First-Time Attendee Impressions: Maximizing the ABC Conference Experience

As a 2019 first-time attendee of the Association for Business Communication international conference, I left Detroit with ideas for research and teaching plus connections with professionals in the field. However, I was able to derive such significant value from the conference by maximizing several opportunities. What follows are the auto-ethnographic impressions of a first-time ABC conference attendee, which include actionable suggestions for future newcomers. Continue reading First-Time Attendee Impressions: Maximizing the ABC Conference Experience

James M. Dubinsky, Associate Professor, D/English, VT, Exec Director, ABC

A Conversation with Jim Dubinsky

James M. Dubinsky is an associate professor of Rhetoric and Writing in the Department of English at Virginia Tech (VT). He was the founding director of the department’s Professional Writing program and of VT Engage, the University’s service-learning and civic engagement center. He is a past president of the Association for Business Communication (ABC), and since 2011, he has been serving as its Executive Director. Equally important, Jim is retired from 28 years of service in the U.S. Army and has been working to build a Veterans in Society focus at Virginia Tech. Continue reading A Conversation with Jim Dubinsky

Scott Warnock

An Interview with Scott Warnock

Scott Warnock, PhD, is a Professor of English and the Director of the University Writing Program at Drexel University. Warnock is the author of Teaching Writing Online: How and Why; Writing Together: Ten Weeks Teaching and Studenting in an Online Writing Course, with Diana Gasiewski; and numerous chapters and journal articles about online writing instruction, computers and composition, and education technology. Continue reading An Interview with Scott Warnock

How Nonprofit Organizations Are Communicating Through the COVID-19 Disaster

The current COVID-19 pandemic represents something unimaginable a few months ago, except to disaster planners and infectious disease experts. Public discourse about the disaster has focused predominately on the for-profit and governmental sectors, hardly touching on how nonprofit organizations are coping with the fallout of the pandemic. Given the disparity, I sought to find out how public charities in my region are coping, including their communication efforts. The Greater Sacramento Area is a seven-county region in Northern California that includes both urban and rural populations. The region houses the state capital (in Sacramento). Because of its diversity, the region is a good bellwether for the nonprofit sector in the state, which is also at the leading edge of the nonprofit sector. Continue reading How Nonprofit Organizations Are Communicating Through the COVID-19 Disaster