MTU's Graduate Programs

[Karla Saari Kitalong <kitalong -at- MTU -dot- EDU>]

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      A Message from Cindy Selfe about MTU's Graduate Programs in
                  Rhetoric and Technical Communication
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With this message, I would like to invite students interested in pursuing
graduate studies to consider Michigan Tech's outstanding graduate program
(Ms. and Ph.D.) in Rhetoric and Technical Communication.  THE APPLICATION
DEADLINE FOR THIS PROGRAM IS 10 January 1996 (for admission in 1996-97).

Students who hear about Michigan Tech's top-ranked graduate program in
Rhetoric and Technical Communication (RTC) are often surprised to find such
an active community of scholars who provide a warm intellectual welcome and
plenty of fascinating projects to undertake.  In rhetoric and composition
studies, these scholars include, among others:

                Elizabeth Flynn
                Carol Berkenkotter
                Marilyn Cooper
                Diana George
                Nancy Grimm
                Craig Waddell
                Dennis Lynch
                Jack Jobst
                Barry Pegg
                Randy Freisinger
                Glenda Gill
                William Powers
                Cindy Selfe

Within this community, faculty with national and international reputations
as scholars work closely with graduate students and with other colleagues
to create a rich and exciting interdisciplinary context within which to
study the theories and practices associated with technical communication.
The projects that grow out of this community of scholars--the books,
articles, and literary non-fiction that result from our work--examine topics
from gender representations in Terminator II to the formation of genre in
technical communications, from the politics of e-mail and hypermedia to the
politics of dubbing in the French cinema industry, from television images
of Native Americans to the testimonial narratives of women in Latin
American prisons, from the discourse of polar explorations to the discourse
of public policy about environmental issues.

Graduate students are encouraged to learn through an involvement in both
the formal curriculum and the many informal environments we offer.  In
their formal course work, for example, students can focus on composition
studies, rhetoric, literacy, technical communication, computer studies,
linguistics, communication theory, intercultural communication, literature,
philosophy, cultural studies, science and technology studies, visual
representation, critical theory, language study, and gender studies, among
other areas.

To supplement their formal course work, graduate students can teach in a
state-of-the art computer classroom, design a course on digital
photography, serve on the editorial staff of an academic journal, share a
piece of scholarship with an active research group in the MTU Writing
Center, present papers at national conferences, participate on a
departmental search committee, publish articles with a teacher, coach in
the Writing Center, serve as the Assistant Director of GTA Education,
author multimedia texts, work as an intern for a multinational corporation,
share teaching strategies with colleagues, debate the contributions of
postmodern scholarship with an office mate, or study risk communication in
Central and South America with a group of scientists observing volcanoes.

Within this robust context, the opportunities for learning are multiplied
by the numbers of perspectives and the diversity that individuals
contribute and share.  Art Young, a former Head of the Humanities faculty
at Michigan Tech, has described the essential strengths of this community:

        When writers and readers share their ideas, they find opportunities
        for collaboration, and the collaborative experience is essential in
        creating and nurturing the community.  When someone learns about a
        colleague's current research and becomes interested in it,
        [s]he sometimes perceives areas where their current research is
        complementary, or where a colleague's teaching strategy might
        work in his or her own classes, or
        where there is substantial information that might be useful to a
        colleague's work...From such situations and numerous others,
        collaboration will emerge in an environment that encourages it.
                (Writing Across the Disciplines, 1986, p. 12)

We invite you to come to Michigan Tech and experience the rich environment
we offer for the study of rhetoric and technical communication.

If you would like to receive an information or application packet for our
graduate program, please e-mail your request to the following address:

Majorie Lindley at <mlindley -at- mtu -dot- edu>


Or send postal mail to this address:

Dr. Dieter Adolphs
Rhetoric and Technical Communication Program
Michigan Technological University
1400 Townsend Dr.
Houghton, Mi 49931
(906) 487-3248


Cynthia L. Selfe, Department Chair

  Cynthia L. Selfe
  Humanities Department
  Michigan Technological University
  1400 Townsend Dr.
  Houghton, MI  49931

    Internet:  cyselfe -at- mtu -dot- edu
    Telephone: (906) 487-2447
    Fax:       906/487-3559
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Karla Saari Kitalong         kitalong -at- mtu -dot- edu
Department of Humanities     http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~kitalong/
Michigan Technological U.
1400 Townsend Drive          voice: 906-487-3262
Houghton, MI 49931           fax:   906-487-3559
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