J. Neiland Pennington

Senior Contributing Editor, Trend Publishing, Inc., Chicago, Ill.

Class Year

1963

Professional Background

From 1970 through my retirement in 2005, I was a writer/editor with industrial trade publications for both the furniture and metalworking industries. Although I am officially retired, I continue to contribute part-time to both Modern Metals and Forming & Fabricating Journal.

How has being an English graduate from Duke University helped shape your professional success?

One course that directly informed my career was Technical Communications, taught by George C. Harwell. It was essentially engineering English, designed to teach technical people how to write reports and presentations. I was a frustrated engineer, with fascination with matters mechanical but lacking the requisite mathematical skills. I had an elective to fill, and Dr. Harwell's course looked intriguing. The rest is history, and Dr. Harwell's textbook is a reference I still use. So I had an English course that directly affected my career choice.

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