miami university

Curriculum

Important Note: 11/2009

We are sorry to report that, because of changing economic and other conditions in the university, the department and other university officials have agreed to suspend the MTSC program at this time. It is unlikely that the program will admit students again in the near future. If you have questions about the closure of the program, please don’t hesitate to direct them to Dr. Kerry Powell, Chair, Department of English.

The MTSC program typically includes three semesters of course work and a semester-long internship in the student’s area of concentration. Required courses include 23 hours of a core curriculum and nine hours of approved electives. Some students may also need to take supplementary course work in a technical, scientific, or other specialized field.

Required Courses

For more detailed information about these classes, see the course descriptions.

Approved Electives

The MTSC program requires that you take at least nine graduate hours of elective courses (usually three courses). Through these electives, you shape your course of study to your own interests and career objectives. You may use your electives in any of three ways:

  1. To gain additional knowledge about technical and scientific communication—for instance, you may take courses in web design, software programs, human factors, or the psychology of language.

  2. To learn business and management skills you can employ as you move into administrative positions or as you create your own communication company. You make choose any of several courses in Miami’s MBA program.

  3. To deepen your knowledge of a technical or scientific field, such as systems analysis or microbiology. This option is limited to those students who have had sufficient preparation as undergraduates to study scientific or technical subjects at the graduate level.

Your choice of electives must be approved by the Director. In choosing your electives, you may seek the advice of all program faculty members.

Supplemental Coursework

Students must plan to pursue a career in a field that requires knowledge of a science, technology, or other specialized field. You may prepare for a specialized field by taking approved undergraduate courses in your content area. Supplementary courses must be taken in the content area in which you will perform your internship.

When making admission decisions, the MTSC Director will review your transcripts in order to determine whether you’ve already attained a minimum level of technical knowledge for the career you plan. The Director considers both course work and professional knowledge. Students who haven’t attained an appropriate level of knowledge will be required to take up to nine hours of supplementary course work. You can obtain additional information about this requirement from the MTSC program Director, who will help you determine how it might apply to you.

Internships

In the MTSC internship you’ll work as a full-time apprentice in technical and scientific communication for at least 15 weeks. Through the internship, you will have a supervised opportunity to apply what you’ve learned in your course work to real communication problems. You are responsible for finding your own internship, preferably in the kind of job you would like to hold after graduation and consistent with your declared content area. If you are already employed as a technical or scientific communicator, you may perform your internship with your present employer. As an intern, you must be paid by the organization for which you work. Your internship is supervised by a committee of faculty. Your internship committee will consist of two MTSC faculty members and one non-MTSC faculty member. At the end of the internship, you’ll write a report to your committee analyzing your experience.

Internship Requirements and Regulations

MTSC Internship Requirements

The MTSC internship, an integral part of the MTSC graduate program at Miami, provides students with supervised, first-hand experience at applying what they have learned in their classes to the kinds of professional situations they will encounter in their careers. The internship also helps students gain or extend their direct, personal knowledge of the profession and its practices. Students may arrange their internships with a business, government, or non-profit organization anywhere in the world. Internships must be paid, may be part of a full-time job, and must be related to your supplemental coursework or to the professional knowledge you brought to the program. The following links list organizations for which MTSC students have worked. Use Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the Portable Document Files (PDF).

Rules Governing Internships

Read about Regulations Governing Internships for Employers and Student Regulations or download a PDF of more extensive information about both, below.

Thesis Option

Under certain circumstances, you may choose to substitute a thesis for an internship. This may be an option that is especially appealing to students interested in pursuing future doctoral study. The thesis option must be formally approved. Contact the director if you have questions concerning the feasibility of substituting a thesis for an internship.

Petitions for Changes in Requirements

A MTSC student may petition for changes in requirements. Generally, through these petitions, students ask to replace one of the required courses with some other course because they have evidence of having already mastered the material covered in the required course.