2013 ClearMark Judges

Judges for the 2013 ClearMark Awards

Robert Linsky, Director of Judging

Robert Linsky, Information Design Doc, is the Director of Information Design at NEPS, LLC, a leading communications management consulting firm orchestrating information for relevant, personalized delivery. His expertise is in information design and document processes and he has been creating solutions for a wide range of nationally and internationally recognized financial, insurance, healthcare and telecommunications companies.

He has taught design and served as the chair of the design department at the New England School of Art & Design. Mr. Linsky served on the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts College of Art & Design for twelve years including two terms as its Chair.

As the executive director of ISGD (International Society of Graphic Designers, Ltd.), Robert led designers on Design Dialogues to Russia, China and Eastern Europe.

He is a life fellow of the Communications Research Institute and is on the editorial board of the Information Design Journal. Robert is a member of the International Institute for Information Design (IIID), the Information Design Association and recently was elected to the board of the Plain Language Association International (PLAIN).

Robert also writes a blog about information design (http://informationdesigndoc.blogspot.com)

Carolyn Bagin

2012 ClearMark Legal Category Award Winner

Carolyn Boccella Bagin is a recognized national figure in communication, author, and workshop leader for plain language seminars, former Director of the Document Design Center of the American Institutes for Research, and founder of the Center for Clear Communication, Inc. She has established a solid reputation for creating documents that work, transforming complex or technical information into easy-to-read, easy-to-understand documents. She has been a leader in creating documents that meet the audiences’ needs and has effectively developed clear documents for both the public and private sectors, for organizations of all sizes.

Throughout her career, Bagin has transformed hundreds of documents — forms, letters, applications, manuals, handbooks, training materials, and brochures — for Fortune 100 companies, associations, government agencies, utilities, banks, insurance companies, and manufacturers. Bagin has conducted some of the most high-profile, plain-language projects in the United States, including developing the Social Security Statement, the Explanation of Medicare Benefits, and several innovative IRS forms and instructions. In addition, she has transformed documents for such clients as The Home Depot, the NCAA, GE Capital Corporation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Census Bureau, Chrysler Corporation, Limited Credit Services, AFL-CIO, Fannie Mae, American Express, IRS, and the General Services Administration, among others.

Some of her publications include:

How to Create Forms that Get the Job Done, communication briefings: Blackwood, NJ, 1993
“Oh Those Formidable Forms,” Modern Maturity, February-March 1990.
“Those Frustrating Forms Are Bad for Your Business, communication briefings, Volume 10, Number 10, August 1991.
“Worst Forms Unearthed,” Modern Maturity, February-March 1991.

Karen Baker

Karen Baker is Senior Vice President for Consumer Experience at Healthwise in Boise, ID, where she leads the Content and User Experience teams. She joined Healthwise in 2001 after a long career as a newspaper journalist who was always thinking about how to engage readers and empower them through information. She has translated that experience into a passion for plain language as a tool to promote health literacy and to help people make better health decisions, the Healthwise mission since 1975.

Karen has a BA in Mass Communications from the University of Denver and a Master’s in Health Science from Boise State University.

Pat Bertini

Patrizia Bertini holds a Msc in Sociolinguistics from University of Pavia (Italy), has been working on her PhD in Information Systems at the ISIG department of Management at the London School of Economics and Political Science (UK) and it’s currently collaborating with ESC Rennes (France) and University of Ferrara (Italy) on creative projects based on LEGO SERIOUS PLAY and derived research methodologies.

Passionate about creativity, creative research methods and communication, she has 10+ years experience as a consultant in the social inclusion, e-accessibility and usability field, focusing on disabled people, especially sense impaired and dyslexic users.

In particular, she worked with CAs and financial institutions and still collaborate with EC (DG Information Society) in the area of social inclusion. As a researcher she has been awarded with the e-Hungary scholarship for research activities concerning digital TV and social inclusion performed at ITTK (Information Society and Trend Research Institute), a research institute of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (Hungary), and worked for the European Internet Accessibility Observatory, an European project funded by the EU-Commission, focussing on linguistic aspects related to cognitive disabiled people and user needs.

Richard Bland

Richard is a highly skilled designer and consultant with over 20 years of experience, helping businesses simplify their communications through strategic thinking and creative design.

