Practitioner-in-Residence Dr. Sean Herring has recently assumed editorial responsibility for the Recent & Relevant (R&R) section of Technical Communication: Journal of the Society for Technical Communication (TC).

For each of the journal’s issues, published quarterly, Herring curates a collection of abstracts that cover a range of topics related to the wide field of technical communication: audience analysis, collaboration, communication, design, diversity, editing, ethical issues, health communication, information management, instructions, intercultural communication, intercultural issues, leadership, language, professional issues, public relations, research, software documentation, scientific writing, teaching, technology, usability studies, user experience, and writing.

“R&R is an efficient way for those interested in scholarship and research to keep up with a variety of journals and articles in the technical-communication field,” Herring says.

Herring’s duties also include providing consistencies in APA guidelines and style-sheet layouts before the column is submitted to the R&R copy editors, and reviewing proofs before pages are published in the online version of TC.

Herring assumed the editorial role from another MSU English faculty member: Dr. Lyn F. Gattis. Gattis was editor for the R&R column from 2011-2020. For seven of those years, Herring was one of Gattis’s journal monitors. Herring says, “Last year, she recommended me for the R&R editor’s position. I had some figuratively big (yet stylish) shoes to fill with that editor’s responsibility for nine monitors as well as being a member of the STC Editorial Advisory Board and an associate editor (when applicable) for the journal of Technical Communication.”

With over 25 years of experience in post-secondary administration, teaching, and research, Herring says his background in technical writing and educational leadership has led to opportunities at pharmaceutical companies, colleges and universities in North Carolina, the Midwest, and opportunities to travel across the pond. He’s also a long-time member of the Society for Technical Communication (STC). “Time flies when you’re having fun…It has been almost 8 years at MSU,” Herring says. He teaches several technology courses in the Technical and Professional Writing (TPW) program at Missouri State as well as being a Coordinator for Online TPW.

Reading the R&R column requires a subscription to the online journal of Technical Communication. Herring says, “Since the quarterly journal and “R&R” column are cutting edge, you might be hooked after the first read.”