Over the past few years, professors heading the writing department's 109EC classes—writing for business economics— experimented with the idea of creating a new emphasis within the Professional Writing Minor. Their goal was to create a track focusing on business communication.

In spite of initial setbacks, Dr. LeeAnne Kryder, the program's chief professor, was determined to expand the learning experience beyond 109EC's ten week span. Dr. Kryder thus implemented Writing 110EC, enriching the skills gained through writing 109ec.

A Solid Vision

With positive feedback and incredible enthusiasm from her 110EC students, Dr. Kryder realized that if a few more related classes could be added, students would gain much more from the Writing Program. Failing to lose sight of the Business Communication writing minor, Dr. Kryder, who was committee chair at the time, pushed forward. She encouraged her colleagues to develop additional curriculum to complement pre-existing business writing courses.

Major assistance quickly came from instructors Janet Mizrahi, Jeff Hanson, and John Haner, who each created courses to accompany the new minor. With increased student interest for business communication, Dr. Kryder had the means to create a convincing proposal for the third emphasis to the Professional Writing Minor.

In February of 2005, Dr. Kryder's proposal for the Business Communication emphasis of the Professional Writing Minor was approved. In the months that followed, Dr. Kryder worked tirelessly to to promote the new program and ensure that potential students would be prepared for the application deadline.

A total of seventy five applications for the Professional Writing Minor were submitted in October of 2005. Twenty eight of of these students applied for the Business Communication emphasis. Upon examining each application, Dr. Kryder selected nineteen students for the first graduating class of the Professional Writing Minor, Business Communication emphasis.