[submitted by stc@stc.org]

The 2007 STC election is now open!

Please go to the STC Web site (http://www.stc.org/) and click on the “Vote Now” button to access the online voting. To log on, use your STC member number and password.

If you requested a paper ballot, one is being mailed to you. However, please consider voting online instead. By doing so you will save time and postage, and ensure that your vote is received immediately.

Online voting closes April 12, 2007, at 12:00 noon ET. If you have any questions, please contact Ed Rutkowski at ed@stc.org.

Have a say in STC’s future: Vote today!

Posted on behalf of Mollye Barrett, candidate for STC Director. If you have any questions, please contact Mollye at mollyeb@kencook.com. You may also post a comment here using the Comment button at the bottom of the article.

Every Member Counts!

Hi! I’m Mollye Barrett and I’m a candidate for STC Director. I’m asking for your vote in the coming STC elections because I support technical communicators and the needs of STC members. I believe every member counts.

I place great store in technical communicators, the work you perform and the value you add to society. You’re important and so is your work. As an STC Director, I will listen to members and learn about your challenges, I’ll work to support your needs and as a result, I’ll ensure that STC’s governance is transparent and responsive.

As a past president of the Wisconsin Chapter and a Region 6 Conference Committee member, I understand the challenges of STC leadership. These positions have led me to recognize that the society requires changes that will facilitate growth and renewal.

My experience as a chapter mentoring program manager has connected me with professionals and students seeking a rewarding career as technical communicators. I’ve learned that by listening, offering encouragement and guidance, I’ve helped others acquire the skills and knowledge to become valuable practitioners in their field.

My role as Director would be that of a facilitator and I’ll consider every issue by asking, “What do members want and need? What resources can the Society offer to support the members?”

My career has benefited from the educational opportunities of countless chapter meetings as well as many regional and international conferences. Further, I have developed a rich network of high-functioning technical communication professionals that are both colleagues and friends.

Service is the heart of a volunteer organization like STC and service is why I am a Director candidate. To the role of Director I offer my energy, creativity, and best communication skills.

My goals are clear: offer members the education, programming, and support they need to thrive in their careers, lead the society in changes that will facilitate growth and renewal, and enjoy the opportunity to work with everyone. Some inititatives I support and propose include:

• Regularly survey members on their interests and expectations
• Ensure that STC is a member-driven organization
• Focus on STC as both a professional development and social networking organization
• Build an international mentoring program
• Recognize and honor working technical communicators
• Support STC as a business focused on the needs of members
• Support a strong membership drive for new members and contact lapsed members, encouraging them to rejoin

I have been a member of STC since 1995 and have benefited from the service of others. Please contact me with questions, concerns, ideas or just to say hello.

You can view my candidate information on the STC candidate site (www.stc.org/candidatesFAQ/candBio01.asp?candID=22) and additional information on my campaign site (www.mollyebarrett.org). I look forward to your vote of support and the opportunity to serve STC.

Mollye Barrett
mollyeb@kencook.com

414-847-1271

Posted on behalf of Jonathan Baker, candidate for STC Director. If you have any questions, please contact Jonathan at jbaker2525@earthlink.net. You are also welcome to post comments here, using the Comments button at the bottom of the article.

What do you want from STC?

I know from STC surveys and my past experience on the STC Board that most
members value STC for networking (including the conferences),
publications, chapters, and SIGs. These same things have great value for
me. But as a professional, I want STC to provide training/education that
prepares us to grow in our jobs, certification that helps us progress
professionally, job leads that foster career growth, and industry
leadership that promotes a higher level of respect for the field of
technical communication.

The professional/job-oriented values are actually more important to me
personally than the other more social aspects. Don’t get me wrong, for
more than 10 years I’ve worked in the trenches just like most other
volunteers and I have made many friends within STC. However, the problem
is, I, like many other members, want more than STC has been able to
provide. Does that mean I give up on STC and move on? Not necessarily.

Generally, I believe STC needs to reinvent itself. From the inside, this
happens by fundamental changes in how STC does business. This means
bringing both STCís financial practices and governance, among other
things, into the 21st century.

Why should this matter to you? Because organizationally STC is still stuck
in the very comfortable past circa 1959, which means STC can’t possibly
deliver what you and I need a half a century later. Reinvention is the
single greatest challenge for STC. I believe that STC can successfully
reinvent itself, but only if the membership, including and especially the
leadership, can let go of the past.

