So You Want Your Own Tech Comm Department? One Program’s Story of Separating from English

ABSTRACT

This article describes how one technical communication program succeeded in creating an independent department by separating from English. We describe the context that led to the decision to create an independent program and offer advice for others who might be interested in doing the same, emphasizing five key lessons that we learned during our process. We also offer some practical actions others might take if they seek to do something similar.

KEYWORDS:

• Programmatic research
• curriculum design
• independent program
• locating technical and professional communication
• program administration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sean D. Williams

Sean D. Williams is Director of the TCID program at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. His work on program development, user-centered design, and entrepreneurship, has appeared in multiple journals including Technical Communication, TCQ, JBTC, BCQ, and IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. His current research focuses on technical communication for environmental action.

K. Alex Ilyasova

K. Alex Ilyasova is Associate Professor of TCID. Her research on program design has appeared in multiple journals such as Programmatic Perspectives. Her work addresses writing program administration and administrative work, and her most current research focuses on emotional intelligence in technical communication.