-Long Postponed Conversation: Race and Composition," has been accepted for publication in Reflections: A Journal of Writing, Community Literacy, and Service Learning.

     

     

  • Libby Allison has been awarded a $1,961 Alkek Library Research Grant to cover the purchase of books and resources in the area of the rhetoric of risk, which is part of her research about the language of National Weather Service advisories. Libby also has been recognized as Favorite Professor by graduate student inductees to Texas State's Alpha Chi National College Honor Society.

    Pinfan Zhu presented "Translation Criteria and Their Impact on International Technical Communication" at the Annual Conference of the International Organization of Social Sciences and Behavioral Research, which took in Biloxi on Oct. 19th.

    This spring a number of faculty and staff were recognized by students as part of the University’s Retention Programs. In the Student Veteran Appreciation Program, students cited Deb Balzhiser. Spring 2012 graduating students cited Libby Allison and Deb Balzhiser.

    Miriam Williams has been selected to serve as a protégé in the American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ Millennium Leadership Initiative. As an MLI participant, she will be mentored by a college president throughout the 2012-2013 academic year. She will also attend the MLI Summer Institute in Washington, D.C. in June 2012.

    Pinfan Zhu’s article "Linking Contextual Factors with Rhetorical Pattern Shift," co-authored with Junhua Wang, has been nominated by the *Journal of Technical Writing and Communication* as the Best Article for Reporting Quantitative or Qualitative Research in 2012. His presentation "Using Globalization as a Shaping Tool to Reshape the Curriculum of Technical Communication Program" has been accepted by the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing.

    Miriam Williams has signed a book contract with Pearson Allyn & Bacon for Workplace Communication: Introducing Business, Professional, and Technical Communication. The textbook will be written for students enrolled in upper-level workplace writing courses.

  • Libby Allison has been named an Alpha Chi “Favorite Professor” for 2011.

    Pinfan Zhu’s "Application of Robert Gagne's Nine Principle Instructions to the Teaching of Web Localization " has been nominated for the NCTE/CCCC Best Article in Technical and Scientific Communication Award.

    Pinfan Zhu will present “Impact of Cultural Values on the Usability of International Websites” at the November meeting of the International Organization of Social Sciences and Behavioral Research, taking place in Las Vegas.

    Miriam Williams' article, " Game Theory and Technical Communication: Interpreting the Texas Two-Step Caucus Tier through Harsanyi Transformation," has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Techncial Writing and Communication. It is scheduled for publication in 2012.

    Pinfan Zhu’s "Cultural Values Carried in International Business Homepages That Failed to Accommodate the Needs of Cultural Audiences" was published in the Journal for Global Business Education.

    Miriam Williams has been selected as the next Presidential Fellow. From September 2011 through August 2012, Dr. Williams will be half time in the department and half time in her new role as fellow. She will have an office in the J. C. Kellam Building.

    Miriam Williams’ book, *From Black Codes to Recodification: Removing the Veil from Regulatory Writing,* which is part of the Baywood Technical Communication Series, was favorably reviewed in the current issue of *IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication*: "Williams’ text makes a significant contribution to the body of scholarship that broadens the scope of the field of technical communication – in theory and in practice – to include topics that focus on social and legal concerns and issues of civic engagement, public policy, and political discourse."

    Libby Allison has been awarded a $1,500 Library Research Grant from Alkek Library. Libby says that Graduate Student Susan Rauch also deserves credit for helping develop the grant proposal, which is to add medical and health care books and resources from Medieval, Renaissance/Early Modern, and Enlightenment periods to the campus library. Libby is working with Susan on discourse analysis of how language from medical handbooks from these periods either promote or resist the stigmatization of mental illness and brain disorders.

  • Drs. Miriam Williams and Octavio Pimentel were chosen to edit a special issue of the Journal of Business and Technical Communication on Race, Ethnicity, and Technical Communication: Examining Multicultural Issues within the United States. The issue was distributed in Fall 2010.

    Deb Balzhiser will present her paper on the panel, "Mapping Contested Spaces for the Undergraduate Major in Writing and Rhetoric," at the 2011 Conference on College Composition and Communication in Atlanta, GA.

