Newsletter of the Society for Technical Communication, San Francisco Chapter
April/May 2006
| Newsletter of the Society for Technical Communication, San Francisco Chapter April/May 2006 |
Technical Communication students throughout Northern California have been invited to apply for the Kenneth M. Gordon memorial scholarship in Technical Communication. The invitations came in the form of information packets, fliers, and application forms sent to nearly seventy Northern California colleges and universities.
Gordon scholarships are awarded annually. Scholarship applications are distributed in the spring, judged in the summer, and awarded in time to defray the costs of the fall semester. The awards are usually in the range of $500 to $2,000. An award recipient may also receive a complimentary STC student membership.
To be eligible, students must be enrolled in an accredited program, intend to enter the profession, and submit a personal statement and samples of their work.
The Gordon scholarship is sponsored jointly by the Northern California STC chapters, and is funded by their annual technical communication competitions. This past year, in lieu of a full regional competition, Gordon was funded by a technical publications competition sponsored by the Berkeley chapter.
The scholarship is named for Dr. Kenneth M. Gordon. Dr. Gordon worked as a technical editor at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory and was a popular, long-time member of the East Bay Chapter of STC. He was president of the chapter from 1985-88, and was also its newsletter editor. He is remembered as an early advocate for the Northern California Technical Publications Competition, and for having contributed greatly to the success of STC in Northern California in the early years.
The scholarship was created in 1992, when the East Bay Chapter discovered that it had $20,000 left over from having run a very successful Technical Publication Competition. Dr. Gordon had recently died, and it was suggested that part of the proceeds be set aside to establish a scholarship in his name. Since that time, the scholarship has given out tens of thousands of dollars, and played an important role in helping many enter the profession.
For more information contact the Scholarship Chair, Patrick Lufkin, at lufkin@ix.netcom.com.
Patrick Lufkin is a past-president of the San Francisco Chapter of STC, and is Chair of the Kenneth M. Gordon Scholarship Committee.
Copyright © 2006 by the Society for Technical Communication, San Francisco Chapter (www.stc-sf.org). This article may be reprinted in another STC publication under the provisions of the chapter's copyright policy.