This is the fourth post of our Let’s Talk Academia, Industry, and Career Transitions. In this special edition of the DRC Talk Series, we chat with professionals in Rhetoric and Composition or Technical and Professional Communication who have successfully transitioned beyond academia. Our goal is to learn from their experiences and gather practical advice and resources for graduate students and early career scholars exploring similar paths. Earlier this semester, Toluwani and I had the chance to sit down virtually with Dr. Erica Stone. We expected to hear about teaching and industry. What we didn’t expect was so many insights on…
Author: Toluwani Odedeyi
Thais Rodrigues Cons, Toluwani Odedeyi
Toluwani Odedeyi is a PhD student of English at the University of Florida. Her research focuses on Technical Communication, Digital Rhetoric, and User Experience.
If you had met Jack Labriola ten years ago, you’d probably find him walking the halls of the English department in Texas Tech, navigating graduate school, juggling coursework, teaching undergraduates, and planning for a life in academia. He loved the classroom, thrived in it, but like many of us with curious minds and evolving ambitions, Jack’s story took a turn when he ventured into a thriving user experience research career in the tech industry. Jack completed both his master’s and PhD at Texas Tech University, spending six years immersed in the well-structured Technical Communication and Rhetoric program. He describes the…
This is the second post of our Let’s Talk Academia, Industry, and Career Transitions. In this special edition of the DRC Talk Series, we chat with professionals in Rhetoric and Composition or Technical and Professional Communication who have successfully transitioned beyond academia. Our goal is to learn from their experiences and gather practical advice and resources for graduate students and early career scholars exploring similar paths. Thais Rodrigues Cons (1st author) Toluwani Odedeyi (2nd author) When Dr. Charisse Iglesias joined the Zoom meeting with Toluwani and I, there was a sense of connection right away, not just because she’s an…
Addison Kliewer did not initially plan to become a technical writer. As an undergraduate honors student majoring in English at the University of Texas, Austin, he envisioned an academic career in publishing, teaching, or even writing books. He was drawn to how storytelling can be enriching and insightful, fascinated by how clothing symbolized identity and status in classic literature like Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver’s Travels. Multiple visits to his university’s career center where he learned about technical writing, along with his parents’ guidance (two former technical writers), changed everything. It wasn’t the writing career he had originally envisioned, but the…