The technical communication program offers a graduate-level minor that is open to any graduate student.  The minor is designed to strengthen the written, oral, and visual communication skills of students majoring in the sciences, engineering, management, information systems, or other fields. The minor will be particularly useful for those students who will pursue the “paper option” thesis or dissertation.  The minor will also be beneficial to those students who will make oral or poster presentations at technical conferences, write journal articles, prepare research proposals, design technical web pages, or prepare technical marketing information.

The program requires a minimum of 12 hours of credit (excluding all courses taken for undergraduate credit).  A minimum of 6 hours of 300- or 400-level courses with the TCH COM designation is required.  At least 6 additional hours of technical communication intensive courses are required.  The additional courses may come from courses with the TCH COM designation, the list of approved technical communication intensive courses, and/or technical communication intensive courses from any academic discipline with the approval of the minor advisor and the English and Technical Communication department.

Students can elect to pursue this minor at any point during their graduate studies by submitting the Application for a Designated Graduate Minor form (available at http://registrar.mst.edu/documents/gradminorapp.pdf) to the English and Technical Communication department.  Upon application, each student will be assigned a minor advisor who will work with the student to develop a proposed list of courses to fulfill the program requirements. 

Approved Technical Communication Intensive Courses

BIO SCI 451 Environmental Microbiology
BUS 311 Business Negotiations
ENGL 281 Theories of Written Communication
ENGL 392 Advanced Writing for Science & Engineering
GE 352 International Engineering and Design
IST 487 HCI Research Methods
MATH 209 Foundations of Mathematics
MATH 303 Mathematical Modeling
MATH 308 Linear Algebra 2
MATH 354 Mathematical Logic
MSE 422 Thermodynamics and Phase Equilibria

The Technical Communication Graduate Minor Advisory Committee will evaluate other courses, upon the request of students or faculty, for inclusion on the approved list or on a case-by-case basis for individual programs. 

Technical Communication Graduate Minor Advisory Committee

The department of English and technical communication has formed an advisory committee for the minor. The committee is made up of faculty from various departments and is chaired by the Director of Technical Communication Programs. The committee advises the English and technical communication department chair on matters related to the minor. The committee will also maintain the list of approved technical communication intensive courses.  

Committee Chair:

Dr. Ed Malone,  Assistant Professor and Director of Technical Communication Programs

Committee Members:  

Dr. Elizabeth Cummins, Professor Emeritus, English and Technical Communication
Dr. Bill Fahrenholtz, Associate Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Dr. Lance Gentry, Assistant Professor, Business Administration
Dr. Kathryn Northcut, Assistant Professor, English and Technical Communication
Dr. David Wright, Assistant Professor, English and Technical Communication

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