My name is Dr. Dean Colston as shown in Figure 1. I’m an educator (PhD), affective science specialist, and scientific writer.

I help organizations advance medical communication and educational programs by making social media content, online training, and scientific documents more accessible and user friendly.

By training, I’m an emotion scientist and a human learning researcher with therapeutic areas of interest in psychiatry/mental health and ophthalmology. 

I also have a special interest in web accessibility. To learn more about accessibility, be sure to visit my blog (Viewing Web Content Through my Eyes: A Blog for Technical Communicators).

For the past 25+ years, I have worked extensively with non-profit and governmental organizations. Coming from academia and the medical industry, I add value by building learning solutions and by creating writing deliverables that comply with internal and external standards.

Early in my healthcare career, I was a mental health counselor, psychiatric disability analyst, provider relations specialist, and continuous quality improvement professional for 14 years. In my academic career, I served as a dean of online faculty, department chair, and university professor for 13 years.

Scientific and Technical Writing

With over 25 years’ experience, I have polished my scientific and technical writing skills by writing numerous documents, such as:

• a doctoral dissertation
• a master’s thesis
• research papers
• instructional manuals
• training materials
• reference and policy manuals
• proposals/grants
• white papers
• brochures
• reports
• content for websites and wikis
• PowerPoint Presentations
• video tutorial scripts
• software documentation
• consumer health content
• patient education materials

Courses

Having a diverse academic background and an appreciation for an interdisciplinary approach, I have designed, written, edited, and/or taught a variety of ground, blended, and online courses. All classes developed students’ critical thinking skills and their academic, professional, business, technical, or scientific writing skills. Here are a few of my courses:

• Writing and Critical Thinking in the Liberal Arts
• Organizational Communication
• Organizational Behavior and Leadership
• Emotional Intelligence and Leadership
• Human Resources Development
• Human Resources Management in Healthcare Organizations
• Organizational Change
• Business Ethics
• Success Strategies
• Educational Psychology
• Principles of Psychology
• Theories of Personality
• Abnormal Psychology

Education

• Graduate certificate in technical communication
• Ph.D. in education with a specialization in professional studies (psychology)
• M.A. in human resources development with an emphasis in management
• B.A. in psychology