Henry Whitney

704 W Main St. Lansdale, PA 19446

Phone: 215-368-6635 Email: hmw3@comcast.net

Editor, proofreader, technical writer

Professional Experience

Writing and editing

· Currently editing academic works for editorial outsource company

· Edited and wrote supplementary user notes and commentary for major publication of publisher on The New York Times Best Seller List

· Wrote linguistic and anthropological technical papers for professional research organization

· Maintained databases for dictionary and financial constituents.

· Co-wrote, edited, and evaluated papers of team members

· Edited papers by international students at local graduate schools for clarity, English issues, and institutional style

· Edited verbatim responses to customer-satisfaction surveys to make them grammatical and in conformity to differing client needs

· Recruited and retained volunteer financial sponsors through written correspondence and live lectures and multi-media presentations

Research / analysis

· Analyzed language and culture of people group in Papua New Guinea

Translation across linguistic and cultural boundaries

· Developed writing system for previously unwritten language and translated teaching and other materials into it

Cross-Cultural Teaching and training

· Taught English writing skills to international graduate students

· Developed curriculum and taught basic literacy skills to students in pre-literate society

· Developed and published manuals for literacy teachers

Customer service

· Developed strong cross-cultural relationships that fostered trust and facilitated meeting of physical, medical, and commercial needs

International languages

· Near-fluency in French

· Working knowledge of Spanish, German, Italian, Greek, Hebrew

Computer

· Expert knowledge of Microsoft Office and Publisher and Adobe PageMaker

· Good working knowledge of Visual BASIC for Applications, HTML, Linux, GIMP

Employment History

Academic Editing and Technical Writing

Scribe, Inc.

Philadelphia, PA

6/06 - present

· Electronic Book Editor. Copyedit and proofread academic titles for major publishers, as well as inspirational titles for smaller publishers.

ESL Editing Service

(Home: www.esleditingservice.com)

11/02 - present

· Contract editor for Tyndale House Publishers, editing supplementary notes for their flagship publication, the New Living Translation Study Bible. This has involved reading commentary notes submitted by professional scholars, evaluating their suitability for a lay audience, doing research to check content, and re-writing when necessary.

· Sole Proprietor: Editing graduate-level academic papers for international students. Non-native English-speaking students submit assignments, theses, and dissertations to me. I make sure their English is grammatical and stylistically acceptable and format their papers according to APA and CMS (Turabian) style. Clients have also called on me to work on other professional materials and their personal correspondence.

Summer Institute of Linguistics, Inc.	Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea	1980-2001

· Linguist and Translator for Akoye language program. This involved recording and transcribing perhaps 15 hours of stories and other texts in the previously unwritten Akoye language. In consultation with native speakers, I analyzed the vocabulary, sound system, and morphology and syntax of the language in accordance with current linguistic theory. I wrote analyses of these aspects of the language and a preliminary analysis of the culture for in-house publication. The main purpose of the job was to translate portions of the Bible from Greek or Hebrew (with reference to scholarly materials in English) into Akoye. I also helped develop, test, and use materials for teaching literacy in Akoye, including a teacher’s manual and non-pedagogical reading matter.

· Senior Consultant for Phonology. I helped colleagues, many of whom were non-native English speakers, to analyze the sound systems of unwritten languages and document them for the international scholarly community.

· Written correspondence. At least three times a year I would apprise my constituency of contributors of the progress of the project, adding news about events in my family.

Westminster Theological Seminary	Glenside, PA	9/02 – 5/03
	(One-Year Appointment)

· Guest Lecturer, English Writing Skills. I taught one two-hour lecture class per week to international graduate students, corrected assignments, and edited their papers for English issues so they could be submitted for other courses.

Other Editing

TNS Intersearch, Inc.	Horsham, PA	2/03 – 5/03 (Part-Time)

· Verbatim response editor. I edited call center transcripts for clarity and stylistic standards.

Workbench

Pindar Set	King of Prussia, PA	10/01 – 11/01

· Data entry

Dakota Services	Hatfield, PA	3/02 – 8/02

· Opening mail, scanning documents, data entry

Temporary Clerical and Light Industrial

TRC Staffing	Lansdale, PA	12/01 – 3/02; 8/02 – 8/04

· Clerical duties

· Data entry

· Database manipulation and desktop publication

Kelly Services

Berwyn, PA

9/01 – 10/01

· Clerical duties

Education

Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, NC, 1996
Biblical languages

University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, 1987
Graduate-level linguistics

Ashland Theological Seminary, Ashland, OH, 1978-79
Graduate theological studies

University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, 1978
Graduate-level linguistics

University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, 1977, 1980
Graduate-level linguistics

Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, 1976
B.A., Education