Alumni ProfilesThroughout my graduate career I have had the privilege of working as a graduate assistant under the instruction and guidance of Dr. Karen Kuralt, the Professional and Technical Writing Graduate Coordinator. As the Assistant Graduate Coordinator, I have been responsible for the successful collection and storage of the admission materials for incoming graduate students of the program. Besides this monthly task the first major assignment I was given was to gather and publish alumni profiles. As a way to promote the M.A. program and to shine the spotlight on some of our amazing alumni, and in addition to answering some general questions, the Alumni Profiles were created and added to the program's website using WordPress.
For the purpose of this portfolio I reached out to three alumni who had a profile previously published, and I simply asked for an update. Some of the alumni featured had either changed work titles or positions since I first published their profiles. The three profile's showcased in this portfolio are located in the Scribd window to the right. Included are the original published profiles, followed by the updated version. These alumni profiles, as well as many others, can be found using this link. |
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Faculty SpotlightThe Professional and Technical Writing program has some of the best faculty members on the campus of UA Little Rock. As a way to shine the light on the fantastic faculty and get to know them outside of the classroom, I decided to start the Faculty Spotlight articles. This idea was originally discussed in a meeting with Dr. Kuralt as part of a discussion on increasing our social media presence, and highlighting some of the key factors that have made this program and its students so successful. And it all starts with the faculty. So as a way of letting them know that they are appreciated, I began interviewing graduate faculty members.
The first interview I completed with Dr. Earnest Cox was a huge success. When I conducted his interview, I did so by recording the session and then transcribing it. The second interview with Dr. Barbara L'eplattenier was also a success. However, part of the interview was recorded and then transcribed, and the other half was completed via e-mail. For the last interview I completed with Dr. Heidi Harris, I decided to take a different approach. Because of time constraints, I e-mailed the questions to Dr. Harris, and we worked on the article using Google Docs. This method of interviewing went quite well, although the format of the final document was in Q and A style. A PDF copy of each interview is in the Scribd window to the right, and a web link to the articles on the program's webpage can be found using this link. |
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Social MediaIn addition to gathering and storing admissions material, and in addition to maintaining the alumni profiles and faculty spotlights, I also became a member of the social media team. The objective of this team was to make and maintain an active social media presence for the graduate program. When we first published our Facebook page, Dr. Kuralt and I were responsible for monitoring and publishing to the program's Facebook page. After several unsuccessful attempts at trying to maintain weekly activities on the page, Dr. Kuralt decided to enlist a few more people who could help with publishing and maintaining an active social media presence.
To date we have successfully maintained an active social media presence and have gained 200+ new Likes to the page. That is a big leap from the 60 or so we had when we first started the page. Many, in fact all, of the assignments worked on (Alumni profiles and Faculty spotlights) have been published and shared on the program's Facebook page. A screen shot of the demographics are found in the Scribd window to the right. But to get a better feel of the page and its community, please check out this link to the Professional and Technical Writing Graduate Facebook page and feel free to Like and Share. |
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