Diana Hornick

E-mail: diana.hornick@arapahoe.edu

Hello! I'm Diana Hornick, one of ACC's Public Speaking and Interpersonal Communication teachers. I've been at ACC since 2004. I actually began working for our community college as a Writing Center tutor, where I still help students of all writing levels work on all types of class papers. I never actually planned to be a college instructor, but for more than six years, I've been teaching online and in the classroom at ACC, Metro, and Community College of Denver and completely enjoy what I do, each and every day. I plan to teach for a really long time.

I have a Bachelor's degree in Professional Writing (hence the Writing Center gig and my love of language and the written word) and a Master's degree in Applied Communication. I've gotten plenty of use out of both of my degrees by publishing essays, poems, and newsletter articles, as well as speaking at academic conferences and new-faculty orientations.

When I'm not teaching or preparing to teach or tutoring in the Writing Center or reading and sending e-mails or grading assignments (my least favorite part of the job), I'm outside. I'm a nature person and enjoy taking full advantage of Denver's parks and bike trails, in addition to our wonderful Rocky Mountains. And, when I get a big chunk of time off--like during our breaks in between semesters--I travel. I've been to about 45 of our states (mostly on a motorcycle), parts of Mexico, both the east and west coasts of Canada, about eight European countries, Tibet, and Nepal.

It's funny how we communicate with each other every day--via writing, speaking, listening, whatever--but we're not very good at it...some of the time. My goal when teaching students about any type of communication is to remind them how challenging it is to do the simple things that we take for granted--read body language, listen to understand, think critically, take on the other person's perspective, write clearly, or speak to a group or just one other person. Yet these are so vital to do well in order to become a more effective communicator and better human being.

So, I’ll leave you with one of Dale Carnegie’s principles from his book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, published way, way back in 1936 and still popular with communicators today: “Instead of condemning people, let’s try to understand them. Let’s try to figure out why they do what they do. That’s a lot more profitable and intriguing than criticism; and it breeds sympathy, tolerance and kindness.”