Dorian Harvey, Instructor

Office: Lino Lakes, MN
Phone: office 651-490-7715; fax 651-490-0804 (call first)
Email: dorian.harvey@ndsu.edu

Education

M.B.A. (marketing concentration), University of St. Thomas, Saint Paul, MN, 1994
M.A., English, NDSU, 1982
B.A., Philosophy and English, Minnesota State University-Moorhead, 1978

Welcome to my page on the English Department's website! I teach Engl. 320, Business and Professional Writing, and Engl. 321, Writing in the Technical Professions. Because I live near St. Paul, MN, I teach only online courses for NDSU. I also teach a grad-level technical communication class at Univ. of St. Thomas (starting this fall).

Philosophy of teaching
All people deserve to be able to communicate effectively in writing. To do so, however, they need the following circumstances:
• To be motivated to write effectively
• To understand the audience's needs and expectations
• To practice, practice, practice
These elements are built into all of my writing assignments and interactions with students.
I find that the most enjoyable part of teaching is connecting often with students, even though we're limited to e-mail exchanges and phone conversations. By the way, students practice communicating with me by e-mail so much that by the end of the semester, I'm sure they can write well organized and professional e-mail messages in their sleep!
It's gratifying to see how students' writing improves by the end of the semester, and to know that students are prepared to write in their professions as a result of taking one of my classes.

My background
I taught freshman composition and business writing at NDSU during and after the years I was getting a master's degree in English at NDSU. Since then, I've been a corporate technical writer and promotional writer, have earned an M.B.A. in marketing, and am now a freelance business and biomedical writer in the Twin Cities.
My clients represent a number of industries, including biomedical devices, energy management, human resources development, and K-12 education. I write website content, scientific and sociological white papers, internal employee communications, direct e-mail sales campaigns, clinical case studies, media/press kits, trade magazine articles, and scripts for DVD and audio publications.

I also write curricula for middle school and high school life skills courses. In 2007, I wrote curricula on the topics of nicotine addiction, shaken baby syndrome, fetal alcohol exposure, and fetal drug exposure.

In short…
My goal is to share my interest, experience, and insights about writing in the professions so that students can receive practical value for their tuition dollars!

Last modified: August 25, 2008