For working professional and technical communicators, moving up in the company can often depend more on credentials than skills. Having an MBA or other master's degree from a major university may make the difference between becoming a Director of Communications or VP for Communications or remaining Lead Writer or Editor .

This program is not just about providing professional credentials, however. Time and again we find that students who come into the program are carrying a cargo of opinions about the profession that are inaccurate and counterproductive. Students who receive master's degrees from accredited universities become better writers. They learn how best to apply the professional conventions, but more importantly they learn WHY the conventions are applied in the first place.

Not only is the Master's program offered entirely over the Internet, it was the first such program in the country. The program leads to an advanced degree (Master of Science in English, with a specialization in Technical Writing) specifically designed for professionals who are not free to pursue a traditional, on-campus education. We often meet our students for the first time when they come to campus for the hooding ceremony.

Students who fit these profiles would pursue the degree in order to renew and update their professional skills and advance their careers. Of course, a few will get caught up in the excitement of research and will push on for a Ph.D. Students who leave this program with an MS typically get their choice of Ph.D. programs.

By the time they graduate from the program, you will learn

• A critical understanding of the core principles on which technical communication is grounded.
• An understanding of the nature of the profession and the dynamics that drive its evolution.
• To develop and defend communication policies and practices in their workplaces.
• To understand ethical considerations in their work and create appropriate policies.
• To follow the latest scholarly conversations and trends in technical communication research as they develop in the journals, professional organizations, conferences, and other scholarly forums of the field.

Good technical communicators are adept, life-long learners who often teach themselves when the need arises. They adapt readily to new situations and facilitate communication in whatever genre or medium applies.

Few professions evolve as quickly as ours. Technical communicators face the pressure of jobs being outsourced and often offshored, while they race to learn the latest technologies and systems they must use tomorrow. Yesterday we were struggling to learn the latest tools for interactive learning--DHTML, JavaScript, Java, SWF and more; today we face XML, XHTML, DITA and a demand for innovation that extends as far as we can see into the indefinite future.

Excellent technical communicators can also see the big picture and the tiny detail, and they connect with both the expert and the neophyte. Finally, they have a knack for explaining things, for simplifying the complex, and making the incomprehensible clear and straightforward. To do their jobs, the must not only learn to use the latest tools of their profession, but they must learn to use the technical products of their corporations, and they must explain the use of those products to the rest of the world.

The best technical communicators become directors of departments and business leaders, but they also create and manage their own companies. A few who are particularly interested in a lifetime of learning even become educators.

The program at Utah State continuously adjusts to meet the needs of such technical communicators -- lifelong learners, leaders, and innovators -- teaching the fundamentals along side courses that examine the ever changing tools and conditions in the profession.