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Contact Us

 

Ann S. Jennings
S-1045
(713) 221-8453
Jenningsa@uhd.edu

 

Teaching and Research Interests:

Frequently Taught Courses:

• ENG 3302 - Business and Technical Report Writing
• ENG 3336 - Writing for the Web
• ENG 4322 - Editing, Rewriting and Copyreading
• ENG 5330 - Visual Design Theory
• ENG 6322 - Instructional Design

“I enjoy teaching both online and face-to-face.”

Topics of Research Interest: 

• How the structuring and presentation of visual material can increase viewer comprehension
• The ways that editing can increase viewers' ease of reading and comprehending a document
• How social media are used in corporate settings and can enrich classes
• The Technical Communication Body of Knowledge (TCBOK) of the Society for Technical Communication.

“These topics show up in various guises in my courses. I tend to write about the things that I have taught or would like to teach. For example, my most recently published article, “Creating Marketing Slides for Engineering Presentations,” has roots in the visual design theory course, the instructional design course, and my years in sales.”

Educational Background:

• Ph.D., Humanities, Florida State University
• M.A., Speech, Florida State University
• B.A., English, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Professional Background Outside of Academia:
“My experience includes nearly 13 years selling securities and writing and editing sales training material. I continue to serve as a consultant to corporations on writing and presentation skills and as a technical editor. My thirteen year stint in the corporate world and continuing work as a consultant has contributed mightily to my ability to offer useful insights to students.”

Awards:

• Jay R. Gould Award for Excellence in Teaching Technical Communication (2009). This award is made annually by the Society for Technical Communication.
• A week-long trip to Madrid to participate in an international business ethics symposium and workshop (2007).
• An ethics grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (2006) to organize activities in which the MSPWTC faculty created ethics modules for the four core courses of the degree program.
• Silver Remi Award for screenplay “Part-Time Czar,” Worldfest 2003.
• Rudolph J. Joenk award for the best paper published during 2000 in IEEE Transactions in Professional Communication, October 2001. Paper: “Employed Students: Ethical and Legal Issues in the Technical Communication Classroom, 43, no. 4 (December 2000): 368-385.

Publications:
Jennings, Ann. "Creating Marketing Slides for Engineering Presentations." Technical Communication. 56.1 (2009): 14-27.

Jennings, Ann. “Creating an Interactive Science Murder Mystery Game: The Optimal Experience of Flow,” IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 45, no. 4 (December 2002): 297-301.

Jennings, Ann. “Teaching a Workshop on Sentence Diagramming,” Intercom 49, no. 5 (May 2002), 36-38.

Jennings, Ann. “Employed Students: Ethical and Legal Issues in the Technical Communication Classroom, IEEE Transactions in Professional Communication 43, no. 4 (December 2000): 368-385.

Jennings, Ann. “An Overlooked Site of Trade Secret Leaks: Academia,” by Ann S. Jennings and Suzanne E. Tomkies, Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal 8, no. 2 (Winter 2000): 241-264.

Jennings, Ann. “Accident” (short story). Murderous Intent Mystery Magazine 3, no. 4 (Fall 1997): 20.

Jennings, Ann. “Customer-Centered Writing the Electronic Way,” Intercom 43, no. 2 (February 1996): 8-9.

“Brochures: A Key for Independent Contractors,” Intercom 42, no. 6 (July/August 1995): 20-21. Reprinted from “Brochures: The Meat and Potatoes of Marketing,” Dateline Houston 34, no. 10 (June 1995): 4, 11.

Jennings, Ann. “Investors Worldwide Seen as Gold Eagle's Market,” Houston Downtown, 1 December 1985: 15+.

Jennings, Ann. “Financial Planners Address Strategies for Imaginary Wage-Earners,” Houston Downtown, 14 January 1985: 8+.

Jennings, Ann. “For the First Time: The Arts at Mid-life,” The NYSATA Bulletin (journal of the New York State Art Teachers Association), May 1979: 24-25. Reprinted in Lifelong Learning and the Visual Arts, National Art Education Association 1 (1980): 18-22.

Jennings, Ann. “Universities and the Arts: A Whole Life Approach,” Art Education 30, no. 4. April 1977: 9-11.

