Network Bash a Success
11/04/09
Network Bash was a day long, not for profit event designed to bring college students and industry professionals under one roof to engage, connect, and build relationships for career opportunities. About 200 students participated in the event on November 4th, including a number of MAPC students. The event was organized by MAPC alumni Bobby Rettew and Ashley Cowden. The MAPC student chapter of the Society for Technical Communication had a recruitment table at the event to encourage new members to join during the current discounted membership period.
Oral Exam Preparation Workshop Scheduled
10/28/09
A workshop to help MAPC students prepare for the oral exam has been scheduled. The workshop will be held on Monday, November 2 at 3 PM in the Studio conference room. Drs. Katz, Haynes, and Ding will offer some thoughts about the oral exam and provide questions for practice and feedback.
All MAPC students are welcome to attend!
STC Offers Membership Deal for Students
10/23/09
Our student chapter of STC is now accepting applications for membership and is offering a pro-rated cost of $75 so that students can become members starting this fall instead of waiting until January. The membership fee will cover the rest of 2009 as well as all of 2010. You can become a member by visiting STC's website. If you have any questions about STC or need information on how to join, email our student chapter officers at softc@clemson.edu.
Clemson's student chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) is off to a great start this school year. Founded last fall, the Clemson chapter of STC has hosted many great speakers and has proven that being a member is well worth the effort. In September, STC hosted MAPC alum, Suzie Medders, who now works for Clemson in CCIT. The next meeting will be held Monday, October 26 at 11:30 am in the Class of 1941 Studio. Another MAPC alum, Annie Yukish will be speaking about her experience in the corporate world.
NetworkBash Planned for Job Seekers and Communicators
10/23/09
NetworkBash is a network-building event for Clemson students. Its goal is to empower students to connect, engage, and build career relationships. It will be held on November 4 from 1 to 8 PM in the Hendrix Center.
The event is being directed by Bobby Rettew, MAPC '03 and COO of VIEW Digital Media. Bobby's English 304 Business Writing class, along with a 304 class taught by Ashley Cowden, MAPC '03, are organizing the event.
The purpose of the event is to educate students how to pitch themselves and their ideas. It will also teach about tools available to network and help build relationships.
The day will include the Pitch Educational Program, an interactive tour for students to work with professionals to learn how to craft their “Pitch”, practice their “Pitch”, and finally document their “Pitch”. The graphic above represents that stages of this interactive tour. Also, there will be networking seminars with industry partners consisting of workshops and a panel discussion. Students will end the day with an after party giving them the opportunity to mingle with industry professionals in an informal atmosphere with free food and drinks! Visit NetworkBash fo more details.
Online Forum Created for Sharing Professional Communication Work
10/20/09
In support of the National Day on Writing, MAPC is pleased to announce the creation of the Clemson Gallery for Rhetoric, Professional, and Technical Communication (RPTC) in the National Gallery of Writing. The National Gallery is a project of the National Council of Teachers of English. RPTC is the initiative of MAPC second-year student Glen Southergill, who will serve as the curator.
Students and faculty are encouraged to submit original work to the gallery. Works should address a subject within the fields of rhetoric, professional and/or technical communication (including composition pedagogy). Submissions will be accepted until June 1, 2010.
Interested students may also serve on the curatorial committee to help select works to appear in the gallery.
To submit works or volunteer for the curatorial committee, contact Glen Southergill or Dr. Summer Taylor, who is serving as the Faculty Advisor for the project.
Intermedia Meeting of the Minds: A ‘Serious Play Day’ for User-Experience Professionals
10/10/09
iMM_2009 is a celebration of World Usability Day, and thus seeks to bring people together to consider tools and issues central to user-experience research and design. The event will be held in Clemson University’s Multimedia Authoring and Teaching Facility (MATRF, 409 Daniel Hall) on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 from 9:30am – 3:30 pm. The purpose of this industry-academia consortium is to explore how social media, serious gaming, and related rich media techniques can inform and improve user-experiences in Web 2.0 environments.
iMM_2009 will include two sessions. In the morning, invited user-experience professionals will give brief presentations on interfaces that they believe utilize Web 2.0 technologies to an exemplary degree. After the presentations, an open-ended discussion of the interfaces will attempt to articulate patterns or best practices that attendees can take with them and refer back to when making or evaluating their own designs in the future.
The afternoon session will feature the invited speakers serving as consultants or mentors to the accepted graduate students. In a format similar to CCCC’s Research Network Forum (RNF), students will be paired with UX professionals. Beginning with a brief account of the student’s research and ending with tips, insight, and a widened frame of reference, these round-table discussions will offer students a unique opportunity to collaborate, network, and learn from some of the best and most experienced UX professionals in the southeast.