Richard joined Information Design Unit (IDU), the largest specialist information design agency in the UK, in 1992. In 2001, IDU became part of the Brand Union. Richard was a founding partner at his own consultancy and/or/if, set up in 2006, before emigrating to New Zealand in 2010.

Richard continues to practice throughout New Zealand, Australia, the US and UK. He specializes in forms and dynamic document design, structuring and editing complex information, and using detailed typography to design great-looking, clear, effective communications that connect with people and produce real results.

Richard is an Associate Fellow of the Communications Research Institute of Australia. Examples of his work are included in The Form Book: Best Practice in Creating Forms for Business and Online Use, published by Thames & Hudson.

Thomas Bohm

Studied graphic design at college (BTEC) and university (BA), now works for book publishers and businesses, and continues to run User design a graphic communication design, illustration and production service.

Writes, researches and occasionally publishes. Published Punctuation..? (2nd edition, User design) a fun and fully illustrated book on punctuation. Has been published in Information Design Journal and is a member of the Association of Illustrators and the International Institute for Information Design. In 2007 received 2 merits in the European Design Awards. Fellow of the Communication Research Institute.

Monica Bueno

A Principal leading the Service Design Group at Continuum, Monica Bueno excels at developing innovative and socially meaningful solutions for
clients. An industrial and interaction designer by training, Monica is deeply committed to translating customer, business and technology research into innovative solutions that are desirable and relevant to clients and their stakeholders.
While at Continuum, Monica has led projects for global companies looking to connect more meaningfully with customers and differentiate themselves in the marketplace. Her most recent work is in the area of service design, specifically focused on financial services and food services. She is currently helping a key global player develop a strategic vision for growing its business, while remaining truly customer-centric.
Prior to joining Continuum, Monica was on the leadership team at Bruce Mau Design, a Senior Interaction Designer and Project Lead at IDEO, and a Strategist at Philips Design. Some of the clients Monica has collaborated with include the American Red Cross, Procter & Gamble, Arizona State University, Bank of America, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Eli Lilly and Philips. Monica has published, exhibited and presented at conferences, and has received several design awards.

Don Byrne

Don Byrne, formerly Executive Director of the Center for Plain Language, wrote and reviewed safety regulations and other technical documents for over thirty years as an attorney with the Federal Aviation Administration. During his last 15 years with the FAA, he was Assistant Chief Counsel for Regulations. Over his career Don has taught numerous technicians and lawyers to write clearly and effectively. He received Vice President Al Gore’s “No Gobbledygook” award for turning bureaucratize into plain language. Don has conducted plain language training through the Plain Language Action and Information Network. He conducts workshops in clear writing for lawyers.

Kathryn Catania

Kathryn is chief of the Plain Language and Content Division within the Office of Communications at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. She is also co-chair of the Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN). PLAIN is a volunteer working group of U.S federal employees who promote the use of plain language throughout the government and manage www.plainlanguage.gov. PLAIN has existed since the mid-1990s and provides free, plain language instruction to federal agencies. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget named PLAIN the official interagency working group for the U.S. Plain Writing Act of 2010.

Kathryn has taught numerous U.S. government agencies the importance of communicating in plain language instead of gobbledygook and legalese. Kathryn was named one of Fierce Government’s Fierce 15 of 2012 for innovation in government. She was a guest speaker at the Clarity 2012 conference in Washington D.C. and at the 2011 Plain Language Association InterNational conference in Stockholm, Sweden. She was also a judge for the Center for Plain Language’s 2012 ClearMark Awards.

Chip Crane

Christopher “Chip” Crane has been writing professionally and teaching writing for nearly twenty years with an eye toward making better writers, not just better writing. He has worked since 2011 as a writing consultant for the Department of Homeland Security, where he gives workshops on topics such as Plain Language, effective email, performance goals, and responding to Congress. He provides one-on-one coaching in both written and oral communication and also writes and revises for his clients. Chip also teaches Writing for the Health Professions and various literature courses at the University of Maryland at College Park. From 1999-2010 he taught writing and literature as a military instructor at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, directing the Academy’s Writing Center for eight of those years.

Chip holds a Ph.D in English from the Catholic University of America and an M.A. in Teaching Writing and Literature from George Mason University. He has also consulted for the FDIC and the National Governors Association.

