ABSTRACT
Technical communication faculty strive to develop working partnerships between technical writing practitioners and academics and to influence practice. Much has been written about the need to strengthen ties to industry, develop joint research projects, and collaborate in developing internship and learning opportunities for students (Bosley, 1992; Hayhoe, 1998, 2000). However, in general, except for the few academics who have developed long-standing relationships with practitioners, such programmatic partnerships are still relatively rare. What stands in the way of such partnerships?
