Nick Healy joins Coughlin Companies
5/10/07
Nick Healy is the editorial director for Picture Window Books and Compass Point Books. He manages 12 people in his department; they come to the table with lots of different skills: editing, research, and writing.
Currently, Nick and his team are getting close to the printing deadline for the fall publishing list. This time of year involves lots of final revisions and corrections so the published books have accurate information. This season, the two companies will produce 92 new children's books.
Most of Nick's duties involve planning, research, and project management. He and his department have started to plan for the publications for 2008 and 2009.
Nick's time at MSU has had an impact on his current work as an editorial director. The creative writing faculty at MSU helped Nick prepare for his current career. He said, "I feel lucky to have been a student there." He went on to recommend that students take courses in technical writing & editing, desktop publishing, advanced composition, creative writing, and children's literature so that they can gain skills to use after they are done at MSU.
Tony Wacholtz's experience at Compass Point Books
Tony Wacholtz is currently an editor for Compass Point Books. His current editorial projects focus on the Exploring Science series, which covers scientific topics ranging from plate tectonics to the human body, for students grades 5 to 8.
After his first season at Compass Point Books Tony was nicknamed, "Bill Nye" because he took on any and all of the science books that Compass Point publishes. With his one and a half years at Compass Point Books, Tony has edited 21 books and assisted in the editing of several others.
Tony's education at MSU has been invaluable; he recommends that students get involved with the MSU chapter of STC and other professional organizations: "If you have the chance, do a research project for the Undergraduate Research Conference—there's no limit to what you can learn!"
Heather Davis' experience at James Tower
Heather Davis currently works at James Tower in North Mankato as a technical writer. She writes user guides for the web applications that James Tower implements on their clients' web sites. Currently, Heather is creating a demo system for PageFlex—a web based layout tool. PageFlex will allow users to arrange the layout of photographs and text online. Then users can send the documents to be printed or posted online.
Heather's work at James Tower requires that she uses the new tools of the industry. Technical communication tools change rapidly and that's why she went on to explain, "it's important to stay current with the trends in technology when working for a technology solutions provider".
Edell Fiedler teaches Technical Communication (ENG 271)
2/28/07
Edell Fiedler works for the city of Mankato as a public information assistant, which involves a variety of responsibilities, including, writing press releases, creating content for the city's website, and working on the city's monthly online newsletter and biannual print newsletter.
She uses QuarkXpress, InDesign, and Acrobat Pro to design publications such as the 2007 calendar and the numerous brochures that are printed and posted online.
Edell's other duties include planning events such as the senior expo.
In addition to Edell's duties with city, she teaches a section of Technical Communication (Eng 271): "I enjoy getting up in front of the students and sharing my knowledge of technical communication." Edell says that she has gained a sense of how much time faculty put into their teaching as well as additional respect for all those who teach.
Dimitri Zhurkin signs on with RWD Technologies
3/20/06
During his studies for his MA, Dimitri may have set the record for internships, completing work in usability with ITS and with the College of Allied Health & Nursing and completing work in documentation with the 3M project, sponsored through Technology Plus of Mankato. He completed his thesis, Navigational Strategies of College Students When Searching for Information on University Web Sites, and graduated in spring 2003.
[continued from homepage] Dimitri's first job following graduation was at IBM Rochester (MN), as a technical writer working on documentation projects, which frequently involved single sourcing. Recently, he was hired by RWD Technologies (Baltimore, MD) as an associate software engineer. RWD Technologies delivers training solutions, IT consulting services, and organizational performance improvement.
Dimitri recently wrote, stating, "I entered the graduate program in Technical Communication at MSU because I wanted to combine my passions for language and technology, and the program gave me more applicable theoretical knowledge and practical experiences than I could possibly hope for. The most important principle that I carried out of the program was that no matter what you are doing or planning to do in the workplace—writing manuals, developing online help systems, or hard coding—you must always keep your focus on end-users."
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Re-entry student conducted national search & chose MSU
2/15/06
After working in the electric utility and lighting specification industries in California for more than 20 years, Michael McCombs decided to seek a master's degree in technical communication. He sought a high-quality program within a medium-sized university in a healthy, friendly environment, and after a year of traveling to schools, reading reviews, studying the job market, and interviewing professors, he chose the MA program at MSU.
Michael graduated this past summer after completing his thesis: "Lighting Catalogs: User Preferences & Design Considerations." He is currently teaching composition and literature as well as technical and business communication full-time at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, while continuing to research and consult in lighting specification.
According to Michael, "My master's from MSU's technical communication program has opened up opportunities that simply were not available to me before. Every day, I use the knowledge and skills I acquired from MSU's graduate TC faculty."