    Pinfan Zhu and co-author and Kirk St. Amant published “An Application of Robert Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction to the Teaching of Website Localization” in a recent issue of the *Journal of Technical Writing & Technical Communication.* Pinfan also published “Problematic Graphics That Affect International Business” in the *Journal for Global Business Education.*

    The July 2010 issue of *Technical Communication Quarterly* includes an article co-authored by Dave Yeats, Ph.D., who taught a course in Project Management with the MATC program during Fall 2010. The article, “Mapping Technical and Professional Communication: A Summary and Survey of Academic Locations for Programs,” was written by Yeats and Isabelle Thompson. Yeats, who has a doctorate in Technical Communication and Rhetoric from Texas Tech and has taught at Auburn University, is a partner in Sentier Strategic Resources in Austin, which does usability studies.

    The following faculty and staff members from the MATC Program received Appreciation Letters from graduating students at the end of Spring 2010: Libby Allison, Deb Balzhiser, Miriam Williams, and Pinfan Zhu.

    Miriam Williams’ article “Understanding Public Policy Development as a Technological Process," which was published in the *Journal of Business and Technical Communication,* has been nominated for the National Council of Teachers of English award for Best Article on Philosophy or Theory of Technical or Scientific Communication.

    Libby Allison, Ph.D., Director of the MATC program, has been promoted to full professor, effective September 1, 2010.

    Dr. Pinfan Zhu’s "Cultural Blunders in International Professional Writing from a Semantic Perspective" appeared in a recent issue of Technical Communication.

    Dr. Pinfan Zhu has published the article he wrote titled, "Linking Contextual Factors with Rhetorical Pattern Shift: Direct and Indirect Strategies Recommended in English Business Communication Textbooks in China" in the March 2001 issue of The Journal of Technical Writing and Communication.

    Dr. 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.

    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. This fall marks the program's 10th year.

    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.

  • Dr. Libby Allison has been chosen as one of three Texas State faculty who will serve as Service-Learning Fellows for 2009-2010. Libby’s proposal is to include a service-learning component in a graduate online/hybrid course in Medical Rhetoric and Writing, in which students provide writing and editing consulting services to nonprofit health-care organizations in the region.

    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, which is approaching its ten-year anniversary. Also, Dr. Libby Allison will receive a service award at the University Convocation in August 2009 to mark her 10 years of dedicated work at Texas State University.

    Dr. Pinfan Zhu's presentation, "New Teaching Method: the Podcast as Applied in a Technical Communication Class," was accepted for the "Forces of Change in Technical and Professional Communication" session at the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association convention, to be held at Snowbird, October 8-10, 2009.

    In March 2009, Dr. Miriam Williams presented at the meeting of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing, held in conjunction with CCCC.

  • Pinfan Zhu’s article, “Language Problems to be Coped with in Web Localization,” has been published in the current issue of the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication. Zhu's article, "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, his "Semantic Problems that Affect International Business" was accepted by the Journal for Global Business Education.

    Dr. Miriam Williams' article, "Understanding Public Policy Development as a Technological Process," was accepted by the Journal of Business and Technical Communication.

    Dr. Libby Allison and Dr. Miriam Williams co-wrote the textbook, Writing for theGovernment, published by Pearson Education. The book is now in print.

    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. Libby's presentation is "The Perfect Words: How the Reality of Storm Disasters Changed the Language of National Weather Service Advisories." Miriam's presentation is "Documentation and Civic Participation: How the Reality of Pollution Changed Environmental Inspections and Monitoring." Pinfan Zhu's presentation is "Bad Design, Bad Treatment: How the Reality of Poor Document Design Hinders Health Care Communication."

    Miriam 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). Her book manuscript, From Black Codes 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. 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. Pinfan has also received a library grant for approximately $800 for resources on using multimedia in online international technical communication courses.

    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 Journal of the Society for Technical Communication. His article, "Language Problems to Be Coped with in Web Localization" was accepted and published by the Journal of Scientific and Technical Writing.