Re: PhD Programs in Technical Communication

[Jlrcgn -at- AOL -dot- COM]

Nancy--
as a graduate from the Iowa State program (MA 1995) I highly recommend
considering ISU!! (no bias there :) ) They offer an MA in Business and
Technical
Communications and also in Rhetoric and Composition. The PhD program is
Rhetoric and Professional Communication. (see http://www.engl.iastate.edu).

I concentrated on courses that would "get me a job"--editing, manuals,
proposals, etc. We also had to take a healthy dose of linguistics, theory,
and literature, which i thought would be a pain but turned out to be really
helpful! (guess department coordinators aren't always stuck in academia!)
It was very important for me to find a tie between why i was going to school
and what i would be able to gain--which is why i selected those particular
courses to fill my palate. some people don't need that tie and are more
interested
in learning for learning's sake.... that would have been a wonderful luxury,
but
am happy to state that my graduate focus landed me a well-paying position
in industry (even as a female in the midwest!) and i hope to continue the
trend in learning on-the-job making myself marketable for future positions.

Another big draw for me was profs. who had been "out there"--holding jobs for
real companies. I really was able to learn from the several profs who had
both
levels of experience and would consider that "real life" experience important
again
for faculty in a PhD program...

Good luck in your search!
Janet Renze
jlrcgn -at- aol -dot- com