Between the Lines (BL) recently met with Harold Fox (HF), Senior Member SWO-STC and STC Associate Fellow.

BL: Thank you for meeting with us, Harold. Some say you can be best described as a mentor, leader, and innovator —a success story. You are highly referred to by your colleagues and recently named an STC Associate Fellow. Your credentials are impressive; you have obtained a B.S. and M.S. in Physics, as well as an M.A. in Theology. Did you work in a different industry before you professional career in technical communications?

HF: Yes, after a number of years in graduate school I served my active duty obligation as an officer in the Army Chemical Corps. Then I returned to graduate school before moving to Dayton to teach at the University of Dayton in the Theological Studies Department. Upon being downsized from UD during the enrollment crunch of the mid-70s, I tried my hand at agriculture. I tried to grow grapes on a farm in Preble County.

BL: What made you begin your professional career in the technical communications field? How did you break into the field?

HF: My vineyard operation was wiped out by the weather, so I began looking for a third career. The result of that quest was that I was offered an opportunity to try my hand at technical writing. That worked out pretty well, so I continued in that field.

BL: What made you want to move from being a staffed technical writer to contract technical writer?

HF: Actually, the move was in the other direction. I started as a contractor and continued as a contractor until my last job before retirement. That was a position developing curriculum materials in the Advanced Integrated Manufacturing (AIM) Center at Sinclair Community College.

BL: What would you consider the greatest pleasures and pitfalls of contracting?

HF: The positives include the great variety of projects and environments for those years of work. The great satisfaction to me of technical writing is the opportunity to constantly be learning new things. The variety of environments provided all kinds of new knowledge to work with and lots of different people to work with. The negatives include the necessity to be looking for a job rather frequently and having to provide for my own benefits. I had a few uncomfortable periods between jobs at times when the economy was slow.

BL: Who was your mentor? How would you describe him/her?

HF: I can’t really point to a single mentor in the usual sense. Perhaps because I entered the field so late and because most of my time in it was as a contractor, I did not experience the situation in the workplace in which someone could take me under her/his wing, so to speak. However, I can certainly name two people to whom I feel a great debt of gratitude. First, there is Stephanie Stamas, who gave me that first opportunity to try to be a technical writer. Second, there is Dart Peterson, who was certainly a mentor to me in STC.

BL: How would you describe the market progression and trends for the technical communications industry in the last ten years?

HF: The dominant impression I have is that of diversification. There has been a profusion of new things in the industry—new kinds of work for professionals to do, new tools to work with, new challenges to deal with, new opportunities.

BL: What do you believe are some of your greatest accomplishments at the AIM Center?

HF: I was a part of a wonderful team there. We were developing the curriculum materials for a new curriculum in Manufacturing Engineering Technology under a National Science Foundation Grant. The materials we developed received very positive receptions from the NSF, from other participants in NSF programs in the annual roundup of grantees, and from other community colleges. Two of our modules won awards in SWO STC competitions. So my greatest achievement there was a group achievement, and the satisfaction of such positive results is that of work well done in concert with wonderful people.

BL: What are the best, most important rewards you have received in your career?

HF: My greatest rewards have been those of satisfaction in meeting new challenges and working with terrific people—in the workplace, especially the AIM Center work, but also in STC. Of course, my selection as an Associate Fellow of STC is a great honor, one I treasure especially because it was for work done primarily in the SWO STC Chapter.

BL: How did you first hear of STC? What made you want to join?

HF: I did a number of information interviews with people in industry in my career change process. One of those happened to be with Luigi Espenlaub, a past president of SWO STC. He talked with me about technical writing and about STC. In fact, he was the one who referred me to Stephanie Stamas. He also referred me to Dart Peterson, who invited me to accompany him to a Chapter meeting. It quickly became apparent to me that STC was the place to be to develop a possibility of a career in technical communication.

BL: What was it like to present at the 41st Annual Conference?

HF: Well, it was not my first time to present at an annual meeting of a professional society, but it still made me glad to have a glass of water close at hand. I was glad that I also served as the moderator for the session, and I didn’t have to present first, so I was able to quiet the butterflies in the moderator role.

BL: How do you come up with topics for "Calling All Verbivores"?

HF: I am always on the lookout for word puzzles, articles about language, books on language and its oddities, and ideas that I would like to introduce to others. Richard Lederer, author of Anguished English and many other books on the oddity of the English Language is one of my heroes.

BL: What offices have you held in STC?

HF: Treasurer, President, Immediate Past President, Secretary, and Treasurer, in that order.

BL: What motivates you to take such an active role in STC?

HF: One motivation is the desire to give something back to the profession that I have found to be so satisfying. Another is the opportunity to work with such wonderful people as those I have been surrounded by in SWO STC.

BL: Thank you so much for taking this time to share with us, Harold.