Veronika Egger

Veronika Egger As an information designer Veronika has been interested in comprehension and usability of information and products throughout her career. At Philips Design in Vienna, where she began in product graphics and later established and led an interdisciplinary user-interface group, she developed a passion for usable solutions. Her own company, is-design GmbH, was founded in 1997 and focuses on the readability of information and the usability of the built environment. An “inclusive design” approach and measurable quality are fundamental to all her design projects.

Veronika Egger (MSc) is a board member and deputy director of the International Institute for Information Design (IIID) and co-organised the conference “Data Designed for Decisions” in Paris, 2009. She is a life fellow of the Communication Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia, and a co-founder of the Austrian „design for all“ organization.

Thom Haller

Thom Haller, teacher, speaker, writer, and user advocate—teaches principles of plain language, performance-based information architecture, and usability. Thom presents strategies for decreasing frustration in users of content (print and online), in improving individual writing skills, and increasing efficiency in organizations. Thom has more than 20 years experience as an instructor and developer of writing courses. He has provided training to adult students from all branches of Government, national organizations, associations, and corporations. Thom serves as the “information architecture columnist” for The Bulletin, a publication of the American Society of Information Science and Technology.

A noted speaker and facilitator, Thom is funny, passionate, and inclusive. His presentations include keynotes, workshops, and brownbags. He engages audiences and creates results. He creates change in organizations, infusing his optimism and showing how we can make the complex clear. He can be reached via email at thom@thomhaller.com or on Twitter @thomhaller.

Lynda Harris

Lynda Harris Lynda is founder and director of Write Limited, New Zealand’s leading plain English communications company. Wellington-based Write has been well established in the professional services market for close to 20 years and has a broad client base of public and private sector clients. Write specializes in creating custom-built training solutions and provides a wide range of writing and advisory services.

Lynda established the WriteMark, New Zealand’s document quality mark, and is the founder of New Zealand’s annual plain English awards. Her landmark work in bringing the issue of plain language to the attention of the public through the annual awards program was one of the main inspirations for the Center’s ClearMark awards.

Lynda is the New Zealand representative for CLARITY, an international association promoting plain language in the legal profession. She is also a member of the International Plain Language Working Group, which is working to establish international standards for plain language that apply across cultures and languages.

Candi Harrison

Candi Harrison was Department Web Manager at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from 1995-2005. Under Candi’s leadership, HUD won numerous web awards, including the first Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Accenture Digital Government Award for citizen services (2000). Candi founded the government Web Content Managers Forum, currently more than 3,000 members strong. She helped write federal web policies; and she co-chaired the Federal Web Managers Council from its inception in 2004 until she retired in September 2005, after 24 years of federal service.

Candi remains an advocate for improving government customer service and plain language. She teaches courses for government agencies and writes a blog, Candi On Content, chronicling her experiences and ideas. For the past 3 years, she has served as a judge for the U.S. Clearmark Plain Language Awards and for New Zealand’s Writemark Plain Language Awards.

Prior to her government service, Candi was a member of student services staffs at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA and Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ. She holds a Bachelors Degree in English Education and a Masters Degree in Higher Education Administration, both from Indiana University.

Candi lives in Tucson, Arizona.

Lori Hawkins

Lori Hawkins is an independent user experience consultant with many years experience designing and evaluating websites and software and applications in varied business environments. Earlier in her career, she taught computer classes to audiences from ages five through adult.

After working on plain language projects over the past few years, she can no longer view a website, informational sign or form without thinking “Could the average reader understand this?”

Charlene Haykel

A strategic analyst and writer with 40 years’ experience, Charlene Haykel is managing principal of The Haykel Group, a simplified communications consulting practice based in New York. She is also president & CEO of Simply Student Aid, LLC, parent of the Simply College^TM, a publishing company that produced College Access: A Family Guide to Planning and Funding College, The Center for Plain Language’s 2012 Clearmark Award winner for best original document in the private sector.

Ms. Haykel experience as principal at two New York agencies prior to founding The Haykel Group gave her opportunities to link marketing, branding and customer service issues with simplification theory and practice. What emerged from her work in the mid-nineties was Macrosimplification^TM, a prescribed methodology for creating clear, effective communication systems built around core content.

