Skills

+ Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
+ QuarkXpress
+ Adobe Creative Suite (7-CS3), including PageMaker and Acrobat
+ XHTML, CSS, implenting JavaScript
+ Uploading to content management systems and some PHP
+ Flash and basic ActionScript
+ Some Spanish language

Experience

August 2007 - May 2008
Graphic Designer/Web Designer
Engineering Publications, University of Florida
- Managed online content and graphics (CMS and coding)
- Designed magazine advertisements, pages, books and pamphlets
- Copy-edited magazine stories and other publication texts

May 2007 - August 2007
Online Intern, writer
Miami.com, The Miami Herald
- Wrote, edited and HTML-coded online stories and travel guides
- Updated restaurant and event databases
- Recorded video segment and celebrity interviews for online
- Participated in task force to develop ideas for attracting young readers to news

January 2007 - May 2008
Art Director
Orange and Blue Magazine, University of Florida
- Assigned photos and directed cover photo shoot
- Created graphics and illustrations
- Designed page layouts and magazine cover
- Prepared files for press and worked with printer

Summer 2006
Design Intern and Assistant
University Press of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.
- Updated book cover designs
- Scanned and prepared photos and illustrations for press
- Pre-flight and pre-press duties
- Submitted catalog information to Library of Congress

January 2006 to August 2006
Designer and Copy Editor
College of Health and Human Performance, University of Florida
- Designed pages for Performance Magazine, alumni magazine
- Designed college faculty and staff monthly newsletter
- Designed invitations, fliers, postcards, and brochures
- Edited copy for newsletters, alumni magazine, and pamphlets

January 2005 to January 2006
Production Staff
The Independent Florida Alligator, Gainesville, Fla.
- Designed page layouts
- Placed and modified articles and photos
- Met hourly mini-deadlines and daily final press deadlines

Summer 2005
Contributing writer
The Independent Florida Alligator
- Conceived story ideas
- Conducted on-scene and scheduled interviews with locals, professionals and experts
- Took photographs to submit with stories for publication

August 2004 - January 2008
Office Assistant
Department of Journalism, University of Florida
- Responsible for answering phones, taking messages, mail, photocopying, organization, and other clerical duties
- Assisted students, faculty, and others with questions about the college and university procedures

Education

B.S., Journalism (Focus: Design, Editing, and Online Media), 4.0 GPA
B.A., in English, 4.0 GPA
University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla. – August 2004 - May 2008

Relevant courses taken: Writing for Mass Communications, Reporting, Editing, Design, Applied Magazines/Orange and Blue Magazine, Magazine Management and Publication, Advanced Online Media Production

Awards

+ Valedictorian, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Florida
+ Dean's Cup for Scholarship, College of Journalism and Communications, UF
+ Outstanding Journalism Scholar, College of Journalism and Communications, UF
+ Anderson Scholar of Highest Distinction, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, UF

Activities

– Reporting Lab assistant, editor and tutor, University of Florida, 2005
– Webmaster and Alumni Chair, UF Journalism and Communications Ambassadors, 2005
– Writing Coaching Lab tutor, University of Florida, 2005-2006
– First grade class assistant and special reading tutor, Lutheran South Academy, 2002-2004

Melissa Garcia / words + designs