LSC Notes and Committee Reports
In this section, you'll find the following committee reports by scrolling down:
- LSC Officer Elections for 2008-2009
- Celebrate out latest DCSA and Fellow Recipients
- Member Recognition: Are You a Superstar?
- Scholarship Committee
- Volunteer Committee
- Mentor Program Committee
LSC
Officer Elections for 2008-2009
by Mel Haughton and
Jim Chambless, 2008 Nominating Committee
The election of a new LSC Administrative Council will be held at the April 10 program meeting. This year’s Nominating Committee is pleased to present the following slate of officers for the 2008-2009 program year:
Office |
Candidate |
President |
Elisa Miller |
First Vice President |
Kristin Kirkham |
Second Vice President |
Arroxane Ullman |
Parliamentarian |
Mike Hiatt |
Treasurer |
Chris LaPorte |
Secretary |
Robert Brown |
About the Candidates
Each candidate provided biographical information. Click on the candidate's name to read his or her biography.
Elisa Miller (President) — Elisa joined
STC in 2000 during the dot-com boom, and she immediately made her
presence felt in LSC by helping with public relations for the Winter
Workshops. Since then, she has served as Public Relations and Membership
Managers and co-chaired the 2006 Region 5 Conference in Dallas. Her
efforts resulted in her receiving the Distinguished Chapter Service
award last year.
Elisa started writing when she was seven, putting out her first newsletter when she was eight. She has a degree in Journalism and Marketing from the University of Arizona in Tucson and earned a master's degree in Instructional Technology from University of Texas–Austin. For the last ten years, Elisa has been involved in Internet/Web work, content strategy, information architecture, and interaction design and usability research for a number of companies, including Scient, Perot Systems, and Texas Instruments. She is currently a user experience architect for Ariesnet, a virtual web development company. Elisa's focus as an STC leader is on new career paths within the profession and on expanding opportunities for LSC members.
Kristin Kirkham (First Vice President) — Kristin
first joined STC as a student member at Texas Tech University in 2005.
She graduated in May 2006 with a BA in Technical Communication. Upon
graduation, she joined the Lone Star Community, where she currently
serves as Secretary.
Kristin’s first job involved technical writing for a software company in Addison. Currently, Kristin is the lone writer for BearCom, a wireless solutions company in Garland. Her duties there include creating white papers and product overviews, crafting RFP responses, writing and editing for the company magazine, creating marketing copy for the website, crafting success stories and news releases, and maintaining the writing standards and branding guidelines for the company.
Serving the LSC in a leadership position is something that excites Kristin, and she looks forward to another great year!
-
Arroxane Ullman (Second Vice President) — Arroxane
is a Senior Technical Writer at Sundance Digital. She has an MA in
Technical Writing and a BS in Liberal Arts. Arroxane has an eclectic
background and is a former U.S. Marine. She is grateful to be an active
member of LSC and a Big Sister with Big Brothers Big Sisters of North
Texas.
Mike Hiatt (Parliamentarian) — Mike is a
senior member of STC, having been a member of the Lone Star Community
since he joined. He currently is a senior technical writer with GENBAND,
Inc., a telecom signaling and switching company. He previously served
three years as Treasurer of the LSC and is currently serving as Parliamentarian.
Major accomplishments include moving the LSC's checking to a no-charge
account to eliminate banking fees and amending the bylaws to allow
for electronic voting by the Administrative Council. He has volunteered
for various projects, including judging STC competition entries for
several years. Mike notes that he has enjoyed serving on the LSC council
and looks forward to again serving the LSC in a leadership position.
-
Chris La Porte (Treasurer) — Chris is a
senior member of STC who has, as he put it, "had the honor to
serve as Treasurer for the past three years." His education includes
a BS in Journalism and a certificate in Technical Writing from Richland
College. After five years in the Air Force, he spent 25 years in the
business world before turning to technical writing. Currently, he
is a senior IT Technical Writer at Aviall, a division of Boeing.
- Robert Brown (Secretary) — Rob is a senior member of STC. He has been active in our community for about six years, serving as Competitions General Manager, Technical Publications Manager, and competitions judge. He has been a technical writer and instructional designer in Dallas for the past 20 years and received STC’s 2005-2006 Distinguished Community Service Award for his work as Competitions Manager for the LSC. As Secretary, he will work closely with the community president to ensure that all admin council meetings are accurately documented and that a draft of the minutes is quickly distributed to all admin council members after each meeting.
