Sonia Stephens

Assistant Professor, Technical Communication - Orlando, Florida, United States The OpportunityThe Department of English in the College of Arts and Humanities (CAH) at the University of Central Florida (UCF) invites applications for a 9-month, tenure-earning faculty position in T...

✨UCF is hiring a tenure-track assistant professor in Technical Communication!✨ Teach upper-level undergrad & grad courses; oversee Writing for the Technical Professional. Happy to answer questions (email is best: ekj@ucf.edu)!
More here: jobs.ucf.edu/jobs/assista...

Undergraduate student presenting poster

Undergraduate student presenting poster

Graduate student presenting poster

Undergraduate student presenting poster

We are delighted to announce the finalists in the 2025 Student Research Competition. Please join us at 8:00am on Sat Oct 25 in Room 124 in the Student Union Building to hear their presentations.

Thanks to all of participants, our excellent judges, and everyone who attended the poster session.

What not to do when anonymizing interview transcripts...

Loop in sustainability this year at CPTSC and SIGDOC. Bring your own lanyard. We'll provide nametags, but reusing your old lanyard helps us reduce waste. Plus, you can show off your preferred colors or style. Don't have an old one? Don't worry—-we've got you covered with spares!

A comic titled Spooky Bird Stories. In panel 1, a turkey vulture is telling stories to other vultures, and it says, "She walked toward the source of the terrible smell. She got closer and closer, and then, to her horror, she saw... No dead body." A black vulture says "No!" and a turkey vulture says "Did someone already eat it??" In panel 2, a northern cardinal is telling a story to some songbirds. It says "They peered through the windows of the house at the gory scene. Zombies had smashed through the door in the night. The homeowner was dead. But worst of all... He hadn't refilled the feeders." An eastern bluebird says "Aaah!" and an American goldfinch says "It can't be!". In panel 3, a screech owl is telling a story to other owls. It says "And then the ghost fluffed itself up really big to appear scarier." A saw-whet owl gasps, and a long-eared owl says "Horrifying!". In panel 4, a downy woodpecker is telling a story to other woodpeckers, and says "The eerie sound rang through the dark woods. Tap-tap. Tap-tap. It was the distinctive two-part knock of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. The species had returned from the dead... FOR REVENGE." A red-cockaded woodpecker says "Yesss".

Spooky bird stories. Last year's Halloween comic.

Fall migration is well underway! Our first three painted buntings showed up in the yard yesterday, and the first two catbirds today. Hopefully they'll all be hanging out all winter!

Classic Orlando experience: was bit by a goose at Lake Eola en route to see a Shanghai-set production of LA Boheme at Opera Orlando.

Want to study the intersection of humanities and technology at a smaller scale than a PhD? T&T also offers an interdisciplinary graduate certificate, Digital Humanities in the Age of AI. We'll be holding an information session Wednesday, November 5 at 6pm applynow.graduate.ucf.edu/register/?id...

A black vulture sits on a sign that says "black vulture notice."

Here, have some birds perched on appropriate/delightful signage. You're welcome. 🧵 ⤵️

1. Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus) by tysmith on iNaturalist

A three panel cartoon illustration of a shrike: HEY ANDERSON! WE'RE STILL IN SUMMER! IT'S A LITTLE EARLY FOR THE HALLOWEEN DECORATIONS. EH?! (Shrike sitting on a branch.) DECOR-.. (Close up of a Shrike sitting on a branch.) DECORATIONS? (Shrike sitting on a branch surrounded by its impaled kill.) From Facebook posting: If you know, YOU KNOW. Meet my spark bird! HALLOWEEN For birders, a spark bird is the one that first ignites your passion for birding. For me, that moment came as a kid hiking with my dad, when we came across a mouse that had been... creatively dispatched. He explained it was probably the work of a Shrike-and I was astonished. How could such a sweet little songbird pull off something so extreme? That contradiction is exactly what makes the Shrike unforgettable. Also known as the "butcher bird", it's infamous for its grisly habit of impaling prey on thorns or barbed wire, creating a pantry in an area that most animals would avoid (because WTF?!) Their menu includes insects, lizards, small mammals, and other birds. Shrikes can be found across the globe, where they transform ordinary landscapes into impromptu Spirit Halloween stores.

