TCR Awards

R. Elle Smith (PhD candidate) and Chen Chen (faculty), won the 2025 Programmatic Perspectives Best Research Article, with their article "From Policy to Practice: Trauma-Informed Approaches to Student Attendance."

This article can be read in full in Programmatic Perspectives, 16(1), Spring/Summer 2025.

Abstract: This article contributes to inclusive TPC pedagogical scholarship by using trauma-informed pedagogical (TIP) principles to study an under researched area: classroom attendance policies. Specifically, we treat instructors as technical communicators in the classroom and focus on how they design, implement, and enforce their attendance policies. Guided by Miriam Williams’ (2020) conceptual framework for policy analysis, we conducted interviews with instructors at a local institution to identify that a variety of factors impact their decisions regarding attendance policy, from their teaching philosophy and course type to institutional contexts. The challenge of developing inclusive attendance policies coalesced to two themes across a spectrum: flexibility and accountability. We offer TIP principles to address these challenges and provide specific suggestions for how technical communicators can make change both in the classroom as teachers and in institutional policy development to create more inclusive attendance policies.

Dorcas Anabire (PhD candidate) won Third Place in the Student Research Competition (Graduate division) at the Association of Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Design of Communication (SIGDOC). She presented on her ongoing dissertation research, advised by TCR faculty member Dr. Rebecca Walton. 

Her presentation was titled:
“‘It’s a Nightmare’: International Graduate Students’ Experience Filing Income Taxes”

Brooklyn Hibshman (TCR major) won First Place in the Student Research Competition (Undergraduate division) at the Association of Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Design of Communication (SIGDOC). She was mentored by TCR faculty member Dr. Chen Chen.

Her presentation was titled:
“‘I’m Going to Put My Foot Down’: Advocating for Ethical AI Use in a Technology Startup”