Program in Technical Communication School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Master of Science in Technical Communication: The Program

The MS in Technical Communication combines work in theory, writing, information design, and content production. Rensselaer's students acquire knowledge of information and product usability, product design, rapid learning of electronic tools, and practice with the information production skills needed to advance in careers as technical communicators. Rensselaer's graduates are equipped to keep up with rapid changes in information technology and in information design. To add depth to their communication knowledge and skills, students include either the Graphics or Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) certificate coursework to the required MS coursework for the Technical Communication.

Electronic design tools for the Web, multimedia, image-editing, page layout and drawing enable communicators easily to integrate text and graphics, but they also demand that communicators have command of both text and image-based information. To satisfy the market for this knowledge and skill set, Rensselaer's 4-course graduate Graphics Certificate program integrates design theory with in-depth studio work. It has been popular with both students and prospective employers.

Working professionals and students looking for a focus in human-computer interaction can benefit from completing the Certificate in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). The HCI Certificate, designed in cooperation with industry experts, gives students the skills and knowledge they need to work in interactive fields that include the Web, multimedia, usability, and still-developing technologies.

Cooperative Education and Internships

Participation in the Cooperative Education Program is encouraged as part of Rensselaer's departmental degree offerings. The intent of co-op is to provide a full-time, paid, career-related work experience that will enhance students' knowledge and skills in their chosen professional fields and give them practical experiences, concrete applications for their academic work, and ways to test their interest in certain types of work. Students who accept co-op assignments typically work from 1 to 2 terms prior to graduation. As a result, it is not uncommon for co-op participants to extend their graduation dates.

The department also offers local placement opportunities through communication internships. Internships may provide technical competency and writing and design experience, for which students receive course credit. Internships may be done over the summer, or part-time during semesters of regular course study.

Careers

With MS degrees in Technical Communication and with Certificates in HCI or Graphics, graduates will be well placed to enter the job market or make major moves, and positioned to become team leaders or managers in these specialized fields within the profession. Graduates work in all sectors of the profession -- both public and private -- as skilled practitioners, managers, and consultants. They have the skills to design and develop effective communication packages, to work with leading-edge media, and to collaborate with other technical professionals to produce specialized packages of integrated graphic and textual information to suit the needs of diverse audiences.

Students who have graduated in recent years have been hired upon graduation by leading companies including Sandia National Laboratories; Google; Microsoft; IBM; General Electric; Razorfish/Avenue A; Scient Corporation; Mentor Graphics; Kick Media; The Albany Times Union; the US Geological Society; and the US Armed Services. Graduated students have also found work at colleges and universities including Bard, Hamilton, Drexel, Siena, and Rensselaer. Alumni are enjoying careers as information architects, graphic designers, usability engineers, multimedia designers, instructional and interface designers, and technical communicators. Others have successfully started their own consulting businesses, or pursued doctoral studies at Rensselaer or other universities.

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Faculty

Rensselaer's graduate faculty members have a wide range of research interests including digital games, online tutoring systems, technology for enhancing computer-mediated communication, designing web support for local communities, cross-cultural graphic and media design, multi-literacy models of intercultural communication, visual culture, health communication, digital and visual rhetoric, communication for social change, visual design theory and practice, and writing across the disciplines, among other areas.

The faculty is an interdisciplinary group that is dedicated to teaching, mentoring, and research. Individual faculty members, as well as collaborating teams of faculty members, have won research funding from both government (e.g. National Science Foundation) and private sources. Many faculty members consult in business and government, where they use their knowledge of theories and research to solve specific problems in written, spoken, and computer-mediated communication. Communication and Media faculty members also publish and present broadly, in professional and academic organizations, and have served as national or regional officers of such organizations as the National and International Communication Associations (NCA, ICA), Conference on College Composition and Communication, the Society for Technical Communication (STC), the IEEE Professional Communication Society, the Rhetoric Society of America (RSA), the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group in Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI), the IGDA (International Game Developers Association), AIGA/Professional Association for Design, the Digital Government Conference, the Popular Culture Association, and the Academy of Management.

Students

Students in Rensselaer's MS programs come from diverse backgrounds, contributing a great deal to the rich social and academic environment of the department. Students study full- or part-time, enrolling directly after completing appropriate bachelor's programs or with 5-10 years of experience as working professionals. They may come from educational backgrounds in the humanities (such as English, professional writing/journalism, or communication), the social sciences (psychology, cognitive science, anthropology), or the sciences (biology, chemistry, computer science/information technology, etc.) This diversity contributes significantly to the rich social and academic environment of the department.

• Degrees Offered
• Major Degree Levels Offered
• Master of Science (MS)

• Degrees Awarded
• Master's Degrees 2
• Doctoral Degrees Not reported
• First Professional Degrees Not reported
• Other Advanced Degrees Not reported
• * Shows the number of degrees awarded for the last academic year that data was reported.

• Earning Your Degree
• Part-time study available? Yes
• Evening/weekend programs available? No
• Distance learning programs available? No
• Terminal master's degree available? Not reported

• Degree Requirements
• Master's Degrees Optional
• Doctoral Degrees Not reported
• First Professional Degrees Not reported
• Other Advanced Degrees Not reported

• Acceptance Rate
• Applied2
• Accepted2
• Acceptance Rate100%
• Enrolled2
• Applying
• Application Fee - Domestic $75
• Application Fee - International $75
• Electronic applications accepted? Yes
• Applications processed on a rolling basis? Yes
• Application Deadlines
• Type Domestic International Priority Date
• Fall deadline January 1st January 1st Yes
• Winter deadline Not Reported Not Reported Not Reported
• Spring deadline August 15th August 15th Yes
• Entrance Requirements
• Master's DegreesGRE General Test, resume
• Doctoral's DegreesNot Reported
• First-Professional's DegreesNot Reported
• Other Advanced DegreesNot Reported
• International DegreesTOEFL required, 570 paper based, TOEFL iBT

• Tuition & Fees
• In-state tuition *$39,600
• Out-of-state tuition *$39,600
• International student tuitionNot Reported
• * Tuition for full-time graduate student per academic year
• Fees
• Per-academic year fees$1,896.00
• Per-term feesNot Reported
• One-time feeNot Reported
• * Fees for full-time graduate students
• Financial Support
• Financial award applicants must submitNot Reported
• Application deadlines for financial awardsJanuary 15
• Types of financial support availableCareer or Field-Related Internships, Institutionally-sponsored Loans

• Gender
• Total Graduate Students2
• Female Percentage50%
• Male Percentage50%
• Participation
• Total Graduate Students2
• Part-time Percentage0%
• Full-time Percentage100%
• Ethnicity
• Hispanic / Latino0%
• Black / African American50%
• White / Caucasian50%
• American Indian / Alaskan Native0%
• Asian0%
• Native Hawaiian / Other Pacific Islander0%
• Two or more races0%
• Unknown0%

• Faculty Breakout
• Total Faculty15
• Full-time Percentage93%
• Part-time Percentage7%
• Female Percentage53%
• Male Percentage47%

• Existing Research
• Focus of faculty researchHuman-computer interaction and usability; media design, theory and culture; visual communication and graphics; professional and technical communication; communication in technologically-mediated contexts
• Externally sponsored research expenditures last yearNot Reported