Susan Katz

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Bio

Susan M. Katz, Associate Professor Emerita, spent 12 years in television and advertising before turning to the study of writing in public and private organizations. She earned her Ph.D. in Communication and Rhetoric at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1996. Dr. Katz teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the rhetoric of science and technology and coordinates the English Department Internship Program. Her research interests include the integration of verbal and visual rhetorics and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Dr. Katz has given presentations on workplace writing at many conferences and has published articles in The Journal of Engineering Education, The Journal of Business Communication, the IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, the Journal of Business and Technical Communication, and The Extended CCC. She is the author of The Dynamics of Writing Review: Opportunities for Growth and Change in the Workplace, a chapter of which was reprinted in the anthology Professional Writing and Rhetoric: Readings from the Field. She is co-author of Writing Now, a composition textbook published by Bedford/St. Martin’s in 2009. Dr. Katz is the recipient of the IEEE Professional Communication Society Outstanding Paper Award (1999), the NCSU College of Humanities and Social Sciences Outstanding Junior Faculty Award (2001), and the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools Achievement Award for New Scholars in the Humanities and the Arts (2003). In 2011 she was named an NCSU Community of Engaged Faculty Fellow for her work with the undergraduate and graduate internship programs in the Department of English.

Research Publications

Books

Start Your Career: 5 Steps to Finding the Right Job After College. Raleigh, NC: C&M Online Media, 2013.

Instructor’s Resource Manual: Writing Now. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009.

Writing Now. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. (Lee Odell and Susan M. Katz)

Instructor’s Resource Manual: Writing in a Visual Age. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006.

Writing in a Visual Age. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006. (Lee Odell and Susan M. Katz)

The Dynamics of Writing Review: Opportunities for Growth and Change in the Workplace. ATTW Contemporary Studies in Technical Communication, Volume 5. Greenwich, CT: Ablex, 1998.

Book Chapters

“Creating Bridges with Internships.” Academy-Industry Relationships and Partnerships: Perspectives for Technical Communicators. Ed. Kirk St. Amant and Tracy Bridgeford. Amityville, NY: Baywood. (In press.)

“Something Old, Something New: Multimedia in the Composition Class.” Multimodal Literacies and Emerging Genres in Student Compositions.  Carl Whithaus and Tracy Bowen, eds. Univ. of Pittsburgh Press. 2012. (Susan M. Katz and Lee Odell)

“Ethnographic Research.” Research in Technical Communication. ATTW Contemporary Studies in Technical Communication. Eds. Laura Gurak and Mary Lay. Westport, CT: Praeger Press, 2002. 23-46.

“On Taking Organizations Seriously: Organizations as Social Contexts for Technical Communication.” Theory, Practice, and Program Design in Technical Communication: Foundations for Teaching an Emergent Discipline. ATTW Contemporary Studies in Technical Communication, Volume 1. Katherine E. Staples and Cezar M. Ornatowski, eds. Ablex. 1997. 17-30. (Teresa M. Harrison and Susan M. Katz)

Articles in Refereed Journals

“Implications of Diffusion of Innovations Theory for A Culturally Sensitive Multi-sectoral Approach to HIV/AIDS Prevention.” Clinical Journal of HIV & AIDS. 1(1) (2017): 10-19. James Kiwanuka-Tondo, Jessica Katz Jameson and Susan Katz.

“Making the Most of Your Internship Program.” Programmatic Perspectives. Spring 2015.

“Making the Explicit Implicit in Assessing Multimodal Composition: Continuing the Conversation.” Technical Communication Quarterly. Winter 2012. (Susan M. Katz and Lee Odell)

“Yes, a Tee Shirt!: Visual Literacy in the Writing Class.” College Composition and Communication. September 2009. (Lee Odell and Susan M. Katz)

“Creating Appropriate Graphics for Business Situations.” Business Communication Quarterly 71:1 (March 2008): 71-75.

“Assessing a Hybrid Format.” Journal of Business and Technical Communication 22:1 (January 2008): 92-110.

“Optimizing ROI of Time-to-Market Practices.” Research Technology Management 48:3 (May-June 2005): 47-57. (Susan M. Katz, Robert Casey, and Lynda Aiman-Smith)

“Service-learning Partnerships: Is There a Snake in the Garden?” NSEE (National Society for Experiential Education) Quarterly 27:1 (Fall 2001): 8-14. (Susan M. Katz and Paul J. Organ)

“Moving from Print to Digital Media.” Works and Days, Special Issue, The Future of Narrative Discourse: Internet Constructs of Literacy and Identity, edited by Gian S. Pagnucci and Nicholas Mauriello. 17/18 (33-36): 1999-2000. 139-156. (Susan M. Katz and Lee Odell)

“A Newcomer Gains Power: An Analysis of the Role of Rhetorical Expertise.” The Journal of Business Communication 35:4 (1998): 419-442.

“How Newcomers Learn to Write: Resources for Guiding Newcomers” IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 41:3 (1998): 107-115.

