History of Decembers

by Carol Lawless, Treasurer

December is always a time for reflection. What's this year's legacy and what will the New Year bring us? As we reflect on our chapter's Decembers past, we see a pattern of looking to the future with education as the common thread. In 1990, we read that Phil Lilles and Jack McFadden teamed up with the University of Waterloo's Paul Beam and Gordon Slethang to begin a comprehensive survey of technical communications education programs in Canada. Eight years later, again in December, Jack was awarded the Jack McFadden Distinguished Canadian Leadership Award, for "pioneering efforts to increase awareness of technical communication in Canada, for groundbreaking initiatives to promote the education of technical communicators in Canada, for founding the Southwestern Ontario chapter of the STC, and for guiding and supporting the careers of so many of us."

Other December news:

• 1995 - Technical Writing was 18th on the list of the top 100 jobs.
• 1995 - Our chapter's membership was tagged at 76 in 1140 members in Canada and 19,148 workwide.
• 1996 - Our memberships didn't sit at 76 for long! One year later we had over 100 members.
• 1997 - Our chapter announced its first scholarship.
• 1999 - The membership count was up to 166 and rising.
• 2002 - We announced that we would host the STC phone seminars for members and non-members.