The Nominating Committee of the Boston Chapter is pleased to report that Nan Fritz has been awarded the distinction of Associate Fellow of the STC. Nan's efforts and dedication to the Society and the technical communication profession are an example and inspiration to Society members.

Professional Experience

From the time Nan served as editor of her high school yearbook, she was committed to understanding and improving the process of using words and pictures to communicate messages effectively. Her early career was focused exclusively on writing and editing. By 1972, she became interested in the broader publications process—how ink, paper, design, and graphics come together to make words communicate more effectively. From 1972 through 1982 Nan honed her skills at developing and managing entire publications, from magazines to books to reports and marketing collateral. She held full-time employment positions in government, corporate, and academic publishing sectors.

Nan was a judge for the 1975 STC international competition in Washington, D.C., but her active involvement in the field of technical communication did not officially begin until her 1982 move to Boston. She joined STC that year and attended the Annual Conference in Boston. Since that time, much of her work has involved technical publications of some kind. When Nan wondered how to keep learning while raising two young children, she decided to start a small company that she could build as the family needs were met. Market research showed that there were graphic design companies in the Boston area, but no companies that were committed to language, including writing, editing, indexing, and proofreading. To meet that need, Nan founded Editorial Services of New England, Inc.

Nan decided that her clients might need flexibility in how they used her company's services, so she offered staffing, project outsourcing, and training and consulting services all under one roof. STC members and activities were very helpful as she adapted her general publishing skills to technical communication. Currently, about 70% of her firm's business involves information design and delivery, from technical manuals and books to technical marketing collateral to online help for technical products, to forms of Web communication and training. In 1999, the company changed its name to nSight to communicate its commitment to bringing vision and skills that help clients communicate effectively in the Information Age.

Contributions to Advancement of Technical Communication

Nan has made countless invaluable contributions to the advancement of technical communication. In particular, Nan has contributed to the advancement of our profession in the following ways:

By enhancing the professionalism of technical communication by helping to define and implement standards of effective writing, editing, design, and production and by providing a small-group forum for professionals to discuss the challenges that they face in their day-to-day lives
By promoting the education of technical communications through presentations, articles, and workshops
By providing service to industry by offering high-quality technical communications services for 18 years and by developing new techniques in project planning, estimating, and management for complex information design and delivery project needs
By providing service to academia by helping to establish the George Washington University Publications Specialist Program and by being a resource and speaker at area technical communication programs on skills and tools needed in the industry
By providing information on new communication technologies, methods, and applications; Nan continually implements new workshop ideas and topics for our fast-paced industry

Service to the Society

Since joining STC in 1982, Nan has demonstrated exemplary service on the chapter, regional, and international levels. Her contributions have enriched the Society at each level.

Nan has held numerous influential positions within the Boston Chapter and has presented at many chapter programs and workshops. As second vice president, first vice president, and president, she led the chapter through the changing times in these last years of the 20th century. She has also presented at many events within and outside STC (at the regional and international levels). Nan continually promotes services to STC members through chapter leadership positions in the areas of competitions, workshops, programs, community service, special interest groups, volunteer development, strategic planning, and regional programs.

Publications and Presentations

Nan has an impressive and extensive set of publications and presentations. Her original work includes the following items:

Developed or coordinated development of quality standards and assessment tools for evaluating skills of technical communicators
Developed checklists for effective writing, technical writing, substantive/development editing, proofreading, and production for a variety of print and interactive products
Developed or coordinated development of more than 50 workshops in communication
Wrote more than 100 case studies for hands-on training situations
Wrote many articles for training resources on topics such as choosing colors for readability, enhancing presentation skills, and estimating documentation projects

Honors and Awards

During her distinguished career, Nan has received numerous awards. For example, she received a Chapter Recognition Award in June 2000 "For being a mentor's mentor." Nan was presented with a Distinguished Chapter Service Award in June 2000. Her citation read: "For your leadership while on the chapter's administrative council and as president of the Boston chapter, and for your continuing contributions to chapter activities."

Affiliations with Other Professional Organizations

Nan has been active in other professional organizations during her career. These include the Freelance Editorial Association and the National Association of Government Communicators, which she helped found in Washington, D.C., the International Association of Business Communicators, Boston Computer Society (now defunct), Society for Documentation Professionals (serving as newsletter editor, treasurer, and presenter), Bookbuilders, the Massachusetts Interactive Media Council (MIMC), and now DigitalEve.

Summary

Nan has an incredible amount of publishing knowledge and has promoted the establishment and observance of standards throughout her lengthy and distinguished career. She founded and continues to oversee an extremely successful company that provides employment opportunities and training to technical communicators. Throughout the nearly 20-year life of this company, she has positively affected the quality of technical communication that has been produced during this time—by defining standards of excellence and ways of measuring them and by providing resources for technical communicators to achieve those standards.

All parts of the Society require contributions from the various disciplines within the technical communication field. Nan is an outstanding contributor from both the teaching and industry worlds. The Boston Chapter, and STC itself, are enhanced beyond measure by the energy, dedication, intelligence, professionalism, friendliness, and unselfish devotion of Nan Fritz.

Christine Jacobs is a principal technical writer at Oracle Corporation in Waltham, MA.