A Note From Our New President

Alas, it's the nature of a student STC chapter: As semesters change, new members join and existing members graduate, moving on to professional ventures in our field. The Spring semester of 2003 is no different — we wish our members who graduated in December the best in their careers (or their job searches in this tough market!), while we also welcome eight new members.

Our new members are joining us during a semester that will be a very active one for our chapter: We're collaborating with RPI's Writing Center to offer five workshops on technological tools and techniques for using them. The first two workshops, Introduction to Macromedia® Dreamweaver MX™ and Intermediate Dreamweaver MX™, were highly successful. In fact, many attendees told us they'd like to attend a third workshop on advanced features of Dreamweaver. (Let this be no mere, subtle hint: If anyone would like to volunteer to lead the workshop, please let me know. It'll do wonders for your résumé.) Our third workshop, on the Advanced Features of MS® Word™, was also a resounding success. Many thanks to guest lecturer Carrie Pascal for leading the course despite her recently broken ankle.

We'll be announcing the March and April workshops in a few weeks. In addition to conducting workshops, our officers, advisors, and members have also been exploring ways our chapter can participate in — or host — competitions and conferences. If you have any opinions about our Chapter getting involved with such activities, email me at willia3@rpi.edu; I welcome any insights you can share.

The Rensselaer/Jay R. Gould chapter, as young as it is, is one that has always been driven by student technical communicators seeking to make our chapter an active one that provides resources to not just its own members, but to all members of the RPI community and even to students at area schools. This semester, with many of our STC members volunteering to help with events, we are definitely building on the efforts of those who helped make this chapter what it is, one that continually seeks ways to better itself and the resources and services it provides its members.

Ashley Williams
President
Jay R. Gould Student Chapter of the STC

A Note From Our Outgoing Chapter President

Well, another semester begins. New faces can be found in the student lounges and the writing center; other faces, old familiar faces, are suspiciously missing. Mine is one of the missing, I have graduated from the M.S. program and have said good bye to my post as your student chapter president.

As I continue in my search for employment (or, likely find self-employment a more viable option in this currently desiccated job market), I find comfort in knowing that the STC will continue to provided the services and opportunities we worked so hard to get started. This newsletter is proof of that.

I would like to welcome the new student chapter president, Ashley Williams, to her post. Ms. Williams served as the V.P. of Administration last semester; her efforts proved beyond any doubt she is the best possible person for the job.

I would also like to extend a friendly welcome to all the new and returning chapter members. This chapter exists because of, and to serve, its student members. So, if you see a need that your STC student chapter could be filling, don't hesitate to write stc@rpi.edu. Or, better yet, volunteer to take on a leadership role and help your STC fill that gap.

Best to all,
Jennifer Bullard
Former President
Jay R. Gould Student Chapter of the STC

Director/Sponsor's Corner

For those of you who are graduating, congratulations. For those continuing on, keep the faith. It has been a long time since I was in college, and while there have been huge technological shifts, life itself hasn't changed much.

For those graduating, I am sure that the economy and jobs are right at the top of your list. The good news is that the economy is cyclical and it will get better. One of the most important lessons that I learned early in my working career was that most of us not only will have more than one career in our lifetimes, but we also need to figure out how to have more than one stream of income. Technical communication can and should be a big part of your life, but not the only thing in your life.

For those with another year or more to go, learning is a wonderful thing and you need to make it part of your everyday life, because our's is a profession that values education and lifetime learning. If you aren't learning something new, you aren't growing. And besides, the minute you stop learning, you start to lose the skills you need to make a living.

For all of you, I hope that you will make STC a big part of your life. For myself, I found out a number of years ago that STC was a wonderful place to find lifelong friends and opportunities.

Again, congratulations and success in whatever path you choose to follow.

Jonathan W. Baker
STC Director/Sponsor Region 1