Programmatic Perspectives

Guest Editors' Introduction to the Special Issue

2025-11-24T15:36:09+00:00

This special issue of Programmatic Perspectives explores the emerging field of editing and publishing (E&P) within technical and professional communication, highlighting its pedagogical, theoretical, and professional dimensions. While editing has long been a core communicative practice, E&P programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels remain diverse and largely unstandardized. The issue includes four research articles, seven program showcases, and a curriculum showcase. Research examines interdisciplinary program design, freelance editorial practices, and the integration of industry engagement, highlighting challenges and opportunities in program sustainability and professional identity. Program showcases reveal curricular diversity across certificate, undergraduate, and graduate offerings, emphasizing interdisciplinarity, faculty expertise, and professionalization. A curriculum showcase illustrates innovative course-level strategies that balance institutional needs with disciplinary engagement. Collectively, these contributions demonstrate how research, programmatic innovation, and pedagogy can shape E&P as a rigorous, cohesive discipline. This issue fosters collaboration, dialogue, and shared practices, providing foundational steps toward a more unified and vibrant academic community in editing and publishing.

Review of Technical Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 6

2025-09-25T11:27:17+00:00

Part of the Writing Spaces series published by WAC Clearinghouse and Parlor Press, Technical Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Vol. 6, focuses specifically on issues connected to technical writing and communication. Editors Kirk St.Amant and Pavel Zemliansky have assembled an expansive collection that is a welcome addition to the Writing Spaces series and to any technical communication course.

Review of Amplifying Voices in UX: Balancing Design and User Needs in Technical Communication

2025-08-01T08:27:26+00:00

Amplifying Voices in UX: Balancing Design and User Needs in Technical Communication introduces the term equilbriUX, which is a model to achieve agency and balance. Lancaster and King argue a lack of balance between diverse users’ voices and the agency and needs of diverse users. The book is a collection of various TPC authors whose chapters are foregrounded on users’ cultural differences and marginalized experiences rather than the content. Lancaster and King call that TPC and UX must embrace the global and post-pandemic emphasis on all audiences worldwide. In addition, the concept that culture and communication are intertwined as a common thread throughout the chapters uniting the field to “dignify all users, all voices, and all communities” (p.13).

Review of Faculty Writing Support: Emerging Research from Rhetoric and Composition Studies

2025-09-01T19:42:53+00:00

Faculty Writing Support: Emerging Research from Rhetoric and Composition Studies, edited by Jaclyn Wells, Lars Söderlund, and Christine Tulley, is a recent contribution to the "Perspectives on Writing" series. Published in collaboration by The WAC Clearinghouse and University Press of Colorado, the book is open access and available online. The collection expands the burgeoning subfield of faculty writing studies within Rhetoric and Composition. It adds to a growing body of work, such as Christine Tulley’s How Writing Faculty Write (2018) and Anne Ellen Geller and Michele Eodice’s Working With Faculty Writers (2013). With a strong disciplinary stance, its intention, as described in the introduction, is to move beyond anecdotal advice to present empirically grounded research on how faculty write and how their writing can be supported. Chapters feature diverse methodologies, mostly including surveys, interviews, case studies, and audio recordings of writing groups, providing "first looks" at research interventions with faculty and advanced graduate students.

Review of Collaborations and Partnerships in User Experience

2025-08-15T20:32:16+00:00

Collaborations and Partnerships in User Experience is part of a series of books, The Foundations and Innovations in Technical and Professional Communication, which focuses on innovative ideas and approaches to TPC. The chapters in the book were compiled and edited by Joy Robinson and Ryan Weber, both experts in the fields of User Experience (UX) and TPC.

Intradisciplinary Undergraduate Certificate in Copyediting and Publishing

2025-08-31T08:47:49+00:00

This program showcase highlights the unique positioning of an 18-credit-hour undergraduate copyediting and publishing certificate (CPC) program. Created in an effort to increase enrollment and fill a need for such instruction in our region, the CPC pulls from the English department’s three distinct tracks (creative writing, professional writing, and literary and cultural studies) to offer intradisciplinary coursework that appeals to all English majors as well as minors, non-humanities students, and non-matriculating students. The showcase details the curriculum, both required components that every student must take as well as optional classes students can choose from in two categories: digital and textual publishing. The authors then use student feedback from 31 internship exit interviews to assess the strengths of the certificate and the challenges of administering it. By discussing issues with staffing and contingent labor, the timing of coursework, and the taxing but necessary process of requiring an internship, this showcase shares insights and strategies—from both student and faculty perspectives—related to maintaining a successful undergraduate CPC.