“Learning to Write in Organizations: What Newcomers Learn about Writing on the Job.” IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 41:2 (1998): 165-174.

“Games and Strategies for Teaching Invention.” Language Arts Journal of Michigan, Fall 1995. 23-31. (Susan M. Katz and Leslie Richardson)

“The Entry-Level Engineer: Problems in Transition from Student to Professional.” Journal of Engineering Education, 1:3 July 1993. 171-174.

Editing

Editor, with Lee Odell, of special issue of Technical Communication Quarterly on Multimodal Assessment, Winter 2012.

Sponsored Case Studies

“Becoming a Champion: A Model for Managing Innovation.” Center for Innovation Management Studies. (http://cims.ncsu.edu:8080/researchprogram.php). (Susan M. Katz, Lotfi Belkhir, and Lynda Aiman Smith)

“There’s Gotta Be a Better Way: Easing Technology Transfer.” Center for Innovation Management Studies. (http://cims.ncsu.edu:8080/researchprogram.php). (Susan M. Katz, Sharon Roest, and Lynda Aiman-Smith)

Reprints

“Moving from Print to Digital Media.” Reprinted in Gian S. Pagnucci and Nicholas Mauriello, eds., Re-Mapping Narrative: Technology’s Impact on the Way We Write.   Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. 2008. (Susan M. Katz and Lee Odell)

“The job interview: Are we giving students a realistic picture of what to expect?” Reprinted in the Gordon College Newsletter, December 2007.

“Writing Review as an Opportunity for Individuation” (Chapter 5 in The Dynamics of Writing Review). Reprinted in Tim Peeples, ed., Professional Writing and Rhetoric: Readings from the Field (pp. 103-170). New York: Longman, 2003.

Papers in Conference Proceedings

“Multi-modal Program Review and Assessment.” Proceedings of the 34^th Annual Conference of the Council on Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication. Greenville, NC. October 2007.

“Learning Discourse Conventions: The Socialization of Technical Writers.” 42nd Annual Conference Proceedings, Washington, DC: Society for Technical Communication, April 1995.

“The Effect of Experience and Hierarchical Position on the Writer’s Perception of the Writing Process.” IPCC 92 Conference Record, Santa Fe: IEEE Professional Communication Society, October 1992.

Book Reviews

Writing in the Real World: Making the Transition from School to Work by Anne Beaufort. Reviewed in Issues in Writing, 11 (2), 2001.

Other Floors, Other Voices: A Textography of a Small University Building by John M. Swales. Reviewed in Journal of Business Communication, 36 (4), 1999.

Nonrefereed Articles and Reports

“The job interview: Are we giving students a realistic picture of what to expect?”  NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers) Journal. October 2007.

“Training Materials for Coherence Scoring.” Report for NSF-funded research project headed by Dr. Kitty Klein, Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC. May 1999.

Presentations

“Situational Factors Affecting Internship Programs.” Council on Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication, Colorado Springs, CO, October 2014.

“Transitioning from College to Workplace.” North Carolina Association of Colleges and Employers, Blowing Rock, NC, May, 2013. Invited luncheon speaker. [Note: A similar presentation was given to more than 20 student organizations at NCSU during the 2013-14 academic year.]

“Integrating coursework with the internship experience.” Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association, Boulder, CO, October 2012.

“Creating Bridges with Internships.” Council on Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication, Harrisonburg, VA, October 2011.

“Multimodality and Assessment.” Invited Plenary Session. Rhetorical Reflections: Borderless Communication in a Multimodal World. (Symposium sponsored jointly by Georgia Institute of Technology and Bedford/St. Martin’s). Atlanta, April 2010. (with Lee Odell)

“Assessing the Use of Technology to Enhance Student Learning.” CCCC Computer Connection, Conference on College Composition and Communication, Louisville, March 2010.

“Assessing Visuals in the Writing Classroom.” NC Symposium on Teaching Writing, Raleigh, October 2009.

“Beyond Joseph Williams: Rethinking Cohesion for Today’s Composition Class.” Conference on College Composition and Communication, San Francisco, March 2009.

“The Virtual Workplace: How Working Online Can Work for You.” Poster presentation at the Annual Convention of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing, San Francisco, March 2009. With Brenna Leath.

“Assessing Student Web Sites.” Re-Envisioning Writing Assessment: Diversity, Relevance, and Achievement. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, November 2008.

“The Service Program in Context.” Council on Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication, Minneapolis, October 2008.

“Boundary Spanners: A Review of What We Have Learned.” Center for Innovation Management Studies Fall Corporate Sponsor’s Meeting, Raleigh, NC, October 2008.

“Crying the News of Technology Opportunity: Influence Processes of Boundary Spanners.” INFORMS, Seattle, November 2007. (with Lynda Aiman-Smith)

“Multi-modal Program Review and Assessment.” Council on Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication, Greenville, NC, October 2007.

“Rethinking Our Role in Responding to and Evaluating Students’ Composition.” Conference on College Composition and Communication, New York City, March 2007.

