Meet the Members
Jessica Barnard, President
Jessica Barnard is a Writing major with a minor in anthropology. Outside of OPW, she has done copy editing and proofreading for InWriting, a Writing Department newsletter at GVSU, and recently completed an editorial internship with literary fiction publishing house Dzanc Books. She enjoys reading and writing science fantasy in her spare time and is pursuing a career in the field of publishing.
Audrey Kelly, Vice President
Audrey Kelly is a junior Writing major and Digital Studies minor. Outside of OPW, she is also a Lead User Experience Student with Grand Valley State University Libraries, as well as a writer and copy editor for InWriting. Currently, Audrey is working on her Distinction in Writing. She dabbles in both creative and professional writing and hopes to pursue her interests in design and user experience.
Elise Taylor, Secretary
Elise Taylor is a sophomore Multimedia Journalism major with a minor in Writing. Additionally, she works as a consultant for the Speech Lab at GVSU. Elise is passionate about deepening her relationship with writing. She is also looking to get acquainted with it in its many different forms including professional writing.
Jacob Kirn, Treasurer
Jacob is a senior Writing major with a minor in Digital Studies. In addition to OPW, he works in Grand Rapids as a Technical Writing Intern for Dematic. With a background in web development, user experience design, and professional writing, he hopes to gain a broader understanding of emerging trends and technologies throughout the industry. In his free time, Jacob enjoys playing music, writing literary nonfiction, and traveling.
Laurence José, Faculty Advisor
Laurence José teaches courses in professional writing, writing in the global context, style, document design, multimodal composing, genre theory, and digital studies. She earned her PhD at Michigan Technological University in rhetoric and technical communication. She also holds a Diplôme d’Études Approfondies (M.A.) in general linguistics from the Université de Strasbourg. Her research focuses on international technical communication, rhetoric and genre theory, and program administration.