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Graduate

Photo: Erika Schulte

The Department of Writing Studies offers three graduate degrees and a post-baccalaureate certificate:

• Doctor of Philosophy in Rhetoric and Scientific and Technical Communication (RSTC)
• Master of Arts in Rhetoric and Scientific and Technical Communication (RSTC)
• Master of Science in Scientific and Technical Communication (STC)
• Post-baccalaureate Certificate in Technical Communication

Engaged Faculty

The Writing Studies faculty consists of thirteen members who explore and expand our understanding of writing and the ways people use written texts to shape the world. Our research and teaching interests range widely to include rhetorical theory and history, scientific and technical communication, writing pedagogy, textual analysis, digital literacies, and the relationships between writers, readers, and broader social and cultural contexts.

World-class Resources

Our students benefit from being at a vital university that offers courses in related, supporting fields such as cultural studies, history, literature, and the social sciences, and to work with professional schools of education, law, engineering, and public health. This diversity of options also enables students to study with affiliated faculty with expertise in rhetoric of science, communication studies, journalism and mass communication, feminist studies, human-computer interaction, curriculum and instruction, and literacy and rhetorical studies, among others. The University also has a superb library system with extensive electronic resources and print holdings.

Individual Attention

The number of graduate students in our programs is small, so students receive close, individual attention as they work through the course requirements, examinations, capstone projects, and for Ph.D. students, the dissertation.

Learning Plus

The University of Minnesota is located in the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis. This location combines the entertainment and recreational opportunities of a major city with a compact footprint that makes it convenient to get from school to home and beyond.

Graduate News

• WRIT 4501 Usability course featured on Hennepin University Partnership web site

  WRIT 4501, Usability and Human Factors in Technical Communication, is featured on Hennepin University Partnership web site's home page. The picture is from the Minnesota Librarian Association conference in October 2012, where Lee-Ann Kastman Breuch presented on this project with three students from Writing Studies and with Amy Luedtke from Hennepin County Library. Pictured from left to right are: Georgina McNiff (S&TC undergrad), Mary Frances Hull (MS/CERT), Xanthe Walker (MS/CERT), Lee-Ann Kastman Breuch, and Amy Luedtke. We are continuing this collaboration with Hennepin County Library again this semester. http://www1.umn.edu/hup/

  March 7th, 2013

• Kays article to appear in Digital Humanites Quarterly

  Trent Kays had an article accepted for publication in a special issue of Digital Humanities Quarterly focused on comics as scholarship. Trent is working with a comic book and graphic novel artist who is illustrating his article in various ways. The title of the piece is, "Parallel Discussions and Disparate Meanings: How Experimental Texts Change the Meaning of Scholarly Colloquies."

  February 12th, 2013