I am a technical writer and editor by training, and I enjoy taking the written word and transforming it for a variety of contexts, whether that be to apply for a grant or to explain technical information to non-technical audiences. I take an organized approach to the task of creating new material and revising or recontextualizing existing material so that nothing gets lost in the otherwise messy process of content creation and refinement.
My undergraduate degree in professional and technical writing focused on editing techniques, both on the page and through the publishing process. My graduate degree in the same discipline focused on technical and nonfiction writing, with coursework in internet writing, grant writing, creative nonfiction writing, and theory courses in both technical writing and nonfiction analysis.
As a graduate student, I was able to experience the acquisitions process both as an author and as a developmental editor for our college’s peer-reviewed literary journal as well as act as managing editor for a live-to-the-world class blog, a process which simulated a high-volume web publication where my duties included creating and enforcing a multilayered content schedule, developmental editing, copy editing, and scheduling final publishing through a WordPress content management system.
My workplace experience has brought me up to speed on current standards of internet communication, scheduling etiquette, and office relationships according to a hierarchical organizational chart. I am skilled at politely and firmly enforcing confidentiality standards in an academic environment. In my most recent role as the executive assistant to the dean of the graduate and vice provost for graduate education, conversations regularly came up that were confidential in nature but necessary for context in scheduling and preparing for meetings that included academic administrators such as department chairs and graduate deans, legal officers, human resources officers, and fiscal officers.