The Election Process
The election of officers takes place during the April 10 LSC meeting. The election process follows:
Who |
Task |
Each LSC member |
|
Nominating Committee |
|
Community President |
|
Officers must be elected on the first ballot by a majority of members voting, either in person or by written proxy. If no majority is obtained for a particular office on the first ballot, or if there is a tie, a second ballot is taken for that office to decide by plurality among the two or more candidates who received the greatest number of votes on the preceding ballot.
Voting by Proxy
If you cannot attend the April 10 meeting and would like to transfer your voting privilege to another LSC member, you must do so with a written proxy, using the Absentee Ballot.
- You can complete the proxy ballot and give it to the stated authorized LSC member.
- The person who is granted your proxy must present the signed proxy when registering for the meeting.
- If you do not want to grant full proxy and instead authorize a vote for a specific person and office, state that in the proxy. Such a proxy is valid only on the first ballot.
- The proxy is valid only if the member granting the proxy signs it.
Celebrate our latest DCSA and Fellow Recipients
LSC awarded Louellen Coker and Kristy Nolan with the Distinguished Chapter Service Award (DCSA) at its March 13 meeting. The DCA recognizes exemplary dedication to a chapter and its activities. This STC program began in 1988 with the first awards presented in 1989.
Mel Haughton, Immediate Past President of LSC and chair of the DCSA nominating committee, presented each recipient with a framed certificate and a floral bouquet. The citations for Louellen’s and Kristy’s awards appear below their photos. Congratulate these two LSC members the next time you see them!
 |
 |
Louellen Coker, DCSA Recipient Citation: For her exceptional leadership as Lone Star Community president and her encouragement and support as a mentor in the profession. |
Kristy Nolan, DCSA Recipient Citation: For sustained contributions to the Lone Star Community and for her experience, continuing education, hard work, and enthusiasm. |
LSC also congratulated Jackie Damrau, LSC Past President, on her recent honor of being awarded the rank of STC Fellow. This is the top membership rank that one can achieve. Jackie has served in a LSC leadership or committee management for the last eight years. Jackie will be honored at the STC Technical Communication Summit conference’s Awards Banquet to be held on June 3, 2008, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Susie Fox, LSC President, presented Jackie with a floral bouquet.
Susie presenting Jackie Damrau with
flowers
for achieving the rank of STC Fellow
(Join us in Philly to
celebrate Jackie’s achievement
at the Awards
Banquet on June 2nd!)
Member Recognition
by Mel
Haughton, LSC immediate past president
Are you a Superstar?
Do
you like making a difference and stepping up to help? Do you need a
few more samples for your portfolio? Do you want to work on your networking
skills? How about get your head around a new piece of software?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then dive in and start volunteering today. You’ll be on your way to becoming a Superstar!
You automatically receive points each time you participate in LSC activities. Points are based upon the activity and its point values and are listed in the table below.
LSC Activity |
Points |
Attend a monthly meeting |
1 |
Attend a council meeting |
1 |
Volunteer at an event |
2 |
Contribute to a community service effort |
1 |
Judge competitions |
3 |
Contribute an article to newsletter |
1 |
Bring a guest to meeting |
1 |
Be a mentor |
5 |
Present at an STC event (Local, regional, or international) |
2 |
Speak to a student group about Technical Communication and STC |
2 |
Convince a guest to join |
5 |
Our Volunteer Wrangler will keep score from August 1, 2007 to June 1, 2008. Collect a total of 20 points to become an LSC Superstar. All Superstars will be recognized at the September 2008 meeting.
So, start volunteering today and become a Superstar and become part of the Superstar team. Winners receive a unique LSC Superstar shirt. The only way to get this shirt is to get involved and earn those points.
Send an e-mail to volunteers@stc-dfw.org to learn more about volunteer opportunities.
Scholarship
Committee – March ’s Raffle Recipients
by Robert
Carr Harris, Manager,
Scholarship committee
A
wonderful array of prizes and the participation of attendees helped
make the door prize drawing special at LSC’s March meeting. The
prize sponsors included the Chili’s, Cinemark, Origins, and Barnes
and Noble.
