Scientific and Technical Communication—BA,BS

What are the differences between Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Bachelor of Science (BS)?

Though the degree itself takes its name from the larger rubric of "Scientific and Technical Communication," students may choose between two 128-credit streams within the degree.

BS majors tend to take more math and science courses. BA majors typically take more design and multimedia courses. However, BS and BA majors have writing and design requirements, providing a strong foundation in design literacies. BS and BA majors complete an emphasis area (a series of classes taken in a different field of study in order to increase their knowledge of the fields they intend to work in). What students learn in their emphasis area helps them become better, more savvy technical communicators. Increasingly, employers are on the lookout for technical communicators who can show experience in a technical area. BS and BA majors select emphasis courses from any academic program at Michigan Tech.

All graduating seniors put together a professional portfolio, development history, and presentation of written, visual, digital, and design work that highlights the work they have accomplished during their undergraduate career and represents them as a professional communicator at Michigan Tech. All three components are required to graduate.

Your portfolio exhibits different types of projects you have worked on both in the classroom and in the workplace throughout your time as an STC student. Great thing is you are able to keep your portfolio afterwards or donate it to the department archives!

A professional development history is a 750–1,000-word description of your growth as a professional communicator. You may draw on experiences in classes, co-ops, the STC Student Organization, the Professional Communication Enterprise, jobs, internships, etc., to chronicle key moments of your development.

Your senior presentation is a 20-30-minute public and recorded presentation of your professional identity as documented in your work. The portfolio is not the subject of your presentation as much as it may provide a means for you to represent your professional identity. Your purpose is to showcase your best work and expertise as a professional communicator. You may use your portfolio, electronic projection, posters, overhead transparencies, or other appropriate means to accomplish this purpose.

• Produce everything from newsletters to brochures to marketing materials for a variety of organizations and businesses
• Write and edit manuals, design websites, produce videos, and other multimedia projects for various industries, such as the automobile, computer, aeronautical, medical, and environmental industries
• Work with engineers, researchers, and scientists in producing reports and articles for publication in specialized technical, medical, or other trade journals
• Write grants to help non-profit organizations fund useful projects
• Publish computer documentation, and write digital help files for complex software packages
• Translate technical and scientific information into other languages
• Produce sales, marketing, and public relations campaigns
• Compose and conduct internal training programs
• Consult for industry on risk communication, and internal and external communications issues
• Teach Scientific and Technical Communication at the university level (with an advanced degree in STC)

Disciplinary knowledge

• Understand the social responsibilities that attend their critical and creative work as professional communicators.
• Demonstrate the abilities to write, speak, and design for a range of audiences, representing diverse stakeholders, with competing and sometimes conflicting interests

Communication

• Be able to communicate using a variety of media and genres
• Be able to communicate to diverse audiences with a range of needs

Social Responsibility and Ethical Reasoning

• Be prepared to engage in problem solving that results in sustainable designs for communication products
• Understand personal accountability for the impact of products on particular communities

Global Literacy

• Demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in cross-cultural contexts
• Demonstrate basic literacy in a modern language and understand its cultural significance

Critical and Creative Thinking

• Demonstrate the ability to consider issues from multiple perspectives
• Demonstrate abilities to evaluate and synthesize information from a variety of sources in order to advance innovative communication solutions

Information Literacy

• Be prepared to use multiple research methods to solve a range of rhetorical problems
• Understand how to access, evaluate, and use information ethically and legally to accomplish a specific purpose, with a specific audience in mind

Technology

• Demonstrate a working knowledge of current technology that supports professional practices in the field
• Demonstrate the ability to learn new and emerging technologies

Knowledge of the Physical and Natural World

• Understand scientific principles relevant to the field
• Understand personal responsibility for sustaining the physical and natural environments in which they work