Ms. Haykel has spoken extensively on issues of transparency in investor communications and simplification principles and processes — for the Investment Company Institute; the Institute for International Research; the Conference Board; the Professional Insurance Marketing Association; the Insurance Marketing Communicators Association; the Life Communicators Association and the Financial Communications Forum. She has also been featured on CNNfn and CNBC, ABC Eyewitness News, New York, and the Jean Chatzsky personal finance show on Oprah Radio. Ms. Haykel holds a BA in English from Daemen College, Buffalo, NY and an MA in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Sandy Hilfiker

Sandy Williams Hilfiker is a Principal at CommunicateHealth Inc., a health education and communication firm specializing in improving health literacy through user-centered design, audience research, and content development. She is a leading expert in the design and development of consumer health websites and e-health tools for users with limited health literacy skills and limited experience with the web. She is a passionate advocate for user-centered design with over a decade of experience in health communication and usability research.

Neil James

Dr Neil James is the Executive Director of the Plain English Foundation in Sydney, which combines plain English training, editing and auditing with a campaign for more ethical public language. He established the Foundation in 2003 with Dr Peta Spear to help professional organisations communicate more clearly and to raise the public profile of plain English.

Neil previously worked as a literary critic and publisher, and has a doctorate in English from the University of Sydney. He has published four books and over 60 articles and essays on language and literature. His Writing at Work (Allen and Unwin) is a practical book on the need to reform the rhetoric of the professions. His current book Modern Manglish (Scribe), with illustrations by Alan Moir, was published in November 2011.

Neil is a regular speaker about language in the media throughout Australia, where he features on the ABC Radio network. He is active internationally in developing the plain language profession. In 2008, he was elected to chair the International Plain Language Working Group that is developing international standards and certification for plain language.

Jann Keenan

Jann Keenan, Ed. S. is a leader in health literacy and health equity. She’s been eating, drinking, and sleeping “plain language” for well over two decades. Jann is president (since 1995) of The Keenan Group, Inc. a full-service health communications firm. She’s also a founding member of the Clear Language Group. A seasoned instructional designer and health educator, Jann employs effective ID models and learning theory. She’s a big believer in incorporating evaluation and usability protocols in all phases of product development.

She creates:

Culturally appropriate, easy-to-navigate curricula, toolkits, booklets, posters, videos, websites, widgets, and kiosks
Communications plans and creative briefs
Comprehensive social marketing campaigns with health literacy at their core

Jann’s been honored with:

Nine National Institute of Health Awards for plain language writing and design
The US Secretary’s Special Recognition Award for health literacy writing
The Maryland Governor’s, The MD House of Delegates, and the MD Black Legislative Caucus awards for her work in reducing health disparities
Serving as keynote and featured presenter at health literacy symposiums
Being asked to judge the ClearMark awards . . . twice

Vicki Lankarge

Vicki (Vee) Lankarge is the program manager for the Writers’ Center for Excellence at Aetna. The center is a one-stop resource where Aetna employees and vendors can find tips and tools to improve their writing and make it easier to understand.

Vee has been writing and editing for more than 30 years. Her previous jobs include English teacher, newspaper reporter, product spokesperson and senior health and property insurance writer for insure.com. Her articles for insure.com regularly appeared on CBS Marketwatch and MSN.com. In 2002, her article on medical privacy was entered into the Congressional Record as part of testimony on the subject.

A consumer advocate, Vee is the author of two homeowners’ books published by McGraw-Hill, “What Every Homeowner Needs to Know About Mold” and “How to Improve the Value of Your Home.” She also received the New England Associated Press News Executives Award for Best Feature Story for her magazine cover article on the day in the life of an oncologist.
Today, Vee is a member of a growing group of plain language advocates at Aetna. They work together to help consumers better understand and use their health benefits.

Doug Lincoln

Doug Lincoln is Senior Strategist at Simplified Communications Group, a leading communications consultancy specializing in creating customer documents that are easy to use and understand. He has helped Simplified pioneer plain language techniques in North America, working with major organizations in the financial services, utility and telecommunications sectors.

Doug has over 20 years’ experience as a senior communications consultant. He has headed document simplification projects for companies such as Arizona Public Service, Bank of America, Delta Dental, Farmers Insurance, Franklin Templeton, Manulife Financial, Nordstrom, SunTrust Bank, UBS Financial Services and Union Gas.

