Dan O'Hair is dean of the University of Kentucky College of Communications and Information Studies. He is past Presidential Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Oklahoma and past president of the National Communication Association.  He is coauthor or coeditor of fifteen communication texts and scholarly volumes and has published more than eighty research articles and chapters in dozens of communication, psychology, and health journals and books.  He is a frequent presenter at national and international communication conferences, is on the editorial boards of various journals, and has served on numerous committees and task forces for regional and national communication associations.

Mike Palmquist is an Associate Vice Provost for Learning and Teaching at Colorado State University and the Director of CSU’s Institute for Learning and Teaching. A professor of English and University Distinguished Teaching Scholar, he is recognized nationally for his work in computer-supported writing instruction and, in particular, in designing Web-based instructional materials to support writing. His most recent Web-based projects are Writing@CSU (http://writing.colostate.edu), an open-access, educational Web site for writers and writing instructors, and the WAC Clearinghouse (http://wac.colostate.edu), the leading site for communication across the curriculum. He is the author of numerous articles and essays on writing and teaching with technology and writing across the curriculum. In 2004, he received the Charles Moran Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Field, which recognizes "exemplary scholarship and professional service to the field of computers and writing." In 2006, the CCCC Committee on Computers in Composition and Composition named him Outstanding Technology Innovator. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the National Council of Teachers of English and as chair of the NCTE’s College Section. He is the author of Joining the Conversation: Writing in College and Beyond (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010); The Bedford Researcher, Third Edition (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009); and Designing Writing: A Practical Guide (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005).

Rob Patterson is an Assistant Professor in the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. He teaches communication, non-profit, and global citizenship segments in McIntire’s integrated core experience, as well as an upper-division course in public speaking and persuasion. Additionally, Patterson regularly teaches rhetoric and speech seminars in the University Seminars (USEM) program at UVA. Patterson received his BA, as a double major in speech communication and political science, from Texas State University, his MA in communication from the University of Oklahoma, and his PhD in communication studies (rhetoric and culture)  from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has fourteen years of experience teaching communication coursework at four different universities and several years of experience working in the nonprofit sector, most recently as the Associate Executive Director/Chief of Staff for a national higher education accrediting agency in Washington, DC. In this latter role, he worked on a number of international projects and traveled abroad. Patterson has published work in rhetorical theory, political communication, and communication pedagogy. He recently had his guide to using presentation software rereleased (Bedford/St. Martin’s). Patterson won a teaching excellence award from the University of Nebraska Alumni Association in 1997 and holds memberships in both the National Communication Association and the Association for Business Communication. He enjoys canoeing, travel, the outdoors, and especially his family life.

William H. Phillips received his BA from Purdue University, his MA from Rutgers University, and his PhD in dramatic literature and film studies from Indiana University. He has taught introductory film courses at the University of Illinois, Urbana; Indiana University, South Bend; California State University, Stanislaus; and the University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire. His publications include the books Analyzing Films (1985), Writing Short Scripts (Second Edition, 1999), and Writing Short Stories: The Most Practical Guide (2002).

James L. Pinson has taught journalism for about twenty-five years at the Missouri School of Journalism and at Eastern Michigan University,and has addressed various press groups on the subjects of grammar and other editing skills. He has also worked for newspapers in Colorado, Missouri, and Michigan, and has a doctorate in journalism and a master's in creative writing.

Don Ranly, professor emeritus of journalism at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, was formerly director of the magazine sequence at the school for twenty-eight years.   He is coauthor of News Reporting and Writing, Tenth Edition (2011), Telling the Story, Fourth Edition (2010), and Beyond the Inverted Pyramid (1993), and is the author of Publication Editing (1999), and the editor of Principles of American Journalism (1997). He has conducted more than 1,000 writing, editing, and publishing seminars for corporations, associations and organizations, and individual magazine, newspaper, and publishing companies.

Hannah Rubenstein is a writer and editor who has used her academic training in communication (MA, Fairfield University) to guide her collaborations on A Speaker's Guidebook (2010), Public Speaking: Challenges and Choices (1999), and other successful college texts. She heads her own communication firm, Hedgehog Productions.

Roy Peter Clark and Christopher Scanlan are both working journalists and teachers at the Poynter Institute, a world-renowned journalism school that provides writing, reporting, and editing seminars to thousands of media professionals each year. Both have helped in developing the annual Distinguished Writing Awards competition, and have chosen the stories in  America's Best Newspaper Writing: A Collection of ASNE Prizewinners, Second Edition (2006), making a collection that is truly the "best of the best."

James Seguin is senior scholar and professor emeritus of communications and media arts, and the founder and director of the Center of Documentary Production & Study at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh. Formerly, he was President of Creative Video, Inc. and has received awards for his television and video productions.

Nancy Sommers, who has taught composition and directed composition programs for thirty years, now teaches writing and mentors new writing teachers at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.  She led Harvard’s Expository Writing Program for twenty years, directing the first-year writing program and establishing Harvard’s WAC program. A two-time Braddock Award winner, Sommers is well known for her research and publications on student writing. Her articles Revision Strategies of Student and Experienced Writers and Responding to Student Writing are two of the most widely read and anthologized articles in the field of composition.  Her recent work involves a longitudinal study of college writing to understand the role writing plays in undergraduate education. Sommers is the lead author on Hacker handbooks, all published by Bedford/St. Martin’s, and is coauthor of Fields of Reading, Ninth Edition (2010).

Brenda Spatt taught English at Herbert H. Lehman College of The City University of New York for thirteen years and also at Borough of Manhattan Community College before becoming an administrator at CUNY's Central Office.  Her titles included director of academic affairs, executive assistant to the Chancellor, and university associate dean for executive search and evaluation.

Rob Stewart is an associate dean of arts and sciences and professor of communication studies at Texas Tech University. He is coauthor of A Speaker's Guidebook (2007), Public Speaking: Challenges and Choices (1999), and has also published over thirty articles and book chapters.

Angela Trethewey is associate professor in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University. Her award-winning research exploring the relationships among organizational communication, power, and gendered identities has been published in flagship journals in the field, including Journal of Applied Communication Research, Management Communication Quarterly, and Communication Monographs. She has also edited special issues on topics such as translating scholarship into practice and living with organizational contradictions. Recently, she received the Master Teacher Award from the Western States Communication Association.

Joseph S. Tuman is Professor of Speech and Communication Studies at San Francisco State University, where he has been honored with the Jacobus tenBroek Society Award for Excellence in Teaching. Tuman regularly appears on television as a political commentator and is the author of numerous books, including Political Communication in American Campaigns, and Communicating Terror: The Rhetorical Dimensions of Terrorism. In addition, Tuman has taught at the University of California at Berkeley, The New School, and Paris II, the top law school in France. He has published widely in the field of communication studies and has previously operated a private consulting practice for individuals, businesses, and government entities seeking assistance with speech writing, communication strategies, and presentation skills.

JOHN T. WARREN (1974-2011). Professor of Communication Pedagogy at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, John served as director of the introductory course at Bowling Green State University and Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. His research, published in journals such as Communication Education, Basic Communication Course Annual, and Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, often included analysis of foundational communication courses.  Dr. Warren’s research interests lay at the intersections of pedagogy, performance, and difference, examining culture and power through critical, performative lenses.  He was an author/editor of six books, including Performing Purity, Critical Communication Pedagogy, The SAGE Handbook of Communication and Instruction, and Communication: A Critical/Cultural Introduction.