Westminster College
| Degree | Master of Professional Communication |
| Emphasis | Technical Writing |
| School | Westminster College |
| Period | 2010 – 2013 |
| GPA | 3.81 |
Background
My manager at Parlant Technology was the kind of mentor who made you want to be better at things, which is either inspiring or annoying depending on the day. In this case, it was inspiring enough that a coworker and I applied to Westminster's MPC program in early 2010.
The curriculum covered professional communication from every angle: rhetoric, ethics, visual design, technical writing, web development, social media, crisis management. Graduate-level thinking with real-world application. Not theory for theory's sake. Every assignment produced something that could go in a portfolio or get used at work the next Monday.
The emphasis in Technical Writing gave the degree its spine. But the electives are what gave it range. Visual communication, publication design, advanced web development, writing for social media. By the time the field project rolled around, I'd built enough cross-discipline fluency that the final capstone felt more like a natural conclusion than a final exam.
Coursework
MPC 600: Communication Ethics & Mass Media
Theoretical and historical foundations for journalism, advertising, and public relations ethics. The course where you learn that every communication decision is an ethical one, even the ones that seem routine. Especially the ones that seem routine. Grade: A
📎 60 Minutes Analysis · All In The Family · Final Paper
MPC 601: Visual Communication
Theories of visual perception applied to visual messaging. Photographs, information graphics, color theory. The course that teaches you why some layouts work and others make you squint. Written analysis of how visual messages communicate. Grade: A
📎 Gender Stereotypes Analysis · Children's Book · Visual Roadmap · Banner Ad · Billboard Ad · Magazine Ad
MPC 602: Rhetorical Theory & Practice
History of rhetoric from the Greeks to the present. Persuasion strategies, critical analysis, and the realization that every argument you've ever made has a name and a taxonomy. Grade: B
📎 Midterm · Palin Rhetorical Analysis · Final Paper
MPC 609: Basic Editing Principles
Intensive review of English grammar, punctuation, and sentence construction. "Basic" is generous. This is where you find out whether your intuitive comma placement has been right all along. (Mine was. Mostly.) Grade: A-
MPC 610: Professional & Technical Writing
Planning, organizing, writing clearly, and revising until the document is actually finished. The core technical writing course. Everything after this was specialization. Grade: A-
📎 Website Analysis · Instructional Document · Usability Proposal · Collaborative Project
MPC 633: Writing for New Media
Writing for digital platforms. The rules for print don't apply and nobody tells you what the new rules are because they change every 18 months. Adapting voice, tone, and structure for audiences who skim first and read second. Grade: A-
MPC 635: Desktop Publishing
Hands-on experience in professional desktop publishing software. Projects included the MPC newsletter, specialty advertising, corporate profiles, and packaging design. Where you learn that kerning is either invisible or it's all you can see. Grade: A
📎 Style Guide · Booklet · Brochure · Poster
MPC 638: Graphic Design
Foundations of visual design: typography, composition, branding, and the art of communicating without words. Or at least with fewer of them. Grade: A
📎 Branding Package · Book Cover · Movie Poster · Portal Design · Triptych
MPC 639: Advanced Web Design
Full-cycle web development: planning, producing, testing, promoting, evaluating, and maintaining a site for a real client. Team-based, client-facing. The course where you learn that the client's vision and the client's feedback are two completely different things. Grade: A
MPC 652: Effective Presentations
Delivering presentations with multimedia and visual aids. The practical skill nobody admits they needed to practice. Theoretical framework plus actual reps. Grade: A-
MPC 660: Publication Design
Layout, design, and organizational principles for print publications. Hands-on projects applying design theory. This is where InDesign stopped being a tool and started being a language. Grade: A
📎 Assignment Spread · Final Notes
MPC 664: Field Project Proposal Writing
Audience identification, proposal format, and the art of writing a document that convinces someone to let you do the work you want to do. The proposal for my capstone field project came out of this course. Grade: A-
MPC 670: Managing Issues & Crisis
How public information management shapes the trajectory of issues and crises. Tools for defending positions, managing narratives, and understanding how the news cycle actually works from the inside. Grade: B+
📎 Foxconn Case Study · Hatu Environmental · Tylenol Case Study
MPC 682: Writing for Social Media
Layout, design, and desktop publishing applied to social media contexts. Projects ranged from newsletter design to logo work to packaging. The course where "content strategy" stopped being a buzzword and started being a discipline. Grade: A
MPC 690: Field Project
Capstone. The culmination of the entire program. Planned with a faculty advisor and an outside professional. A major project requiring professional-quality writing, editing, and design. Everything I'd learned, compressed into one deliverable. Grade: A
Key Skills
Editing · Proofreading · Style Guides · Layout Design · Print Production · Web Design · Social Media · Corporate Branding · Proposal Writing · Content Strategy · Content Editing · Technical Writing · Graphic Design · Adobe InDesign · Journalism · Documentation · Collaboration · Research