“Connecting Upstream Science to Market Needs: Structured Workshops at Nanoscience Centers.” Association of Teachers of Technical Writing, New York City, March 2007.

“Graduate Student Projects and the New Economy.” Council on Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication, San Francisco, October 2006.

“Assessing Online Writing Modules.” NC State Undergraduate Assessment Symposium, Raleigh, April 2006.

“Defining Visual Rhetoric.” Conference on College Composition and Communication, Chicago, March 2006.

“Teaching Writing in a Hybrid Course.” UNC-Teaching and Learning with Technology Conference. Raleigh, March 2006.

“Online Modules for Business Communication.” Association for Business Communication, Irvine, California, October 2005.

“Assessing the Online Component of a Hybrid Course.” Pathways to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Raleigh, September 2005.

“Teaching Ethics and the Discourse of Professionalism.” Conference on College Composition and Communication, San Francisco, March 2005.

“Turn Your Research into a Teaching Tool.” Association for Business Communication, Boston, October 2004.

“Verbal and Visual Voice.” Conference on College Composition and Communication, New York City, March 2003. (I was unable to attend the conference due to a serious illness, but Professor Lee Odell of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute presented my paper for me.)

“Choosing Ethical Partners for the Service Learning Course.” Conference on College Composition and Communication, Chicago, March 2002.

“Training and Re-Training to Meet the Challenges of Tomorrow.” Association for Business Communication, San Diego. November 2001.

“Modeling Integrity and Responsibility in Choosing Service-Learning Partners.” Third National Conference on Moral Education in a Diverse Society, Durham, North Carolina, April 2001.

“Ensuring the Benefits (and Avoiding the Pitfalls) of Service Learning in the Business Communication Classroom.” Association for Business Communication, Atlanta. October 2000.

“Business Writing in the Public Sector.” Association for Business Communication, Los Angeles. November 1999.

“The Writing Review Session: An Opportunity for Gaining Power and Facilitating Change.” Association for Business Communication, San Antonio. November 1998.

“The Role of Media Richness Theory for Online Composition.” The Future of Narrative Discourse: Internet Constructs of Literacy and Identity (symposium), Pittsburgh. October 1998. (Invited participant).

“Writing as an Opportunity for Organizational Socialization.” National Communication Association, Chicago. November 1997.

“The Role of Writing in Organizational Socialization: How Newcomers Benefit from the Assignment of Writing Tasks.” A. F. Jacobson Symposium in Organizational Socialization, Omaha. May 1997.

“Rhetorical Expertise as a Source of Power in the Workplace: A Case Study of an ‘Expert’ Writer,” Conference on College Composition and Communication, Milwaukee. March 1996.

“Joining the Community: The Effect of Newcomers on the Discourse Conventions of an Organization,” MLA Convention, Chicago. December 1995.

“Learning Discourse Conventions: The Socialization of Technical Writers,” 42nd Annual Conference of the Society for Technical Communication, Washington, DC. April 1995.

“The Effect of an Expert Writer on the Discourse Conventions of a Government Bureaucracy,” Temple University’s 16th Annual Conference on Discourse Analysis, Philadelphia. April 1995.

“How Newcomers Influence Organizational Discourse Conventions,” Industrial Affiliates Review, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. April 1995.

“Learning Discourse Conventions: How Professionals Learn to Meet the Communication Requirements of Their Employing Organizations,” 1st Annual Rensselaer Graduate Student Conference on Communication, Troy. February 1995.

“Socialization Theory and Technical Writing,” Industrial Affiliates Review, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. April 1994.

“Socialization Processes of Technical Writers: How Students Become Professionals,” Conference on College Composition and Communication, San Diego. April 1993.

“Ethnography as a Composition Research Genre: The Practice of Ethnography,” National Council of Teachers of English, Louisville. November 1992.

“The Effect of Experience and Hierarchical Position on the Writer’s Perception of the Writing Process,” International Professional Communication Conference, Santa Fe. October 1992.

“Technical Communication: How Should It Be Taught?,” Association of Earth Science Editors 25th Annual Meeting, Troy. October 1991.

Projects

Since retirement I have found projects that fill the gaps left my those parts of my job that I enjoyed the most: I am a volunteer tour guide at the J.C. Raulston Arboretum; I help friends and family who are undecided about their careers or in the process of career change; and I volunteer with a number of nonprofit organizations. Instead of being productive in the sense of research and writing, I am productive more tangibly: I make baby blankets for Project Linus, and I make small stuffed animals that are distributed at Wake Med, through Hospice, to children in homeless shelters, and through other local nonprofits that provide services to children in need.

Area(s) of Expertise

Role of narrative in business discourse; Assessment of multimodal texts; Value of internships for students, universities, and communities; Scholarship of teaching and learning; Integration of verbal and visual rhetorics; Scientific rhetoric; Role of writing and writers in organizations; Socialization of newcomers to organizational practices; Transition between academic and workplace environments