Konjektures

Education

Employment

Experience

I am in my third year of the Technical Communication & Rhetoric PhD Program at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas. I focus my research on the impact of Web 2.0 technologies and social media, specifically blogs and micro-blogs, on the organizational social capital of large organizations. I am particularly interested in examining social capital increases in terms of return on investment for the organization.

Since January of 2007, I have been employeed by Austin, Texas, based Dell Inc. as a Technical Communicator in the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO). In this role, I am responsible for the my group’s social media strategy, our web-based content management system and information portal, technology education seminars, and the OCTO sponsored engineering newsletter, as well as internal and external technology communication activities.

From 1998 to December 2006, I worked in the World Languages Department at Holt, Rinehart and Winston (HRW), (now Holt McDougal) a 7-12 educational publisher with headquarters in Austin, Texas. In my position as Sr. Editor II worked on German, Spanish, and French print and technology products with a specialization in online educational products.

From 1991 to 1997, I taught German and English for Speakers of Other Languages at the University of Texas at El Paso. From 1994-1997, I served as German Program Director at UTEP. In this role, I led the international exchange program between Universitaet Hildesheim and the University of Texas at El Paso and was in charge of the German Abitur Program, which allowed students from Germany to obtain their German high school diploma (Abitur). During this time I worked closely with the German Ministry of Culture and served as the university liaison with the German millitary contingent stationed in Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas.