Summary: Twenty years of experience designing and writing scientific, technical, and general-audience publications (print, Web, and multimedia) for a wide variety of clients. Industries include equipment manufacturers, major consulting companies, a leading public relations firm, and government agencies. Target audiences have ranged from Ph.D. scientists to the lay public. Hold Master’s of Journalism degree from Temple University, where I crafted a program focused on new media skills, legal issues, and principles of communication.
Current Position Held: Director of Web strategy and design for Drexel University. Work within the central University Communications department with oversight responsibility for all Drexel schools, colleges, and programs. Coordinated an interim redesign of the University's website, using in-house resources from several departments. Chair a Web council to unify branding and create a coherent Web strategy across the entire University. Use analytics and user testing to adjust content strategy on an ongoing basis.
Director of Web Communications, Drexel University, 4-/11-present: Director of Web strategy and design for Drexel University. Work within the central University Communications department with oversight responsibility for all Drexel schools, colleges, and programs. Coordinated an interim redesign of the University's website, using in-house resources from several departments. Chair a Web council to unify branding and create a coherent Web strategy across the entire University. Use analytics and user testing to adjust content strategy on an ongoing basis.
Clients have included Science Applications International Corp., People's Medical Society, and Encyclopaedia Britannica Internet Guide. Writing and editing assignments included sections of the books Men's Health for Dummies and Family Health for Dummies for the People's Medical Society, annual reports for the U.S. EPA, and Internet publicity for technical conferences.
Have taught as an adjunct instructor and as a corporate trainer at universities and a variety of corporations. Common to all of these teaching engagements was an approach that embraces theories of adult learning, active participation, and techniques of professional practice.
Speaking engagements have included the following:
- "Is Flash Evil" for the Fox Chase Cancer Center Bioinformatics Colloquium (PDF of presentation here).
- "Return on Design" for the Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce.
- Custom training for Merck Inc., Maersk, and the Philadelphia Police Department.
- Many high-profile public hearings for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Certifications
The following certifications were obtained in the past. Current training centers around online training such as Lynda.com and Treehouse.
My Labs Site
If you haven't heard of Kodingen yet, I recommend it highly. It's free hosting for developers somethat like a VPS. On my Kodingen site, I have created a modified version of the Pears Wordpress theme for experimenting with different html/css code snippets.