Editing Pedagogy and Digital Production

2025-08-27T12:23:16+00:00

This Program Showcase article describes two digitally focused editing courses developed for Miami University’s Professional Writing major. These courses foreground digital textual production, helping students see how digital tools, standards, and production processes sit within contemporary editorial work. In doing so, they emphasize how editing exists within interpersonal dynamics that are mediated by technology, asking students to consider the implications of those mediated relationships.

Then and Now . . . and Down the Road

2025-11-03T13:00:23+00:00

The MA concentration in editing and publishing (E&P) in the Department of Rhetoric and Writing at University of Arkansas Little Rock was conceived in 2008 by two professors in the department with expertise in editing, one nonfiction and the other technical. Subsequent course creations included “continuation” courses of two existing courses with four three-hour classes becoming the core of the concentration. Elective courses were then identified, practicum in editing/internship hours were put into place, and finally, a theory course best suited to the concentration, Language Theory, was instituted. The most recent addition has been a new Topics in Editing and Publishing class. Changes include reducing the portfolio option from 42 to 36 hours, thus making thesis and portfolio options consistent–with subsequent ramifications for E&P portfolio students. They gain assistance in planning, completing, and "defending" their portfolios. The planned reduction in internship hours from six to three means that students have a bit more room for electives. Looking to the future, the authors consider the role of GenAI in the E&P classroom, a future that shall include consideration of the synergistic connection between theory and practice: praxis.

Building a Social Justice-Focused User Experience Approach to Technical Editing

2025-08-18T12:47:47+00:00

This program showcase highlights the redesign of a technical editing course within a Technical and Professional Communication (TPC) certificate to center user experience (UX) and social justice. Through a sustained partnership with the academic library, students engage in experiential projects that emphasize accessibility, stakeholder advocacy, and ethical editing. The revised course, ENGL 3317: Humanistic Perspectives in Technical Editing, integrates UX methods with sociolinguistic and rhetorical theory to prepare students for audience-centered, justice-oriented communication work. Guided by a polyvocal collaboration among faculty, librarians, and students, the curriculum aligns program outcomes with inclusive editing practices. The showcase offers a model for other programs aiming to embed equity and usability into editing instruction through sustainable, real-world partnerships and reflective pedagogy.

West Chester University’s Graduate Certificate in Publishing

2025-09-12T09:25:13+00:00

West Chester University (WCU)’s Graduate Certificate in Publishing derives its strength from its interdisciplinary design. Besides being informed by professional and technical writing scholarship and pedagogy, the program draws foundationally from book, media, and publishing studies and features MBA and design courses as well. Its book/media component takes its cue from the many well-developed United Kingdom (UK) and European university publishing and editing programs, while its inclusion of highly ranked MBA courses reflects key skills and knowledge the industry typically desires for those working in editorial and production divisions. Similarly, the art electives aim to equip graduates with a deeper understanding of the elements and importance of the graphic arts and design in marketing as well as editorial management.

WCU’s 18-credit program provides high-quality preparation for diverse publishing and related new media careers. By examining the shifts in writing, reading, and publishing over the centuries, students gain multifaceted knowledge of publishing history and media transformations and, consequently, are better able to navigate today’s ever-changing publishing and media worlds through a more-informed perspective. It is the only program in the area to do so. The publishing program equips students with a well-rounded, hands-on understanding of contemporary publishing and digital media. This article details the program’s underlying rationale, showcases its components, and offers advice.

The Writing, Editing, and Publishing Major Concentration at the University of Northern Colorado

2025-09-15T20:06:49+00:00

In this article, we describe the writing, editing, and publishing (WEP) major concentration in the Department of English at UNIVERSITY. The concentration was developed in 2021in an effort to build a program that prioritizes vocational training for students while still maintaining a deep commitment to the humanities. Students in the program complete required coursework, which includes a three-course sequence of editing-related classes: ENG 216: Grammar and Style, which provides information on foundational language-level concepts editors need; ENG 327: Copyediting, which teaches students principles of language-level editing; and ENG 427: Substantive Editing, where students practice discourse-level editing through industry-related projects. We describe these courses in further detail, after which, AUTHOR3 shares a narrative account of teaching the ENG 327 course. We then discuss how we manage artificial intelligence tools in the WEP major. The article concludes with a discussion of our commitment to inclusion, diversity, and community engagement.

