I joined ISU's Rhetoric and Professional Communication program in the Department of English in 1991. In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in RPC, I am Director of Advanced Communication and Co-Director of AgComm.

Workplace training and consulting (including expert witness testimony) take part of my time, working with clients in high tech companies and traditional industries as well as nonprofit, government, and educational organizations in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

My research focuses on ways in which writers create technical and scientific artifacts (texts, visuals, presentations) and users interpret them. Currently, this research is situated in risk communication, considering ways in which people interpret textual and visual instructions and warnings. I am also currently working on other projects, one about the commuication of women in engineering and another about integrating communication into technical courses. In previous work, I have examined ways in which collaborative conflict and decision making affect the quality of documents.

Hobbies? Photography, gardening, traveling, and cooking.

Office/Office Hours

• office: Ross 325
• office hours: Fall 2006: Tuesday, 8:30-9:30 and 12:30-1:00
• office phone: (515) 294-5654
• email: rburnett@iastate.edu
• homepage: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rburnett.html

Interests

• Collaboration and teamwork
• Communication-across-the-curriculum initiatives (including assessment)
• Intercultural communication
• Risk communication
• Workplace literacies

Selected Publications

• Burnett, Rebecca E. (2006). “Considering the Adequacies and Inadequacies of Safety Icons." IPCC 2006 Annual Conference Proceedings. IEEE Professional Communication Society.
• Brown, Sarah M. and Rebecca E. Burnett. (2006). “Women Hardly Talk. Really! Communication Practices of Women in Undergraduate Engineering Classes.” Proceedings for the International Conference on Engineering Education 2006. ICEE.
• Burnett, Rebecca E. (2005). Technical Communication. Boston: Wadsworth/ITP. 6th edition.
• Zeleznik, Julie M., Rebecca E. Burnett, Thomas Polito, David Roberts, and John Schafer. “Managing Disciplinary Difference." Ed. Chris M. Anson. Writing Making Learning: Cross-Curricular Scenes for Reflection and Faculty Development. Oxford University Press, 2002. 49-52.

Selected Conference Presentations

• “Risk, Rhetoric, and Iconography: Addressing European and North American Safety Standards and Practices in Warnings.” European Convention of the Association for Business Communication. June 8, 2006, Oslo, Norway
• “Interpretation of Safety Signs and Labels.” 360° Conference Series: Encompassing the Instructive Text May 20, 2006. Århus School of Business, Århus, Denmark
• “Encouraging WAC/CAC Research Communities and Coalitions.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. Panel: Cultural Change in WAC/CAC Communities: Addressing Tensions and Forming Coalitions in a Research University with Linda Driskill, Sharon Gibson-Mainka, Mary Purugganan, and Tracy Volz (all from Rice University), March 24, 2006. Chicago, IL
• “Stylistic and Structural Changes in Agency Content Management Systems.” Conference of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing. Panel: Content Management Systems (CMS) with Lee Honeycutt and Geoffrey Sauer (both from ISU), March 22, 2006. Chicago, IL

Selected Workshops

• “Understanding Influences on Warnings and Cautions.” East Carolina University. February 23, 2006. Greenville, NC
• “Technical Communication Workshops.” Mangosuthu Technikon. February 10–21, 2003, and October 28–November 8, 2002. Durban, South Africa.

Selected Invited Lectures

• “The Praxis of Visual Rhetoric: Functions of Visuals in Workplace Documents and Presentations.” May 27, 2006. Universidad de Colima, Colima, Mexico (Sponsored by TIES Program, funded by USAID)
• “Communication across Disciplines, Institutions, and National Boundaries.” Mayan Resorts Academic Conference. June 25-27, 2003. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico
• “Pairing Courses Across the Disciplines Effects on Student Writing Performance.” Carleton University, October 16-18, 2002. Ottawa, Canada.
• “Writing the Plan: Reducing Risk by Improving Readability.” Johns Hopkins University seminar, Creating a Crisis Communication Plan: How to Protect Your Business in Uncertain Times, September 18-20, 2002. Washington DC.
• “Integrating Communication Assignments into Physics Courses.” American Physical Society, Chairs Meeting, June 8, 2002. Washington DC.

Keynote Presentations

• “Communication Across the Curriculum: Written, Oral, Visual, and Electronic Communication in the Disciplines.” Joint Regent/Iowa Community College. Annual Articulation Conference. February 20, 2004. Newton, IA
• “Complexities of Culture, Context, and Collaboration in Working toward Expertise.” Canadian Association of Teachers of Technical Writing, May 25, 2001. Quebec, Canada.

Affiliations

• ABC: Association for Business Communication (member; formerly on ABC Research Committee)
• ATTW: Association for Teachers of Technical Writing (member; formerly on ATTW Executive Committee)
• CCCC: Conference on College Composition and Communication (member; formerly on CCCC Executive Committee)
• CPTSC: Council for Programs in Technical & Scientific Communication (member)
• MLA: Modern Language Association (member)
• NCTE: National Council of Teachers of English (member; former chair and member of Standing Committee on Technical & Scientific Communication)
• STC: Society for Technical Communication (member; Associate Fellow)

Degrees

• Ph.D., Rhetoric, Carnegie Mellon, 1991.
• M.A., English, Carnegie Mellon, 1989.
• M.Ed., Curriculum; Administration; University of Massachusetts, Lowell, 1974.
• B.A., English (honors), University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1968.