Reflection Of A Successful Interview With Celeste Lopez

During my recent interview with Celeste Lopez, the secretary of the Spanish department at Fresno Pacific University, I asked what percentage of the work week she spent writing. Her response was the following, “I currently work on recruiting students as well as administering and expanding the services provided by the Spanish department office. This includes working to aid and offer solutions to the students and faculty at the university. These solutions range from major and financial assistance as well as providing opportunities to attend professional seminars to gain experience and make connections. I would say that I spend about 4 hours or more each day writing emails, proposals, and new documentation for the populace”. After calculating the amount of time, she spends in her office, as well as at home, Ms. Lopez estimated about ¼ of her time is spent writing. However, most of this writing is done electronically. With emails being one
Lopez about the types of documents she writes and the purpose of these documents. Besides emails, the actual documents she regularly works on range from proposals aimed at recruiting new students as well as those aimed at expanding the Spanish department. The proposals may be detailed recommendations for the school’s faculty and students of matters that needed to be changed or perhaps needed to be fixed. There are also written estimates and presentation handouts created for the school site representatives, students, and faculty when a conference is held.

Lastly, I asked who the target audience is and who will look at this sort of documentation firsthand. Ms. Lopez mentioned that typically these documents are intended for individuals within the college campus, some of which are of some sort of authority. For example, when it comes to college officials, it is typically the students, the Spanish department faculty, the maintenance officials, and the public whom are the audience intended to read these