Introduction
As vague as the title “Professional Writing” may seem, it is an important and more widely practiced skill and profession that many people are joining. It is ever growing - from young to old, it is becoming a diverse and varied profession of rhetoric that is being applied in numerous ways to the business and educational world. But who are these mysterious professional writers who grace us with their expertise in the art of rhetoric and persuasion with words, but lurk away from the limelight, waiting for us to discover them? They are as diverse and varied as the occupations they hold.
Meet Jo Doran, a 3rd year PhD student in Rhetoric and Composition with secondary areas in professional writing and ESL writing administration who teaches and works in professional writing with her position as an instructor of ENGL 420 at Purdue University. Her road to discovering the study of professional writing is long and erratic, flitting here and there before she realized her true desire was to write and teach in the world of rhetoric and persuasion – or, professional writing.

Background
Jo Doran began her professional career far differently than what one would expect. In high school, while she had always liked and enjoyed writing, it never crossed her mind as potential for her profession. Actually, entering college, the only thing she knew about a future career was that she liked working with people and hated retail, having worked in her father’s drugstore and despising it. She dropped out of college in the ’70s and then married – eventually having five children. She worked on and off at her children’s school as an aide and assistant, dealing mainly with tutoring special-needs children.
Also during this time, she and a friend started a business in the basement of her friend’s home, offering their services for a myriad of needed skills – bookkeeping, telephone answering, finding temp workers, writing and editing resumes, and assorted typing. They also worked as “home secretaries” for large corporations. Jo and her friend loved their work, and Jo’s confidence skyrocketed as much as the business’ growth – which was so much, in fact, that they were quickly forced to move into an office downtown.
After her divorce, and having sold her company, Jo decided to pursue writing. She applied to Western Michigan and got in, so she then moved to Michigan and received her Bachelor of Arts in English. She then pursued a MFA, which is a terminal degree that is halfway between a masters and a PhD, in creative writing but found that she wasn’t very marketable with those two degrees.
So she decided to apply to Purdue’s Rhetoric and Composition doctoral program after hearing about Purdue’s credentials from her women’s studies research associate who attended Purdue. As the program has a 97% placement rate for tenure track graduates, she decided this was the place to be.

Perspective on Professional Writing
Jo chose professional writing (or rhetoric and composition, as professional writing is only offered as a secondary area at Purdue) over journalism and literature because it was so much more marketable. She felt she had never been able to support herself in the past and made a promise to herself that she would never be in that position again. She has found that every job out there in the writing field would like you to know or be able to teach professional writing.
Jo decided to teach ENGL 420 – undergrad, online, and international – because she has always loved teaching and loves working with older students. With professional writing, Jo found that she can teach her students more practical and applied knowledge than in other areas or writing. She creates her syllabus so that everything builds towards a semester end service project – an idea that she finds gives both her students and the community service and meaning.
It is Jo’s enthusiasm for teaching the practical and applicable side of professional writing that draws her to the profession itself. She finds it as an all-encompassing way of preparing yourself to have general, professional qualities; such as learning to be a good listener, respecting people, and working hard. It’s more of a practical education for a profession that values confidence, accuracy, and a constant learning process. This is why, she says, she plans to continue teaching as a professor for years down the road.

Conclusions
Jo Doran has taught me that professional writing isn’t necessarily a singular honed skill; it is much more about a broad range of skills that enable you to be a professional motivated writer that is able to morph and change with the evolving culture, along with working in a business setting. Writing isn’t always just about writing – the skills that allow you to function and communicate in a business setting are just as important.

Interview Questions
1. What is your role here at Purdue? What do you study/research/teach. Do you like it?
2. Have you always enjoyed writing? Always known you’ll end up in the field?
3. Have you always planned on being in the field?
4. What is your educational background? Where did you go? What did you study? Did you like it?
5. Did you do anything in middle school or high school leading up to this?
6. What made you choose professional writing over other concentrations in writing?
7. Why did you come to Purdue?
8. How would you describe professional writing? Do you like it?
9. What do you plan to do when you leave?
10. What would your dream job be?