Using Advocacy to Reach out Globally and Locally

Developing Relationships Through an Editing and Publishing Certificate

Abstract

In this article, I argue that the concepts of advocacy, community connections, and relationships help establish the identity of an editing and publishing certificate program in ways that emphasize theoretical and practical value to institutional administrations, students, and community stakeholders. These types of theoretical connections promote career skills development while anchoring to valued, interdisciplinary concepts, including empathy, care, and diversity of community and relationship stories and narratives. After introducing these concepts and their relationship to the fields of technical and professional communication and business communication, I provide a case study of an editing and publishing certificate that joins faculty and students from technical and professional communication and creative writing programs at Tennessee Technological University, as an example of how an editing and publishing program might connect these concepts and skills while also combatting hyper-pragmatist framing. Illustrating ways that core courses in this certificate address theory as well as practice, I discuss ways that this program solidifies its identity by further connecting to values presented in the university’s strategic plan and the certificate program’s outcomes goals. The article also addresses special challenges that editing and publishing programs face and presents recommendations for establishing and maintaining such programs.