Professor Gerald J. Savage, Department of English, is the winner of a 2008 Jay R. Gould Award from the Society for Technical Communication. The award honors the type of teaching that becomes true academic mentorship and applauds “the personal and professional concern that the best teachers extend to their students beyond the demands of the classroom.” Savage currently serves as the director of both the internship and technical writing programs. Since joining the ISU faculty in 1994, he has restructured existing courses and created new ones, placed over 500 students in internships across campus, and earned the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award. “Dr. Savage deserves this honor,” said Han Yu, a former student of Savage who is now an assistant professor at Kansas State University. “I owe my professional career in technical communication to Jerry; without his classes, life stories, advising, and mentoring, I would not be where I am today.” Tim Hunt, Chair of the English Department, added, “Jerry exemplifies the ideal of the teaching scholar to which all of us at ISU aspire. He leads us all by example.”

“This award is a reflection of the excellent students I have worked with and the culture of Illinois State University, where teaching is so highly valued and where I am surrounded by colleagues who set the highest standards for teaching excellence,” said Savage. His publications include Writing a Professional Life: Stories of Technical Communicators On and Off the Job, co-edited with Dale Sullivan, and Status and Legitimacy in Technical Communication, Volumes I and II, co-edited with Teresa Kynell.

He holds a BA in English and Philosophy from the University of Alaska and a PhD in Rhetoric and Technical Communication from Michigan Technological University. The Society for Technical Communication will present the award to Savage at its national convention in Philadelphia in June.