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Admission

Admission to the MTPC program is competitive. In considering applicants, the Graduate Studies Committee looks for students who will benefit from and succeed in the program and who will add vitality and diversity to the intellectual community of the English department. The committee takes care to look at the whole application, basing its decisions on several kinds of information: academic grades, GRE scores, letters of recommendation, a statement of purpose, and a writing sample. Highly ranked candidates for the MTPC program usually present the following:

  • a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university
  • acceptable scores on the general portions of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) as determined by the standards of the Department of English Graduate Studies Committee
  • excellent writing skills, as demonstrated by academic or professional writing samples and by work in undergraduate writing courses or professional writing experience
  • strong letters of recommendation

Your writing sample typically should be an extended piece (at least 10 pages) of academic or professional writing that includes documentation of sources and a list of references or bibliography. Applicants who have been in the workforce may also include a professional document such as a proposal or technical manual.

Your statement of purpose should address in 2 to 3 pages your reasons for choosing to pursue graduate study in technical and professional communication. The statement should briefly discuss your academic background and any relevant work experience and should provide the committee with an overview of your professional goals.

Your three letters of recommendations should typically include at least two letters from current or former professors who can comment on your academic work. The third required letter may be from another faculty member or from a supervisor or employer.

If you have little or no background in technical and professional communication, you may be required to prepare for graduate study by completing an undergraduate course such as ENGL 3040 Technical Writing or ENGL 3080 Business Writing. Credits from undergraduate courses do not count toward completing the degree requirements.

If you are a nonnative speaker of English, you must furnish evidence of your proficiency in English by making an acceptable score on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), administered by the Educational Testing Service. International students applying for a graduate teaching assistantship must also provide evidence of satisfactory spoken English skills. In addition, international students must meet all other university requirements for international student
admission.

THE APPLICATION PROCESS

Although you may request admission in any semester, students who wish to be considered for Graduate Teaching Assistantships should apply by January 15 to receive full consideration for an assistantship beginning in the Fall Semester. First-round acceptances are usually mailed by March 15. The Department of English Graduate Studies Committee does not meet to consider applications
during the summer.

To request more information to begin the application process, please fill out a free departmental query form on the Auburn University Department of English website.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

Although several types of financial assistance are available for qualified MTPC students, the primary source of financial aid is a graduate teaching assistantship.

Graduate Teaching Assistantships are competitive and are granted upon the recommendation of the Department of English Graduate Studies in English Committee. The assistantship is normally renewable, given satisfactory academic progress and teaching evaluation. However, no appointment may exceed two academic years. These assistantships provide students with a nine-month salary plus a tuition waiver.

In the first year of appointment, graduate teaching assistants without prior experience in teaching or who have not taken a graduate pedagogy course must complete ENGL 7040 English Composition:Issues and Approaches. The course may be counted as one of the three English electives required in the MTPC program.

Nonnative speakers who qualify as teaching assistants must demonstrate competency in spoken English by making an acceptable score on the Test of Spoken English offered by the Educational Testing Service or approval by the Director of English as a Second Language Program.

The Department of English Fellowship for Technical and Professional Communication is awarded to a first-year (entering) MTPC student with strong potential for contributing to the intellectual life, diversity, and quality of the department. The recipient of the Fellowship for TPC will be chosen by the Graduate studies committee (GSC) of the Department of English. In reaching a decision, the GSC will seek evidence of such potential for excellence in the candidate’s GRE scores, academic background and professional experience, writing samples, and recommendations.

The Betty Travis Naugle Annual Fellowship for Technical and Professional
Communication in the College of Liberal Arts may be awarded each academic year to a current Auburn University graduate student who has demonstrated a commitment to pursuing a career in technical and professional communication, or a commitment to the teaching of technical and professional communication, and has

  • taken at least one Auburn University 6000- or 7000-level course in technical and professional communication,
  • demonstrated academic excellence,
  • enrolled officially in at least one 6000- or 7000-level course in technical and professional communication during the academic year in which the fellowship is received.

The fellowship is for one academic year. The recipient is selected by the Department of English Head or Chair based on the recommendation of the Technical and Professional Communication faculty.

The Donald H. Cunningham Academic Award for Excellence in Technical and Professional Communication sponsored by the Birmingham, AL Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication and anonymous donors, may be awarded to a current Auburn University graduate student who is enrolled full time as an MTPC student. The award is for one academic year. The recipient is selected by the Department of English Head or Chair based on the recommendation of the
technical and professional communication faculty.

Qualified students may apply for other department- and university-level fellowships and scholarships and scholarships from other sources. For more information about graduate teaching assistantships and other university-based financial aid, please contact:


Robin Sabino, Associate Professor
Department of English
Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849

(334) 844-9069
Email

For information about Society for Technical Communication scholarships, visit the Society’s website: www.stc.org.

In addition, some MTPC students work part-time or during the summer as researchers, writers, editors, or webmasters for faculty and academic and administrative units across campus.

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Last updated September 19, 2008