Grace Drennon, Director, Snyder Communication Skills Center

Ms. Drennon has been teaching Managerial Communication since 1990 and has seen many changes in the course, reflecting similar changes in the business world. In 1999, along with Dr. Ritch Sorenson, Grace created the BA Writing Center, which started out in a tiny room on the first floor open only six hours a week. From those humble beginnings, she saw the center grow in popularity each semester. Currently housed in room 264 of the Rawls College of Business, the center, now called the Snyder Communication Skills Center to reflect a broadening of services, accommodates up to 800 or more tutorials each semester. The staff is excited about the new business building and the SCSC’s large, high-tech space within, proof that the center has become a vital part of the Rawls College family. Grace has both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in English from TTU. She has two sons, Dylan, a student at Tech, and Holden, a senior at Coronado High School. She considers her job ideal because she is able to teach, which is her first love, as well as work one-on-one with students in the SCSC. She looks forward to seeing you there!

Dianne Anderson

Mrs. Anderson received her undergraduate degree in business education with an emphasis on business writing and teaching skills and her master's degree in business education and business management. She has worked with those preparing manuscripts for journals and textbooks and has also helped to produce advertising material for seminars. To her managerial communication classes, she brings practical business experience as a secretary and as an entrepreneur as well as a background of teaching business writing and speaking at Brigham Young University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and South Plains College. Mrs. Anderson enjoys working one-on-one with those who visit the Snyder Communication Skills Center. Seeing the improvement individuals make in their writing or speaking through individual consultation brings her great satisfaction. Being mother of 11 children and grandmother of 28 keeps Mrs. Anderson connected to all aspects of living. If she’d known how much fun grandchildren can be, she might have had them first.

Tracey Edwards

Tracey Edwards received her BBA in Management Information Systems from the Rawls College of Business and her MA in Technical Communication from the English Department here at Texas Tech. As a graduate student, she edited and proofread theses and dissertations for the Texas Tech Graduate School. After obtaining her MA, she had the opportunity to teach at Penn State University for a few years before moving back to Lubbock in 2006. At Penn State, Ms. Edwards taught the basic Public Speaking course and a course titled Communication and Information Technology, which addressed issues that affect communication as a result of new technologies. Ms. Edwards has been a member of the Managerial Communication team since Fall 2006. She has two very active and energetic boys: Caleb (13) and Noah (9). She and her husband, Chuck (also a Tech grad), own and manage the day-to-day operations of a thriving mail transportation company. During their free time, they enjoy watching Texas Tech football, Houston Astros baseball, and any sport or activity their boys decide to take part in.

Rebecca Greene

Rebecca Greene graduated with her M.S. in Communication Studies from Texas Tech University in 2005. She received her B.S. from Brigham Young University in Family Studies. Ms. Greene has taught a wide variety of Communications courses at both Texas Tech University and South Plains College. She has also taught distance courses via the internet and TV. She enjoys getting to know her students and helping them develop into professional, self-aware, and confident communicators.

Mike Kennedy

Mike Kennedy has been employed as an instructor at Texas Tech University on and off since the fall of 1981.  He has taught freshman English and sophomore literature in the English Department at Texas Tech and business writing at South Plains College.  Since the summer of 2003, he has taught Managerial Communication in the Management Area in the Rawls College of Business.  Mr. Kennedy has also been variously employed at Tech as an editor for the Home Economics Curriculum Center, as a grader for secondary correspondence courses in Continuing Education, and as a researcher/fact-checker for the revision of the Handbook of Texas in the History Department. 

In his spare time, he enjoys traveling in the desert southwest, reading poetry and non-fiction, watching documentary films, collecting specimen shells, and spending time with his wife Esmeralda and two teenage sons, Dylan and Holden.  He runs an online small business in association with his interest in buying, selling, and trading vintage collectible sports cards and memorabilia.  

Lara Mandrell

Lara Mandrell earned her B.A. in English from Texas Tech University in 2004. She spent four years teaching all levels of high school English, including Advanced Placement Language and Composition and Advanced Placement Literature and Composition courses. Additionally, she coached UIL Poetry and Prose Interpretation, which emphasizes skills in reading and oral presentation. Lara joined the Managerial Communication staff in the spring of 2009. She enjoys teaching a course that could have such an advantageous effect on her students’ careers and also appreciates working individually with students in the Snyder Communication Skills Center.