{"56334":{"#nid":"56334","#data":{"type":"news","title":"ChBE Spotlight on Jacqueline Mohalley Snedeker","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EI have been the Writing Program Director for the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering since May 2002. My main focus is on improving the written and oral communication skills of the School\u0027s undergraduates, with a particular emphasis on technical writing. Primarily, I serve as a co-instructor in the Unit Operations laboratory course, currently taught by Dr. Jeff Empie. I also co-teach a ChBE elective course, Effective Communication for Professional Engineering, with Dr. Mark Prausnitz.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn my efforts to improve the technical communication skills of undergraduates, I emphasize three major areas: coherence, clarity, and concision. Using interactive instructional methods, I teach students the best ways to improve in these three areas, as well as addressing matters of grammar, punctuation, and report format. I also require students to meet with me at least once during a semester to \u0022workshop\u0022 a draft of a report. These individual conferences are the best way for me to address each specific student\u0027s needs, discuss methods of overcoming particular problems, and track student progress throughout the semester.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to coherence, clarity, and concision, I also emphasize the importance of critical thinking and constantly encourage students to think beyond the \u0022what\u0022 of an experiment to the \u0022how\u0022 and the \u0022why.\u0022 \u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI followed a somewhat circuitous path to my current role as the School\u0027s Writing Program Director. I grew up mainly in the southeastern U.S. and actually went to high school in the Atlanta area. As a child, I always loved reading and writing and used to walk around the house with an open book at all times. Naturally, I majored in English, and took several fiction writing classes as well. After receiving my B.A. from Stanford University in 1992, I went on to the Stanford Teacher Education Program, earning an M.A. in Education as well as a teaching certificate. From there, I joined the Peace Corps and went to Lovech, Bulgaria for two years to teach English to Bulgarian high school students. After returning to the U.S. in 1995, I taught middle school in California for a while and then went on to graduate school at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, where I received an M.A. in English literature.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn 1999, I moved back down to Atlanta and became a technical writer and instructional designer of Web-based training courses, dealing with subjects ranging from database administration to human resources law. Although I enjoyed my time in the private sector, I soon found myself drawn back to academia again, and was delighted to receive a call from the School to interview for the Writing Program Director position. I enjoy my somewhat \u0022unique\u0022 role in the department. Most of all, I enjoy getting to know the students and helping them to improve their communication skills.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOn a personal note, I am married to Ben Snedeker, a public relations consultant. We have one son, Andrew, who was born in February 2006, as well as two cats and one dog. In my spare time, I like to read, watch C-SPAN, go to the movies, and stock up on red pens.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Jacqueline Mohalley Snedeker, ChBE Writing Program Director"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"Learn more about ChBE\u0027s Writing Program Director Jacqueline Mohalley Snedeker. Jacqueline also serves as a co-instructor in the Unit Operations laboratory course with Dr. Jeff Empie, and co-teaches a ChBE elective course, Effective Communication for Professional Engineering, with Dr. Mark Prausnitz.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"ChBE spotlight on Jacqueline Mohalley Snedeker"}],"uid":"27272","created_gmt":"2006-02-17 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:06:01","author":"Eric Huffman","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2006-02-17T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2006-02-17T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"56335":{"id":"56335","type":"image","title":"Jacqueline Mohalley Snedeker, ChBE Writing Program","body":null,"created":"1449175629","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:47:09","changed":"1475894499","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:39","alt":"Jacqueline Mohalley Snedeker, ChBE Writing Program","file":{"fid":"190456","name":"twi00537.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/twi00537_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/twi00537_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":19461,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/twi00537_0.jpg?itok=NENwiMDq"}}},"media_ids":["56335"],"groups":[{"id":"1240","name":"School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"9473","name":"ChBE staff"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003EJosie Giles\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ESchool of Chemical \u0026amp; Biomolecular Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=jg234\u0022\u003EContact Josie Giles\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-385-2299\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["josie.giles@chbe.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}