English alumni of the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) are drawn to the program for diverse reasons—a love for storytelling, a passion for the descriptive power of poetry, or a fascination with the historical and logical underpinnings of rhetoric, to name a few. For Hannah Vogltanz, the story began with a love for English grammar and structure.
“In grade school, a friend’s dad asked me my favorite thing about school,” Vogltanz, a 2021 graduate of UNO, recalled. “To his surprise, I answered ‘diagramming sentences.’”
Vogltanz’s early love quickly blossomed into a fascination with the English language—its rules, their functions, and how the interplay between systems of associations can engender an infinite potential for communication. This fascination carried Vogltanz through a deeply interdisciplinary undergraduate experience—one encapsulating, among other things, “English linguistics, literature, and technical communication”—and now sustains her career in technical writing.
At UNO, Vogltanz earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English with a concentration in Language Studies, as well as the TESOL certificate. She said the combination offered a “perfect” blend of theoretical and applied study.
“My early love of sentence diagramming was well satisfied with Dr. [Frank] Bramlett's tree diagrams,” she said. “The coursework for the Language Studies concentration and TESOL certificate provided a perfect combination to explore the structure, history, and intricacies of the English language—along with exposure to skill-focused classes such as technical editing, technical communication, and teaching English to speakers of other languages.”
In addition to Bramlett, Vogltanz credited several UNO faculty with pushing her and shaping her direction, including Kyle Simonsen and Dr. Owen Mordaunt.
In researching universities, she saw Simonsen's course in technical editing as an option and that convinced her that she should go to UNO.
“In addition to the in-depth use of the Chicago Manual of Style and editing conversations I was looking for, Mr. Simonsen’s feedback taught me to be mindful of my tone toward the author and to recognize the impact a single edit can make,” she noted. “The course did not disappoint!”
Mordaunt, recently named professor emeritus of English at UNO, brought a passion to his classroom that Vogltanz said helped her find her academic track.
“Through his anecdotes and passion for his students and linguistics, Dr. Owen Mordaunt piqued my interest in linguistics and directed me to the language studies concentration and TESOL certificate,” she said.
In Spring 2021, “as a result” of Mordaunt’s guidance, Vogltanz interned with the ILUNO program, assisting Jessica Anderson and Dr. Anne West-LeClou.
“Though the program was very small that year, it was a joy and pleasure to interact with the students and gain teaching experience,” said the 2021 graduate. “Anderson and West-LeCLou’s patience and resiliency with their students in post-pandemic conditions was inspiring and the highlight of my senior year.”
Also in her senior spring semester, Vogltanz took a technical communication course taught by Dr. Tracy Bridgeford, a course that would directly shape the trajectory of her career.
“Little did I know how much I would use the audience analysis, writing skills, and tech comm concepts she taught us,” Vogltanz noted.
As graduation approached, Bridgeford sent her a job posting for the early-career analyst program at Fiserv, a financial technology company that had merged with former Omaha-based First Data Resources (FDR) . She applied and got the job—the first step in what has now been a years-long career.
“They were specifically looking for someone with an English degree for their documentation team,” Vogltanz explained. “Every day I am grateful for that recommendation and the people who encouraged me to take the leap of faith into the world of user doc, corporate business and fintech.”
Since graduating in 2021, Vogltanz has put her abilities to use through her work at the PEN Institute and Fiserv, where she continues to work as a technical writer for the user documentation department. Whether she’s deciding how to organize a manual, parsing phrases of technical designs for a new feature, or catching typos on a new user interface, the skills Vogltanz honed through her academic career prove essential to her work.
“It’s taken me back to the full gamut of the writer's process I studied, analyzed, and experienced in college,” said the alumna. “Research, problem solving, and attention to detail are essential. The stakes are high and the audience is always shifting—"clients, internal product owners, developers, senior leaders.”
Vogltanz said she continues to build on the foundations she built at UNO daily—often referencing concepts she first encountered in her university courses.
She advises English majors to hone their skills, build connections and seize opportunities, but don’t lose sight of the big picture.
“Knowing English linguistics, literature, and history is fun and valuable,” she said. “But studying English to serve and communicate is the reason for an English degree.”