Jennings, Ann. “Accident” (short story). Murderous Intent Mystery Magazine 3, no. 4 (Fall 1997): 20.

Jennings, Ann. “Kingfish on the Air” (short story). Back Porch 2, no. 3 (Fall 1994): 20+.

Jennings, Ann. “Jack London's Code of the Northland,” Alaska Review, Fall 1964: 43-48.

Book Reviews:
Jennings, Ann. Rev. of The Online Learning Idea Book: 95 Proven Ways to Enhance Technology-Based and Blended Learning ed. by Patti Shank, Technical Communication 56:2 (May 2009): 197-198.

Jennings, Ann. Rev. of Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Sentence Diagramming Sentences by Kitty Burns Florey. Technical Communication 55:2 (May 2008): 211-212.

Jennings, Ann.  Rev. of Training Needs Assessment: Methods, Tools, and Techniques by Jean Barbazett. Technical Communication 54:2 (May 2007): 242-243.

Jennings, Ann. Rev. of Training the Active Training Way: 8 Strategies to Spark Learning and Change by Max Silberman. Technical Communication 54:1 (February 2007): 108-109.

Jennings, Ann. Rev of The Other Blended Learning: A Classroom-centered Approach by Diann Wilson and Ellen Smilanich. Technical Communication 53:3 (August 2006): 354-355.

Jennings, Ann. Rev. of Grant Seeking in an Electronic Age by Victoria M. Mikelonis, et al. Technical Communication 52:2 (May 2005): 226-227.

Jennings, Ann. Rev. of Son of Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design by Vincent Flanders. Technical Communication 51:3 (August 2004): 421-422.

Jennings, Ann. Rev. of Deep Sites: Intelligent Innovation in Contemporary Web Design by Max Bruinsma. Technical Communication 50:1 (February 2004): 128-129.

Jennings, Ann. Rev. of Web Design Tools and Techniques by Peter Kentie. Technical Communication 50:1 (February 2003): 103-104.

Jennings, Ann. Rev. of Technical Editing (3rd ed.) by Carolyn Rude.Technical Communication 49:2 (May 2002): 229-231.

Jennings, Ann. Rev. of Robin Williams Design Workshop by Robin Williams and John Tollett. Technical Communication 49:1 (February 2002): 100-102.

Jennings, Ann. Rev. of Ethics in Technical Communication by Paul Dombrowski. Technical Communication 48:1 (February 2001): 86-87.

Jennings, Ann. Rev. of Looking Good in Print by Roger C. Parker, book review in Technical Communication 47:1 (February/March 2000): 100-102.

Jennings, Ann. Rev. of Results-Oriented Interviewing: Principles, Practices, and Procedures by Wallace V. Schmidt and Roger N. Conaway. Technical Communication 46:3 (August 1999): 393-394.

Jennings, Ann. Rev. of Designing Visual Language: Strategies for Professional Communicators by Charles Kostelnick and David D. Roberts. Technical Communication 45:3 (August 1998): 388- 390.

Jennings, Ann. Rev. of Technical Editing (2nd ed.) by Carolyn D. Rude. Technical Communication 44:2 (May 1998): 231-33.

Jennings, Ann. Rev. of Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities by Edward R. Tufte. Journal of American Culture 2:4 (Winter 1997): 122-123.

Jennings, Ann. Rev. of The Corporate Intranet: Create and Manage an Internal Web Page for Your Organization by Ryan Bernard. Technical Communication 44:1 (February 1997): 85.

Jennings, Ann. Rev. of  “Internet Business 500: The Top Ten Essential Web Sites for Business by Ryan Bernard. Technical Communication 44:1 (February 1997): 86.

Book Reviews in Press
Jennings, Ann. Rev. of Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, & Literary Agencies 2009: Who They Are! What They Want! How to Win Them Over! by Jeff Herman. Scheduled to appear in the February 2010 issue (vol. 57, no. 1) of Technical Communication.

Jennings, Ann. Rev. of The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever by Cliff Atkinson. Scheduled to appear in the August 2010 issue (vol. 57, no. 3) of Technical Communication.

 

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Last updated or reviewed on 6/3/13