Spooky Season is near 🩶🤍🖤

(poached from FB @zoodraws.bsky.social with associated info in AltText)

A pika sits on a mossy rock.

Tighter crop of the same pika, focusing on its head.

An even tighter crop, focusing more on the pika's eye.

An extremely tight crop of the pika's eye, emphasizing their reflection of an early morning mountain scene.

"Pat, why do you carry that ridiculous 600mm lens on long hikes?"

Buddy, I can see mountains reflected in the eyes of a trailside pika.

I'm gonna need a good car wash after today!🪶

🚨TAKE ACTION🚨

In the dead of night, Ron DeSantis ordered part of the Pulse memorial painted over. That’s why we’re calling on everyone in Orlando to show up for a peaceful gathering today at the Pulse Memorial at 6:00pm ET.

#ShowYourRainbow🌈

Lads the HONK I just honked

Black and white abstract score from Lou Sheppard's Dawn Chorus, Evensong, 2019

Are you into 🐦 + 🔉?

Or 🐦 + 🎶?

Or just 🐦 + 👂?

Next week's BtB Thursdays meetup is all about birds and sound. We'll share projects and inspiration and probably listen to a whole lot of chirps, cheeps + trills.

binoculars-to-binomials.disco.co/p/btb-thursd...

(img: Lou Sheppard)

🪶

Oak scrub forest with the sea and a foggy headland in background.

They live only on California's very scenic Channel Islands.

Somewhat grainy photo of a large blue and gray bird hiding in the shrubbery. It's giving you side-eye because it disapproves of your presence.

Saw my 700th species of bird yesterday! Behold, my least terrible photo of an island scrub-jay.

Congratulations!

Story mapping and sea level rise: listening to global risks at street level: Communication Design Quarterly: Vol 8, No 1 While interactive maps are important tools for risk communication, most maps omit the lived experiences and personal stories of the community members who are most at risk. We describe a project to dev...

#TBT to T&T faculty member @terpsinoe.bsky.social's 2021 article, "Story mapping and sea level rise: listening to global risks at street level." Take a look! dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Trump vs. Birds: Proposed Budget Eliminates Critical Research Programs • The Revelator Experts say there’s “no substitute” for the Bird Banding Laboratory or the Breeding Bird Survey, which help reveal the health and status of avian populations across the country.

Welp, I did it, I wrote a piece for @therevelator.org on the proposed funding cuts to the Bird Banding Lab & Breeding Bird Survey and what they would mean for bird research & conservation in the U.S. Definitely a different sort of writing than I usually do. 🪶 therevelator.org/trump-vs-bir...

Did he get a treat? The post-vet treat + angry pout are an important part of the process for our buns.

Congrats on the first part of this post, but boo Reviewer 2!

Birds as pride flags, meticulously researched by my wonderful student Griffin ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Rainbow flag: Eastern Rosella

📷 David Irving, eBird

Text messages: “In 1996, two neighbors in Devon, England, spent an entire year hooting at each other while believing they were communicating with owls.” This feels like something you would do no offense Read 8:45 AM Response: None taken

you’ve been on my mind all night

Forgot to tag @yanfernandez.bsky.social !

Close up of a cactus flower, showing pistil, stamens, and lots of petals.

Close up of one flower.

There are a lot of people here! Also some clearly irritated barred owls whose hunting is being disturbed.

Photo of a mass of cactus blooms climbing a pine tree. It's night, and people taking photos can be seen at the base of the tree.

Time for the night-blooming cereus at Mead Gardens! It blooms once a year. Each flower is about eight inches across, and the cactus is an epiphyte that climbs a long way.

I'll be doing this! Looking forward to some creative bird time this summer.