Doug has extensive international consulting and editing experience. Prior to joining Simplified to specialize in plain language consulting, he held senior communications consulting positions in Canada and South Africa. He also edited trade magazines in Cape Town, South Africa and in Melbourne, Australia, and was features editor of Namibia’s daily English newspaper. Doug is based in Toronto, Canada and is married with one daughter.

Ricardo Martins

Ricardo Martins Ricardo is a graphic designer and teacher (at Federal University of Parana, Brazil) with a strong interest in reducing information complexity and making communication clearer through research, empathy and considerate conversation.

He is an Associate Felow of Communication Research Institute of Australia, and member of International Institute of Information Design (Vienna, Austria), Type Directors Club of New York and Brazilian Society of Information Design. He is also part of the board of directors of ProDesign – The professional design association of Paraná State (Brazil).

His Masters dissertation was an exploration of research about medical prescriptions and ways of creating better communication between doctors, pharmacists and patients, to reduce medication errors.

Besides working as a teacher and researcher, Ricardo Martins have been doing design projects on several fields, like editorial, digital interfaces and education.

Judith Moldenhauer

Judith Moldenhauer Judith A. Moldenhauer is the Interim Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Research in the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts, Associate Professor, and Graphic Design Area Coordinator at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, USA.

She is currently working with nursing colleagues to develop materials for doulas to help reduce or prevent postpartum depression that include mobile applications for cell phones and digital tablets.

Prof. Moldenhauer has authored several papers on information design and design education and received many awards for her work. She was the WSU PI for U.S. Department of Education FIPSE grants (domestic and international). She was a 2006/2007 Fulbright scholar to Sweden and is a Life Fellow of the Communication Research Institute (Australia). She is co-chair of Information Design Education for the International Institute for Information Design, a board member of the Michigan chapter of the Fulbright Association, and a member of several professional organizations.

Lynn Quincy

Lynn Quincy is a senior health policy analyst for Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy division of Consumer Reports. Ms. Quincy works on a wide variety of health policy issues, with a particular focus on consumer protections, consumers’ health insurance literacy and health insurance reform at the federal and state levels. Her recent work includes three studies testing consumer reactions to the new health insurance disclosure forms required by the Affordable Care Act; launching an initiative to measure consumers’ health insurance literacy and a study that examines the use of “choice architecture” in health plan chooser tools. Ms. Quincy also serves as a consumer representative with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Prior to joining Consumers Union, Ms. Quincy was a senior researcher with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., where she performed policy analysis, provided technical assistance, and modeled outcomes in support of state coverage expansion strategies. She also held senior positions with the Institute for Health Policy Solutions and Watson Wyatt Worldwide (now Towers Watson). She holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of Maryland.

Ginny Redish

Janice (Ginny) Redish has been a passionate evangelist for plain language and usability for more than 30 years. As Director of the Document Design Center (DDC) at the American Institutes for Research, she was at the forefront of the plain language movement in the late 1970s and 1980s. DDC’s newsletter, Simply Stated, reached about 18,000 people and is still remembered fondly by many advocates of plain language.

Since 1992, as President of Redish & Associates, Inc., Ginny has been helping clients and colleagues create useful and usable documents, web sites, and now mobile apps. Her most recent book, Letting Go of the Words – Writing Web Content that Works (Elsevier, 2^nd edition, 2012), has garnered rave reviews for its clear explanations and many full-color examples.

Ginny is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Harvard University. She is a former member of the Board of the Center for Plain Language and recipient of the Center’s first award as Outstanding Plain-Language Leader in the Private Sector.

Elizabeth Rosenzweig

Elizabeth Rosenzweig is a Principal Usability Consultant at the Design and Usability Center and Adjunct Faculty at the Human Factors in Information Design master degree program at Bentley University. Elizabeth has worked as a consultant and employee in several major corporations for over 27 years. Her experience includes design and development, ranging from website and, applications, to hardware products and technology development. Elizabeth has completed projects for many major corporations as well as academic institutions. Elizabeth holds 4 patents in intelligent user interface design.

Elizabeth is founder and Director of World Usability Day, which she started in 2004 after her term as President of Usability Professionals Association was completed. World usability Day has grown to include 44 countries with over 180 events. Elizabeth frequently publishes in industry journals, has written chapters in 3 published books and presents lectures at conferences around the world.

Elizabeth holds a BA in Fine Art Photography and Printing Technologies from Goddard College and a MS in Visual Studies (User Interface Design and Computer Output) from the Media Lab at MIT.

