Overview of the Undergraduate Major

The undergraduate major in Professional Writing at Purdue University includes strands in Technical Writing and Writing and Publishing. Professional Writing is housed in the Department of English and is noted for cultivating expertise in writing for the digital workplace, for teaching and researching multimedia writing, visual rhetoric, and usability, and for emphasizing collaboration, community service, and open source development and documentation. Professional Writing is known nationally for its innovative and productive faculty, its outstanding alumni network, and its leadership in the areas of digital publishing, visual communication, and networked communication in a global community. Students have numerous opportunities for internships and coursework in these subjects and gain important experience for the job market and advanced degrees. Students also minor in such areas as information technology, journalism, agricultural communication, art and design, and computer graphics technology.

Undergraduate students in either major area (Technical Writing or Writing and Publishing) have excellent internship and scholarship opportunities, as well as the chance to study abroad through Purdue's well-known Study Abroad Program. Four Crouse Scholarships of $5,000 each are awarded annually to outstanding and promising students in PW. On-site internship opportunities include those with The Writing Instructor and KB Journal , two networked journals and digital communities, and Digital WPA , the website of the Council of Writing Program Administrators, and Computers and Writing 2010, to be hosted at Purdue in May, 2010. Off-site internship opportunities are numerous as well, and a major goal of the the PW major in both strands is to give students practical experience working in high-tech, health, pharmaceutical, and publishing industries (to name just a few areas of interest). Professional Writing also hosts a small but state-of-the-art multimedia and electronic publishing center that is open to undergraduates working on projects that require high-end computing and printing.. The Purdue alumni network in Professional Writing and Rhetoric and Composition is wide and has binding ties to important sites in academia and industry. For more information about Professional Writing, contact the Director, Dr. David Blakesley.

Undergraduate Program Links

Courses

Students

Technologies

Contact Information

Professional Writing
Dept. of English
500 Oval Dr.
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47907

Ph: 765.494.3730
Fax: 765.494.3780
Heavilon Hall 302

PW People

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Director: Dr. David Blakesley
Assistant Director: Mark Hannah
PW Mentor: Karen Kaiser Lee
ENGL 505M Professor: Dr. Patricia Sullivan
PW Secretary: Cathy Archer

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