STC Holds First Meeting of the Semester
10/8/09
The Clemson University student chapter of the Society for Technical Communication recently held its first meeting of the semester and is eager to accept new members! Officers urge first-year MAPC students especially to join the chapter to take advantage of the benefits available--everything ranging from networking opportunities with local STC chapters and professional communicators to access to hundreds of professional resources online. Thanks to a new 15-month pro-rated membership, students can now join and get three months free. To learn more about STC and/or to sign up, visit www.stc.org, or email Vice President of Membership Heather Witmer. We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting!
MAPC Student Joins Dean’s Council
10/6/09
The Dean's Council of Students Advisory Committee, led by Dean Egan of the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities, meets several times each semester in order to bring issues of importance from each program to the attention of the Dean for input, feedback, and prospective resolution. Janet Miller is the representative for the Master of Arts in Professional Communication program. Her role is to bring issues of concern to MAPC students to the council meeting. The next meeting is Thursday, October 15. Email Janet Miller if you have any concerns you wish her to voice.
First MMUG Workshop: Exporting CSS and Images
9/15/09
Wouldn't it be nice to simply draw a basic web site design in Fireworks and then instantly export the HTML, CSS code, and all associated files required to display the page, so that all the files are ready to upload to your web server? It's not just a dream.
This Wednesday 9/16 at 1PM in the MATRF (Daniel Hall, 409) Adobe expert David Sharpe will give an overview and hands on introduction to "Exporting CSS and Images" in Fireworks CS4.
Come out and take advantage of this opportunity provided by the South Carolina Adobe User Group.
MultiModal User Group (MMUG) Schedules Fall Workshops
9/15/09
MMUG is a grassroots community of faculty and graduate students across the College of Arts, Architecture, and Humanities who share their experiences with different technologies.
Each semester MMUG offers a variety of student/faculty lead and centered instructional workshops that typically run Fridays from 11 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in the MATRF (Daniel Hall 409) to aid in developing multimedia authoring technology skills.
Please visit the following site and click on "MMUG Workshops" for information about the upcoming workshops that are scheduled to take place this Fall semester: www.clemson.edu/caah/matrf
Meet the New MAPC Senators!
9/9/09 
Melissa Constante and Carly Finseth have joined the Graduate Student Government Senate as representatives from MAPC. Carly and Melissa are first-year MAPC students. In the first senate meeting, Melissa was nominated as the Chair for the Activities Committee. Carly has chosen to participate in two committees: Grants and Activities.
Carly joined the GSG because, “It's a great way to learn about the legislative process and is also a fantastic way to meet students from other graduate programs. Plus, you can be involved as a catalyst for change by signing up for various committees and volunteering to make a difference, one way or another, across the graduate school.”
Special Orientation Sessions for MAPC Students at the Library
8/27/09
The librarian for professional communication, Camille Cooper, has scheduled sessions to introduce MAPC students to the wealth of research sources in the Clemson library. The sessions will be tailored specifically for MAPC students. The three sessions will be the same and each will be about 45 minutes long. The time spent now will save students considerable time in the future!
The sessions will be held on Monday, September 7 at 11:15 AM and 2:30 PM and on Tuesday, September 8 at 1:30 PM. Meet Camille at the reference desk in the library (to the left of the main desk that is directly in front of you when you enter the library). If you can't attend any of these sessions, email Camille at cooper2@clemson.edu and she will set up a separate appointment with you.
Welcome, New Students!
8/24/09
The MAPC program is pleased to welcome our first-year students for 2009-10. New in the program are eleven students, coming from as far away as China, Washington and Oregon and as near as Clemson and Greenville, SC. Some of the students have joined us directly after finishing their undergraduate degrees, while others have worked for several years in professional communication or other fields.
The program held a Welcome Party for the new students on August 14. Faculty members Cynthia Haynes and Jan Holmevik hosted the party in their lovely home and spacious back yard, and second-year students and faculty attended to meet the first-year students and kick off the school year.
Congratulations, August Graduates!
8/9/09
Three MAPC students will graduate and become MAPC alumni on August 8. All three have found jobs in professional communication. Stuart Bagwell, whose project was chaired by Dr. Summer Taylor, is a Technical Writer with Motricity in Durham, NC. Ali Ferguson, whose thesis was chaired by Dr. Steve Katz, is an Editor with the Spiro Institute in Greenville, SC. Diana Thrasher, whose project was chaired by Dr. Sean Williams, is a Grants Coordinator with Clemson University. Congratulations and best wishes to these new alumni!