“I want you guys to get out there and succeed and do the best you can. Having just a little bit of project management on your resume will help put you above other English majors.” - Kellie McDermott

One of the things that makes the WKU English program so great is the support we receive from our students long after they've left. For the last three years, Kellie McDermott (B.A., 2016) has been paying it forward to current English majors in the Professional Writing concentration by offering workshops that help them develop critical skills in project management. Since 2018, McDermott has worked at HealthTech Solutions, first as a Senior Consultant and now as a Training Practice Administrator. In her current role, McDermott develops and delivers workplace trainings in education and industry settings all around the country. 

Having participated in the PW Alumni panels in the PW Capstone class for several years, in 2021 McDermott suggested increasing her support for current students by returning to WKU to offer project management workshops as well. Students have found these annual workshops to be very helpful as they prepare for and complete their client projects. 

“These workshops are a version of training that her company usually charges thousands of dollars for (she delivers these and other sessions to companies and organizations all around the country!).  We are very grateful for her providing them—for free—to our PW students!” Dr. Angela Jones says. 

The workshop hosted on February 2 was the first of three that McDermott will be providing this semester. All three workshops focus on Project Management, with this first session giving an overview of the terminology and processes involved in taking a project from idea to completion. 

“The reason that I come back to Western every year to do this is because I'm a big believer in the English department, first of all, and the professors here and all the support that they give to the students,” McDermott said. 

During this workshop, when asked why project management skills are important for Professional Writers, McDermott expressed that when she graduated she figured out very quickly that everything you do is a project. 

“I got out into the technical writing world and I figured out really fast that what you do are projects all the time. You need to write a user manual for somebody, that's a project. You need to create a training over this, that's a project. So, I had to pick up project management skills really fast,” McDermott said. 

McDermott also conveyed how important communication, organization, and teamwork are to project management. She does this by always starting her workshops with introductions. “Now, the reason we do this, and the reason this is important, especially for project management, is because you have to get to know your team. You have to get to know the people that you're working with,” McDermott noted. “You have to get to know the people that are not on your team, but you may need help from. And if you can't form those relationships and those connections with those people, then it's not going to be as easy as  it could be.”McDermott continued the workshop by giving precise examples of project management, frequently stopping to make sure everyone understood and to leave time for discussion. 

Students attending the workshop came in wanting to know how to avoid procrastination, make better connections, organize projects in a portfolio better, and understand the standard practices in project management. When leaving students agreed that the workshop was helpful and were excited to attend the next two. The second workshop will take place on March 25.

McDermott’s ongoing support led the department to award her our first-ever Outstanding English Alumni award in 2023. It really says something about the English Department that students come back with their unwavering support after they have graduated. WKU’s English Department is a community that sticks with and supports students and alumni alike.