ATTW Fellows

The following individuals have been honored by ATTW for their major contributions to the organization and to the discipline of technical communication.

*deceased

Fellows Selection Criteria

Persons nominated for elevation to fellow will in general possess the following characteristics and attributes:

  1. They must be members of ATTW at the time of their nomination.
  2. They should be members of long standing in ATTW with at least seven consecutive years of membership. The FSC can recommend exceptions to this rule but only for members of extraordinary merit.
  3. Nominees must have made significant long term contributions to technical communication. It is expected that only members who have established national reputations based on their teaching, scholarship, or academic administration will be considered. Direct service to ATTW—for example, serving on ATTW committees or as journal editor—will enhance a member’s qualifications for nomination but will not in and of itself be considered sufficient for elevation to fellow.

Honorary Fellows

The FSC or the Executive Committee with the advice of the FSC may from time to time elevate non-members to the rank of honorary fellow. Such honorary fellows should have made significant contributions to ATTW or to technical communication. Such persons may have worked directly in technical communication or in fields tangential to technical communication, such as communication, composition, rhetoric, or the behavioral sciences, but their work should have significantly supported technical communication.

ATTW Fellows Selection Procedures

  1. The president will appoint annually a fellow still active in ATTW as chair of the Fellows Selection Committee (FSC) and establish the date each year when the chair will present the president a list of nominees the FSC proposed to elevate to the rank of fellow. The chair of the FSC will serve ex-officio on the executive committee during the year of service.
  2. The chair will appoint four other fellows as members of the FSC; the chair will also designate one member as assistant chair. The assistant chair will become committee chair the following year, subject to the approval of the Executive Committee.
  3. The chair will provide each member of the FSC with current ATTW membership rosters and copies of the Fellows Selection Committee Procedures and the Fellows Selection Criteria. Each member of the FSC will review the list and submit to the chair the names of those members he/she deeps worthy of elevation to fellow.
  4. The chair will consolidate the lists submitted by the members of the FSC and provide the consolidated lists to the members for discussion. The FSC will discuss by phone or mail all names submitted. The persons nominated for elevation to fellow as a result of this discussion should represent the consensus of the FSC. In the event consensus cannot be reached, persons nominated must have at least the support of the FSC chair and three of the four members. The chair of the FSC will provide the president with the names of the nominees or with a negative report that no one has been nominated. If consensus on a nominee was not reached, the chair will also provide the president a minority report.
  5. Upon receiving the list of nominees or the negative report, the president will submit it to the members of the Executive Committee for their advice and consent. A simple majority of the Executive Committee will suffice for consent. (Members of the Executive Committee are eligible for elevation to fellow, but, if nominated, they will not participate in the discussion or voting on any of the nominees.)
  6. Upon receiving the consent of the Executive Committee, the president will
  • Notify nominees of their selection and encourage their presence at the elevation ceremonies.
  • Request the FSC chair to prepare appropriate certificates and citations.
  1. The president will, with the assistance of the FSC chair, conduct the elevation ceremony at the annual ATTW meeting.