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STC Education Committee
Goals and Objectives for 2003-2004
Priorities: The top priorities this year are incorporating the
materials developed on the STC-funded research project into the 8th Annual Central Florida
High School Writing Competition and increasing the number of classroom visits by Education
Committee and chapter members; nurturing our partnership with UCF by implementing a formal
mentoring program between professionals in the chapter and UCF student; re-securing the
financial foundation of the Pellegrin Scholarship Fund while still sustaining the
scholarships; and supporting the professional development of chapter members.
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Overall Goals |
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- Incorporate the turnkey multimedia presentations on technical communication (informational)
and the high school competition (promotional) into the 8th Annual Central Florida High School
Technical Writing Competition.
- Broaden the reach of the high school technical writing competition in Central Florida
by increasing the number of classroom visits by Education Committee and chapter members.
- Support the Society’s strategic goals and objectives on educational outreach and
professional competitions by making our tools and materials available Society-wide.
- Continue the Melissa Pellegrin Memorial Scholarship program at UCF and ensure
self-sustaining basis for Fund.
- Support educational and professional development for Orlando Chapter members.
- Nurture our partnership with UCF by instituting a formal mentoring program pairing
UCF students with professionals within the chapter.
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Specific Objectives |
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Scholarship Program
- Make budget adjustments if necessary to ensure long-term self-sustaining status of
scholarship fund. Ensure that the principal does not fall below $10,000.
- Continue long-term capital investment to rebuild and maintain the Melissa Pellegrin
Memorial Scholarship Fund as a self-sustaining endowment that will pay for scholarships
in the future; have a professional financial advisor review the Fund portfolio to ensure
an optimum balance between growth and risk.
- Assist chapter in mounting a fund-raising campaign based on the sale of Orlando Chapter
lapel pins (possibly in conjunction with a similar effort for the AccessAbility
SIG ["Operation Butterfly"]). See also the objective of expanding our effort to acquire
corporate sponsorships (under High School Competition, below).
- Continue to provide undergraduate and graduate Pellegrin scholarships to outstanding
technical communication majors at UCF.
- Increase efforts to promote scholarships at UCF; increase number of entries.
- Distribute informational flyer to honor Melissa's memory and to support fund-raising
for the endowment fund that bears her name at UCF.
High School Competition |
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- Sustain and build the high school technical writing competition in Central Florida.
- Increase number of classroom visits. Draw upon chapter members and UCF students as
well as Education Committee members to achieve this vital objective. Enlist the support of
the FTC in increasing visitations to high school classrooms, possibly by inviting some
mentor/mentee pairs to conduct such visits.
- In the cover letter for the mail-out for the 8th Annual Florida High School Technical
Writing Competition, offer to make a classroom visit to explain the principles of technical
communication and to encourage students to participate in the competition. Also offer to
provide a CD containing the turnkey multimedia presentations on technical communication
(informational) and the high school competition (promotional) developed under the grant project.
Enlist the aid of the Future Technical Communicators (FTC) Club in preparing the mail-outs.
- De-emphasize expansion of the competition statewide unless unsolicited requests from other
Florida STC Chapters—backed by firm commitments and discernible activity—dictate that we move
in that direction.
- Develop guidelines and judging criteria to prepare for possible addition of an online
category to the competition in 2004-2005 or 2005-2006.
- Sustain and augment corporate patronage of the competition by more aggressively
pursuing sponsors.
- Couple with fund-raising initiative to replenish Pellegrin Scholarship Fund.
- Develop brochure (paper and electronic) to support campaign to increase corporate
sponsorship of our educational outreach initiatives.
- Split funds evenly between the high school competition and the Pellegrin Fund to
defray costs of the former and preserve the self-sustaining status of the latter.
- Increase the level of publicity on the high school competition, especially within the
chapter membership.
- Come up with a high-interest participatory program for the 2004 high school/college
awards banquet which integrates the diverse elements within the audience (high school students
and their parents, faculty sponsors, UCF students, professionals in chapter).