Editing and Linguistics

2025-10-30T12:45:26+00:00

The connection of linguistics and editing is a central feature of Brigham Young University (BYU)’s editing and publishing (E&P) program, which provides a unique and robust combination of courses in linguistic theory, editing, publishing software, and the history and business of publishing. In addition, the program includes essential hands-on experiences through internships, student journals, and other experiential learning opportunities. This paper outlines the history and structure of BYU’s program to showcase the programmatic strengths that have come from integrating linguistics with E&P. This approach provides students with a higher-level understanding of language that prepares them to enter the workplace in a variety of fields ready to make informed decisions about writing, editing, and communicating. The BYU E&P program is a good example of an interdisciplinary program that creatively uses its resources to benefit student learning and professionalization.

Applied Learning in an Editing and Writing for Publication Course

2025-09-12T09:26:40+00:00

At a small liberal arts college, one TPC course was created that combined editing, writing for publication, and applied learning opportunities. The course was created to meet departmental goals for adding a writing course and adding a course students would be interested in taking. The course includes having students participate in two large-scale editing projects including a project where they work directly with clients. In the publishing section of the course, students have opportunities to write for a variety of options including digital options, college newspaper, and undergraduate journal options.

UK Editing and Publishing Programs

2025-08-27T12:27:16+00:00

Editing and publishing (E&P) programs occupy an important niche within technical and professional communication (TPC), where one of the central challenges for administrators is preparing students for careers in a rapidly evolving industry. In the United Kingdom (UK), postgraduate publishing programs have developed strong, sustained ties to the publishing sector, offering a model for balancing academic rigor with professional training. This study investigates how industry connections shape program administration through an analysis of program materials from 17 UK institutions and interviews with nine program leaders and instructors. Findings indicate that UK programs integrate professional expertise into curricula through faculty industry experience, guest lectures, live projects, and internships, while also responding to student feedback and labor market demands. Students are drawn to these programs with expectations of employability, and administrators actively manage these expectations by broadening students’ awareness of diverse publishing roles. The study concludes that the industry-driven strategies employed in UK programs provide actionable insights for TPC administrators in the United States, particularly in designing student-centered, sustainable curricula that balance research, theory, and practice while maintaining strong industry engagement.

Using Advocacy to Reach out Globally and Locally

2025-08-18T12:54:18+00:00

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.

Editors as Entrepreneurs: Reframing Occupational Identity in Publishing

2025-09-16T13:59:39+00:00

This article examines how freelance editors in the twenty-first century book publishing industry develop entrepreneurial identities by navigating rather than resolving inherent professional contradictions. Drawing on 15 qualitative semi-structured interviews with freelance editors, this study identifies three core paradoxes that define contemporary editorial entrepreneurship: risk/stability tensions in business growth, culture/commerce conflicts between artistic integrity and market demands, and editor/entrepreneur identity contradictions between collaborative service orientation and competitive self-promotion. The findings reveal that editorial success depends on developing a paradox mindset: the capacity to simultaneously leverage contradictory demands rather than integrating or resolving them. Successful editors employ sophisticated strategies including diversification, values-based business positioning, and contextual identity performance. Rather than choosing between competing orientations, high-paradox-mindset editors create business models that provide both risk and stability, make cultural commitments the foundation of commercial strategy, and develop hybrid professional identities that transcend traditional categories. This study contributes to the emerging disciplinary identity of Editing and Publishing (E&P), and these findings suggest that E&P programs should teach paradox navigation as a core competency to prepare students to be editor entrepreneurs. This study contributes to entrepreneurship theory by demonstrating how creative entrepreneurs can transform inherent contradictions into competitive advantages, with broader implications for understanding professional success in the increasingly complex gig economy.

Teaching Technical Editing Today

2025-09-03T09:10:16+00:00

This article presents a case study of the evolution and pedagogical challenges of teaching an upper-level undergraduate Technical Editing and Style course at a research-intensive university in the southeastern United States. Drawing on interviews with six instructors across ranks—from graduate students to instructors to tenured faculty—we explore how the course has changed over time in terms of textbooks, industry alignment, and technology integration. Our findings reveal that while the course structure has remained largely consistent since its creation, instructors have adapted materials and assignments to reflect shifts in editing practices in various ways and often note the course as being one of the most rewarding to teach, citing its impact on students’ professional development and rhetorical awareness. We then identify five key pedagogical challenges and advocate for greater support and resources for instructors, especially as editing pedagogy must now address the implications of AI and evolving workplace demands. This study contributes to broader conversations about the future of Editing and Publishing (E&P) programs and underscores the enduring value of technical editing instruction in a rapidly changing communication landscape.