Becoming a Member of an Advisory Board
As a practitioner, you may join the advisory board of a technical communication program and become involved with one or more activities, which can include:
- Attend meetings or classes with faculty and students to discuss the state of the profession
- Serve as an evaluator of students’ graduation portfolios
- Advise faculty and administrators of the types of subject matter expertise and software skills most likely to help students obtain employment; by providing this advice, you could help to shape the curriculum of a technical communication degree program.
- Help coordinators of academic programs decide whether a certificate would be of value to students or whether a two-year, four-year, or graduate degree would be preferable
- Recommend sites for student internships
- Encourage students to join professional societies
Through your association with an academic program, you might identify entry-level employees for your company. You might find faculty and student volunteers to work on projects related to the profession or a professional society. At the very least, you will observe the quality of the upcoming wave of entrants into the profession.
For more information, see Becoming a Member of an Advisory Board.