The following three were the meeting’s lucky prize recipients:
- Louellen Coker, who won a navy STC totebag filled with an STC leather-bound memo pad, a leather-bound journal, an hors d’oeuvres set serving 24, and a time capsule kit.
- Susie Lynn Fox, who was the lucky winner of a dinner-and-a-movie prize pack, which included Chili’s gift certificates and two guest passes for Cinemark theatres.
- Kathy Goodman, who won a body care gift basket from Origins.
The money collected goes toward the LSC Scholarship fund. The latest Scholarship deadline was March 28. We will announce the Spring 2008 Scholarship recipients in May at our final program meeting of the season.
Visit the Scholarship link on the LSC Web site for more information on these scholarships.
Volunteer
Committee: Want to help a little?
by Mel
Haughton, LSC Volunteer
Wrangler
Do you want to get involved, learn new kills, network, and make a difference? It's your time to shine! Take a look at our current openings and let me know where you fit in! Just email me at mhaughton@gmail.com and let me know where you want to help!
Industry Researcher: Want to help us update the list of companies who hire technical writers in the DFW area? This is a great opportunity for you to find out who is hiring and make contacts in the industry. This job requires about 8 hours of your time. This is a one-time job.
Assistant Treasurer: Want to help our Treasurer, Chris LaPorte, keep track of LSC's finances? This job requires about 5 hours of your time every month, and you'll learn a lot about Quicken and Excel.
Public Relations Assistant Manager: Work with our Public Relations Manager to write and distribute press releases. This job requires about 3-5 hours of your time every month.
Mentoring Manager and Assistant Manager: Help set up programs for LSC mentors and protégées so they can share knowledge, bond with new members in our community, and avoid common mistakes. This job requires about 3 hours of your time every month.
Scholarship Manager and Assistant Manager: Get the word out to students in our area about scholarship and learning opportunities, and help raise money for the LSC Scholarship Fund. This job requires about 3-5 hours of your time every month.
Competitions Managers: We're looking for Online, Technical Publications and Technical Art Competitions Managers and Co-Managers. This job will require about 8 hours of your time monthly from October 2008 through January 2009. Several positions are available. You'll help judge and organize the yearly LSC Competitions. For more information, go to http://www.stc-dfw.org/pages/comp_main.htm.
LSC Fort Worth Satellite Manager: Do you live and Ft. Worth and want to get a group together in your neck of the woods? This job requires about 3 hours of your time every month, and you'll help set up meetings in Ft. Worth.
Mentor Program:
Why Mentoring Matters?
by Ann Balaban, Associate Fellow
and Manager, Mentoring Committee
STC is always looking for new leaders. One way to locate and retain our next generation of leaders is by mentoring.
Mentoring can help STC develop new leaders while enhancing your career development and improving your technical knowledge. Besides all these great benefits, it really improves your self-esteem! The mentor’s growth occurs right along with the protégé’s.
The purpose for mentoring is to encourage growth of a less experienced person in their profession and within STC. Your experiences learning about and working with others qualifies you to be a mentor. If you had a mentor when you were starting out, imagine what a difference it would have made—if only I knew then what I know now! This is your chance to share your experiences, your enthusiasm for your work, and your interests with someone just starting out in technical communication.
In a mentoring relationship, the mentor and protégé:
- Identify objectives, goals, and development needs
- Define and establish a plan to accomplish goals
- Meet regularly in person, by phone, or through e-mail to review and evaluate progress
Mentoring is all-inclusive—no one is excluded who wants to participate. You do not have to be a student to be a protégé. Whether you are new to technical communication—just starting out or making a career change—or you have been a technical communicator for awhile and need guidance to jump-start your career, you can be a part of the mentoring program. Success is based on what you want to do. A mentor can suggest methods for advancement, recommend books and other resources, and offer résumé assistance and career guidance. As a protégé, you have requirements to fulfill, too. You should ask questions, listen and be open to suggestions, and keep the lines of communication open.
The STC Lone Star community is continually looking for mentors and people who need mentors. This is a wonderful program that benefits all involved.
Resources:
- About.com: www.about.com
- The Mentoring Leadership & Resource Network: www.mentors.com
- The Resources Agency Mentor Program
- Catheryn Mason and Elizabeth Bailey, “Benefits and Pitfalls of Mentoring,” STC 2005 Annual Conference Proceedings.