Instructional Outreach to Support Local Educational Community in Teaching Writing |
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Support to the Society's Educational Outreach Initiative |
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- Respond to requests from other STC chapters for materials from the grant project.
- Work with the Society’s Strategic Planning and Vision Committee to develop/refine
specific objectives, strategies, and tactics in support of educational outreach.
Support to the Educational and Professional Development of Chapter Members |
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- Continue the tradition of potpourri-style, panel-forum chapter meetings ("Washlines IX")
presenting lessons learned at the 50th Annual Conference in Dallas, in August 2003.
- Post notes from the 50th Conference on the Education Committee Web page.
- Post professional development materials periodically on the Orlando Chapter listserv.
- Support chapter officers in developing and implementing a suitable professional development
activity to replace the annual Trends conference that was discontinued in 2000
(e.g., Saturday "mini-conferences").
Resources Permitting*:
- Investigate the acquisition of reusable assets for the chapter (e.g., building a
library of books, CD ROMs, videotapes, shareware). Report results and make recommendations
to the Administrative Council. If so directed, implement.
- Publicize the annual undergraduate and graduate scholarships from the Society for which
Chapter members may apply.
- Arrange for a common rent-free Central Florida sites for STC telephone seminars and coordinate
arrangements to allow interested chapter members and UCF students to divide
the $145 or $160 site registration fees, thereby providing low-cost educational/professional
development opportunities.
* Pursuit of these objectives would require an increase in the number of active members
on the Education Committee.
Mentoring |
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- Formal Program (with UCF)
- Survey UCF technical communication students and the Chapter to determine interest in
establishing a formal mentoring program pairing UCF students with expert practitioners
within the Chapter membership.
- Given interest, establish guidelines and procedures to govern the mentoring program and
orient both mentors and mentees in those procedures to kick off the program (note:
guidelines & procedures and administrative forms are already drafted).
- Implement, govern, collect data from, and report on the program.
- Informal (with UCF and with Secondary School Students)
- Continue to promote the academic growth of technical writing students (e.g., granting
interviews for technical writing projects, addressing technical writing classes, critiquing
student resumes and portfolios).
- Work towards a career forum for a select audience of high school students with an
aptitude and interest in technical communication (use above items to leverage this objective).
- Within STC
- Continue to assist other STC chapters concerning the roles, objectives, and strategies
of the Education Committee (make our Web page a benchmark for others to model).
- Provide our Web-based online judging tool as a template for other STC competitions.
- Potential Future Expansion of Orlando Chapter Mentoring Program
- Begin research on other STC mentoring programs involving pairing senior practitioners
within the chapter with those who have entered the profession more recently
(e.g., New York Metro, Carolina, and Silicon Valley chapters), paving the way to a potential
future expansion of the Orlando Chapter mentoring initiative to include such pairings.
Communications and Publicity |
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- Work jointly with the Publicity Manager, the Administrative Council, the newsletter editor, and the Chapter
Web site administrator to publicize and promote committee activities (e.g., awards and
scholarship presentations, the high school competition, fund-raising for the scholarship
fund) within the Chapter and the Society. Provide regular news updates and periodic
in-depth articles on committee activities to the chapter newsletter and the chapter listserv.
- Continue to maintain and administer the Education Committee portion of the Chapter Web site,
as part of overall Web site maintenance and upgrades.
- Provide the Publicity Manager with information to prepare and send out press releases on scholarships and high school
contest awards to the Orlando Sentinel, to college and high school newspapers, and to other media as appropriate.
Job Search |
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Resources Permitting*:
- Support UCF students and the chapter's Employment Manager in establishing and administering
a chapter-level SIG on Job Search. Activities could include:
- Maintain a listserv to network and exchange ideas
- Coordinate professional reviews of resumes and portfolios
- Provide article for Memo to Members
- Post to the general chapter listserv
- Establish a sub-page on the chapter web site for the Job Search SIG
* Pursuit of these objectives would require an increase in the number of active members
on the Education Committee.
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