I am in the process of writing several articles on STC’s finances and
governance. These articles will be available on the web shortly.

Read my articles. Get passionate. Vote.

As always please feel free to contact me at jbaker2525@earthlink.net.

Jonathan W. Baker
Candidate for Director

Editor’s note: Cindy is currently our Region 1 Director, and will be speaking at spectrum on March 23.

Taking Technical Communication to New Heights!

Hello STC members! I’m Cindy Currie, a candidate for Second Vice President (2VP). I’m currently a Director, Community Affairs Committee chair, and a Strategic Planning Committee member. I belong to the Northern New England and UK chapters and five SIGs. I’ve been a member since 1991 and a Fellow since 2005.

For the past two years, I’ve worked hard to help STC deliver more value for all members. I want to continue this work, and I feel that I can best do that by increasing my commitment to STC through the office of 2VP.

My primary focus is promoting the value of technical communication to business. We need to ensure that senior management fully understands the role we play in helping to increase the bottom line of business. It is through relationships at this level that we will succeed in bringing the profession closer to the core of business, raising its profile, and creating new and higher-level roles for technical communicators. I know we can do this by concentrating on four key areas:

• Codifying our body of knowledge – The certification debate continues, with strong feelings on both sides. Certification – if we choose to go in that direction – isn’t possible without a body of knowledge (BoK) against which to certify TCs. In either case, a BoK is essential to elevating the profession in the global business hierarchy, helping to further legitimize it.


• Enhancing and expanding professional growth opportunities – Members must be ready to meet new and exciting challenges, so we must provide a variety of business and leadership learning opportunities, as well as education and training on methods and tools.


• Creating a solid identity for STC – We need strong brand identity that loudly trumpets STC’s industry leadership of the profession, and is quickly and easily recognized as one that means quality – of both the practice and its practitioners.


• Reworking our business model and infrastructure – We must be able to identify, support, and promote changes and improvements with clarity, speed, and agility. STC is a business and we need to run it like a business with all the right frameworks in place to deliver on all of our commitments – to members, partners, academe, and business.

So, let’s take technical communication to new heights!

To learn more about all of this year’s candidates and to ask questions, please go to http://www.stc.org/candidatesFAQ/index.asp

• The STC office is sending this message on behalf of the STC Nominating Committee. If you have any questions please contact the Nominating Committee Chair, Vici Koster-Lenhardt at vkl_stc@yahoo.com.
  The STC Nominating Committee is pleased to announce the preliminary slate of candidates for the 2007 election.
  
• M. Katherine (Kit) Brown, Rocky Mountain and Snake River Chapters
  International Technical Communication, Management, Consulting & Independent Contracting, Information Design & Architecture, Instructional Design & Learning, Usability & User Experience, and Scientific Communication SIGs

Director:

• Jonathan Baker, Boston, India, Israel, Silicon Valley, & TransAlpine Chapters
  Consulting & Independent Contracting, International Technical Communication, and Management SIGs


• Mollye Barrett, Wisconsin Chapter
  Consulting & Independent Contracting, Emerging Technologies, International Technical Communication, Management, and Single Sourcing SIGs


• Nicoletta A. Bleiel, Pittsburgh Chapter
  Instructional Design & Learning and Single Sourcing SIGs


• Jackie Damrau, Lone Star Chapter
  Instructional Design & Learning and Management SIGs


• Leah Guren, Israel Chapter
  International Technical Communication and Usability & User Experience SIGs


• Steven Jong, Boston and Northern New England Chapters
  Management and Quality & Process Improvement SIGs


• Robert Young, Northeast Ohio Chapter
  Information Design & Architecture and Lone Writer SIGs

Treasurer:
William C. (W.C.) Wiese, (unopposed incumbent)
Orlando Chapter
Management SIG

Nominating Committee:

• Rachel Jordan Houghton, Mid-Valley and Willamette Valley Chapters
  Online and Technical Editing SIGs
  


• Suzanna Laurent, Oklahoma Chapter
  Consulting & Independent Contracting, International Technical Communication, Management, and Usability & User Experience SIGs

The Nominating Committee thanks everyone who expressed interest in running for a Society office for their dedication and willingness to serve.