Latest and Greatest
What do isophene, winblunder, and snoob have in common? They are words featured and feted on the 50 Words for Snow podcast, hosted by Maggie Rowe and Emily John Garcés. I was honoured to be a guest last month, talking about isophene, asymptote, and benestrophe. If you love language, and wish there was a phrase that could encapsulate that weird experience you just had, Maggie and Emily have the portal to a new word…encou(n)ters: Ars Scientia Symposium 2023. Hosted by the Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute. A truly remarkable experience – I was honoured to be asked to introduce the symposium’s keynote speaker, the talented Kavita Philip, and tell a bit of my own story at the intersection of science and art.
NES Artist Residency. In the fall of 2025, I’ll be about one degree south of the Arctic Circle, attending a three-month artist residency in beautiful Skagaströnd, Iceland. I’m thrilled and honored to be included amongst the many gifted, innovative, and passionate people with whom I’ll share this experience.
Futurescapes 2023 Conference. For writers of speculative fiction, science fiction, and fantasy. My first Futurescapes conference was a wonderful experience, complete with encouraging faculty, supportive and talented participants, and inspired stories.
Storytelling, Persuasion, and Physics – Creative Writing at the Quantum Matter Institute. A hybrid course of creative writers and quantum physicists working together to write compelling stories about some of the most complex and curious concepts in science.
Education
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, completed in May 2024. Thesis project: For Lack of Better, a memoir and travelogue.
Doctoral coursework in Interdisciplinary Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, September 2018 – August 2022; Public Scholar, September 2019.
Master of Liberal Arts, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, USA, May 2011.
Thesis: Mind the Gap: How Metaphor and Mathematics Make (and Remake) the World.
BS Communication, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA, May 1998.
AS Math and Science, Hudson Valley Community College, Troy, NY, USA, May 1996.
Teaching and Mentoring Experience
Writing Consultant, Centre for Writing and Scholarly Communication (CWSC), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. September 2020 – April 2021. Met with undergraduate and graduate students one-on-one to provide feedback and critique on their writing assignments, projects, theses, and dissertations.
Mentor, Minds On at the Rensselaerville Institute (now the Carey Institute for Global Good), Rensselaerville, NY, May 16, 2013 & May 15, 2014. Participated as a mentor in the Institute’s Young Writers Day, exploring creative writing techniques with various groups of 4th, 5th, and 6th graders from local schools.
Adjunct Instructor, Hudson Valley Community College, Troy, NY, August – December 2012. Taught ENGL 101 English Composition I as an adjunct instructor, both at HVCC’s Troy campus and off-site at the college’s Albany Extension Center in Albany, NY.
Instructor, The Sage Colleges, Albany and Troy, NY campuses, September 2007 – May 2008. Taught as a full-time faculty member in the Communication and Information Design departments at The Sage College of Albany and Russell Sage College in Troy. Courses taught included Introduction to Public Relations, Oral Communciation, Writing for Mass Media, and Media Theory.
Teaching Assistant, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Department of Language, Literature & Communication, Troy, NY, August – December 1998. Led a 2-hour discussion group of 30 students in an introductory communication theory course. Responsible for grading papers and exams, assisting the professors in the plenary sessions, and responding to students’ questions and concerns outside of class.
Professional Experience
Principal, Susan J. Sechrist Technical Communication, April 2002 – Present. Provide clients with web site content development and management consulting, technical writing and editing, process management and business analysis, and technology transfer and marketing services. Highlighted clients and projects include:
- Public Consulting Group (PCG) – Consulted as a technical editor on several of PCG’s public sector software implementation projects, developing test and use cases, user acceptance testing documentation, business requirements documentation, and system and user documentation, most recently for PCG’s Vendor Registration Claim Payment System project for the state of Indiana.
- IEEE Engineering 360 – Consulted as a managing editor for IEEE Engineering 360, a source of critical engineering content, information, insight, and tools for engineers and technical professionals across multiple industries and disciplines. I wrote monthly newsletters as well as managed three freelancers, providing editorial guidance and oversight.
- Enervision Media – Consulted as a senior content strategist, creating and managing content for client marketing, positioning, promotion, and education needs, and produced newsletter, white paper, and user assistance content for large and small technology enterprises and government agencies. I also contributed to Enervision’s blog, The User Experience Monitor (archived at Improving the User Experience).
- Excelsior University – Consulted as a web and marketing content strategist, helping the college build web content, email campaigns, and communication plans to promote their programs, courses, and exams. Excelsior is a long-term client, and I’ve worked with them on several projects, including migrating a large, static HTML web site to an Oracle Portal infrastructure, editing and organizing content, and building style and standards documents. I’ve consulted as a web content manager for a 2-year web site redesign project using Liferay and WordPress content management systems, and helped the college build and launch their student portal, The Excelsior Experience.
Media Projects Manager, Lighting Research Center, September 1996 – April 2002. Developed and managed print and online communication projects, including creating new publication processes. Responsible for creating web sites, relational databases, image files, and PDF documents for the web and interactive CD-ROMs. Wrote press releases, articles, and research proposals; and edited technical papers for journal proceedings.
Presentations
The European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) Conference, August 2020. Presented a collaborative project, The Hyperbola Stories, as part of a virtual panel, “Aesthetics as Intervention.”
Nexus Conference, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, March 13, 2020. Invited to participate on the Failing Forward panel.
Conference of the SUNY Council on Writing, University at Albany, Albany, NY, March 5, 2016. Invited to participate in a panel discussion: “Living by the keyboard: writing approaches of professional and technical writers.”
Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs, Annual Conference, Portland, OR, October 2012. Presented a paper, “Is Facebook the New Scriptorium?” at the AGLSP’s 2012 conference.
Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs, Annual Conference, Saratoga Springs, NY, October 2011. Presented a paper, “How Has Water Helped Form and Build Our Cognitive and Linguistic Processes?” at the AGLSP’s 2011 conference.
Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs, Annual Conference, Dallas, TX, October 2010. Presented a paper, “How Does the Fantastical Transform the City?” at the AGLSP’s 2010 conference.
Skidmore College Masterworks, Saratoga Springs, May 2010. Presented a portion of my master’s thesis, “Mind the Gap: How Mathematics and Metaphor Make (and Remake) the World” at the college’s annual commencement celebration.
Society of Technical Communication 53rd Annual Conference, Las Vegas, NV, May 2006. Presented a paper, “The Writer’s Role: A Narrative Voice,” at the STC’s 2006 conference. Also presented for the local STC Chapter at Skidmore College in July 2006.
Workshops
Complexity Interactive at the Santa Fe Institute, July 2021. Attended a three-week virtual seminar and workshop to explore the intersections between complexity studies, emergence, and fiction writing. Developed a short story, “Welcome to Walmart” as part of the collaborative final paper.
The 26th Annual NYS Summer Writers Institute at Skidmore College, July 1 – 27, 2012. Attended two Intermediate Fiction workshops with authors Elizabeth Benedict, Victoria Redel, Danzy Senna, and Darin Strauss.
Southern Vermont College Low Residency Writers program (no longer running), 2002-2003. Took poetry and prose courses with authors Joe Cardillo and Elaine McHenry.
Susan Sechrist 