Michael Schwartz

Michael Schwartz, a political scientist by training, retired from the federal government in 2009 after 33 years in the Department of Interior. He spent much of his federal career working on regulations and mineral resource policy and budget. Mike has been a member of the government’s Plain Language Action and Information Network for 12 years, representing first the Bureau of Land Management and more recently the US Fish and Wildlife Service. In his last job, at the Fish and Wildlife Service, he improved clarity of FWS manuals and Federal Register documents by requiring them to incorporate plain language principles. Since his retirement, he continues to be active in plain language matters. Currently, he is working on a searchable bibliography format that captures literature about plain language.

Karel van der Waarde

Karel van der Waarde studied graphic design in the Netherlands (The Design Academy, Eindhoven) and in the UK (De Montfort University, Leicester and the University of Reading). He received his doctorate in 1994 for a dissertation entitled: ‘An investigation into the suitability of the graphic presentation of patient package inserts’.

In 1995, he started a design – research consultancy in Belgium specializing in the testing of information design. His company develops patient information leaflets, instructions, forms, protocols, and the information architecture for websites. Most of the projects are related to information about medicines for patients, doctors and pharmacists.Typical products are information for patients (Bayer Pharmaceuticals, GSK, Proctor & Gamble, Novo Nordisk, Genzyme, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Omnicare, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Tibotec, …), and information for doctors and pharmacists (Ministry of Health, Brussel; RIZIV, Brussel).

Avans University of Applied Sciences (Breda, The Netherlands) has appointed him as scholar in Visual Rhetoric in 2006. It is a research post to investigate the development and use of visual communication with a longer term aim to support the relations between practice, research and education. The research focuses on the criteria that are used by different groups of people to evaluate and assess graphic design. The framework of this investigation is provided by the relations between ‘visual argumentation’ and ‘graphic design’. This describes graphic design as three different kinds of argument-types: ‘visual logic’, ‘visual rhetoric’ and ‘visual dialectics’.

Karel van der Waarde frequently publishes and lectures about visual information. Publications have appeared in Dutch, Polish, Japanese, English, Spanish, Turkish and Portuguese.

Van der Waarde is a life-Fellow of the Communications Research Institute (Melbourne, Australia), a board member of International Institute for Information Design (IIID, Vienna, Austria) and editorial board member of Information Design Journal, Iridescent, the Poster and Visible Language.

Miriam Vincent

Miriam is currently the staff attorney at the Office of the Federal Register. She got her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and has worked for the US federal government for nearly 15 years.

Miriam has been involved with US PLAIN (the Plain Language Action and Information Network) since 1999 and took over as web manager of PlainLanguage.gov in 2005. She also serves on the board of Plain Language International (also known as PLAIN) and has spoken at several international conferences, most recently in Stockholm, Sweden.

Melua Watson

Melua is a founding director of digital content agency Writeclick. She has over 10 years’ experience planning, writing and editing web content for New Zealand government agencies, corporations and not-for-profit organizations. Before focusing on digital content, Melua was a communications advisor to central and local government. A political science major, Melua has also studied design, journalism and public relations. These days she helps large organizations to devise effective content strategies, and trains teams to write beautifully clear content. Melua has a keen interest in usability and the way design and content come together to create satisfying user experiences.

Kara Zech Thelen

Kara Zech Thelen teaches research and writing at Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Before teaching, she clerked for a U.S. federal magistrate judge and practiced employment and college & university law at a Detroit, Michigan based international law firm. Kara was recently invited to present on innovative law-school teaching methods with three co-faculty members at the Institute of Law Teaching and Learning’s annual conference. She is a member of the Legal Writing Institute, Scribes – The American Society of Legal Writers, and Clarity International, an association promoting plain legal language. She has served as a judge for Scribes’ law-review award competition and the Center for Plain Language’s 2010 ClearMark and WonderMark competition. Most recently, she served as a judge for New Zealand’s Writemark competition, which also recognizes the best and worst in plain language in the private and public sectors.

WonderMark Judges

The 2012 WonderMark judges were:

William Ryan, Dept of Homeland Security
Doris Wojnarowski, Department of Homeland Security
John Bosley, Bureau of Labor Statistics
Elizabeth Wainger, Wainger Group
Josiah Fisk, More Carrot