Burnett, Hertel Recognized at Georgia Tech’s 2017 Women’s Leadership Conference

Posted April 4, 2017

Rebecca Burnett, a professor in the Ivan Allen College School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC), and Jillann Hertel, an academic professional in LMC, received awards at Georgia Tech’s 2017 Women’s Leadership Conference, which was held at the Historic Academy of Medicine on April 1, 2017.

Burnett won the Outstanding Faculty Woman of Distinction Award, and Hertel won the Outstanding Staff Woman of Distinction Award. They were recognized by Georgia Tech for their “exemplary leadership abilities” and ability to create “innovative solutions while inspiring and uplifting the entire Georgia Tech community.”

Since 2007, Burnett has directed the Writing and Communication Program at Georgia Tech. As a champion of rhetoric, process, and multimodality in composition, business and technical communication, and communication across the curriculum, Burnett is the best expression of the evolution of writing and communication at Georgia Tech. Under Burnett’s leadership and role as a change agent, the Writing and Communication Program is spreading a culture of communication across Georgia Tech.

The Women’s Leadership Conference began during the winter of 1998 as means to celebrate, recognize, and learn more about the strong leadership exhibited by women of the Georgia Tech community. The conference is a gathering of women who have sought to become leaders in the classroom and the boardroom as well as the communities where they reside.

A notable 230% (and rising) increase in applicants to the LMC program demonstrates Jillann Hertel’s immediate success as Creative Director within the School of Literature, Media, and Communication. Hertel incorporates her industry experiences into innovative teaching strategies and portfolio-building exercises for her students. She formed the interdisciplinary minor in Social Justice collaboratively with the School of History and Sociology. Through departmental renovations and the founding of the CoLab (LMC’s Career Origination Studio & Gallery), students within the School apply skills learned in the classroom into beyond-the-classroom deliverables. Hertel is also heavily involved in mentoring as well as diversity advocacy at the institute-level as well as within the School’s Diversity Working Group that seeks to achieve an inclusive environment and excellence for the Georgia Tech community.

Learn more about the Women’s Leadership Conference here: http://www.wlc.gatech.edu/