After graduating from Purdue, many undergraduate and graduate students have moved on to jobs in industry, business, academia, and publishing. The alumni network is strong, with an active listserv (PW-Talk) in which current and former students share their experiences in their classes, on the job market, and with the ever-changing tools-of-the trade. To encourage continued involvement of alumni in the welfare of the Program, we offer here profiles of former alumni, their advice to undergraduates, and links to their professional portfolios. We are in the process of preparing a comprehensive listing of all Purdue graduates. If you are one yourself and would like to be listed here please fill out and submit the alumni contact form or contact the Director, David Blakesley.

Alumni, Send Us Information!

We'd love to hear from you and to list you here, so please fill out the alumni contact form to send us your information. We'll only publish your name, portfolio address, and email address (the latter two, only if you approve). If you send us responses to other questions, we'll publish those, too. Thanks!

Alumni Spotlight

What kind of positions to do alumni have? What advice do they have for current students? In this section, we'll include information that our alumni send us using our alumni contact form .

Bethany (Robison) Campbell (2004): Email: bethanynoelle1123@hotmail.com

• Portfolio URL : www.noellecomposition.com  I owe the job I got largely to my online portfolio. Spend time making your portfolio attractive, and make sure you post quality examples to it. My supervisor told me straight out that it was because of my online portfolio that I got my interview, and eventually the job. I still have my portfolio to this day.
• Employer : MED Institute, Inc. (Purdue Research Park)
• Personal Narrative : I've been working in Purdue Research Park for a year and a half as a technical writer, and it has been great! I recently got married, and my husband took a job in the northern suburbs of Chicago, so I will soon be leaving the area and looking for a job up north (any advice or leads, please let me know!).
• Advice for Undergrads : One of the best decisions I ever made was participating in a Study Abroad Internship program. I told myself for years that I could not afford to go, but in the end, I realized what an opportunity it was, and I took out a student loan. I spent a summer in London working for an online technology magazine, and it completely changed my life. While you're a student, it is so much more affordable, and you develop a confidence you can't get anywhere else. Oh, and with the job I was able to get out of school (due in part to my work experience), I was able to pay the loan back within a year. Completely worth it!

Lisa Johnson (1997) Email : lmj75@hotmail.com

• Employer : Journal of Accounting Research, University of Chicago
• Personal Narrative : I'm the Managing Editor of an academic journal for accounting professors. Before this position, I worked as the Editorial Coordinator for the Journal of American Statistical Association at Northwestern University.
• Advice for Undergrads : Don't forget to look at universities for writing/editing related positions. I began my career after Purdue at Northwestern in their HR department, working in Web development for a year and a half. That position gave me access to the workings within a university and I've just loved it. I'm now at the University of Chicago and it has also been a great experience. Also, I was unaware of the possibilities of working for an academic journal. I spent so much time looking at jobs in magazine and book publishing that it had never occurred to me to look at journal publishing. With all the associations and universities, there is a huge world of journals out there.

Misti Pinter (2002) Email: pintermc@yahoo.com

• Employer : SDI
• Personal Narrative : After graduating from Purdue in May 2002, I went into the field of Technical Writing. Through contracting positions, I have worked in various fields, from shipbuilding to transaction processing, creating User Guides. I currently produce online help systems using FrameMaker and WebWorks Publisher for a telecommunications company in Raleigh, NC.
• Advice for Undergrads : Get real-world experience from at least one internship before you graduate. Also, take electives relevant to the field you want to document in. For example, take programming classes if you want to document software.

Undergraduate Alumni Portfolios/Email Addresses

We'll list your email address and include a link to your portfolio if you send us your information via the alumni contact form.

• Nikita Anderson (May 2005)
• Carrie Baird (May 2004)
• Douglas Bauer (Dec 2003)
• Kyle Boggs (May 2003)
• Ashley Booth (May 2004)
• Katherine Brisbane
• Amy Burns
• Jennifer Campbell (Aug 2004)
• Laura Cascella
• Deborah Chen (1999) Email: deb@debchen.com
• Aimee Claton (2000) Email: aclaton@excite.com
• Levon Clements (Dec 2004)
• Jade Cloud (May 2004)
• Natalie Colter (May 2003)
• Alicia Cray (2002)
• Nikki Crist (2001) Email: nichole@uchicago.edu
• Amanda Cross (2000)
• Brenda Edwards (2000)
• John Ehrenfeld (May 2003)
• Sarah Ellis (Dec 2003)
• Matthew J. Francois (Dec 2002) Email: matt.francois@emageon.com
• David S. Gardner
• Betsy Gutwein (Dec 2004)
• Jeff Heiliger
• Rob Heise (May 2004)
• Kindra Hunckler (May 2005)
• Elizabeth Johnson
• Abby Jones (May 2003)
• Douglas Judkins (May 2004)
• Abigail Kasper (May 2004)
• Jennifer Keen
• Heather Klopfenstein (May 2004)
• Amanda Lechlitner
• Eric Lerch (Dec 2003)
• J. Noah Mattern (2000)
• Jennifer Mason (Dec 2003)
• Matthew McHale
• Christopher McKibbin (May 2004)
• Anjanet Mort (Shaffer) (2000) Email: ashaffe2@yahoo.com
• Erica Mueller (May 2003)
• Bryan O'Donnell (May 2004)
• Jesse Orona (May 2004)
• Anna Pentikis (May 2005)
• Misti Pinter (2002): Email: pintermc@yahoo.com
• Marland Pittman (2000)
• Scott Reeser (May 2003)
• Vanessa Renderman
• Rachel Rice (2001) Email: rachelrice39@msn.com
• Krista Richey (May 2003)
• Bethany (Robison) Cambell (May 2004)
• Andrew Roccella (1999)
• Melissa Scurlock (Dec 2003) Email: mgscurlock@yahoo.com
• Lauren Scharnak (2001) Email: learning_writer@hotmail.com
• Craig Stalbaum
• Kelsey Van Arsdall (May 2004)
• Brian Via (1999) Email: brian.via@abbott.com
• Virginia You (May 2003)
• Matthew Wade