The TC Ph.D. prepares students for careers as innovators and intellectual leaders in both academia and industry. The Ph.D. Program consists of coursework, directed research, and dissertation. In the coursework, students encounter the main themes and intellectual diversity of the whole technical communication field. Core courses cover rhetorical aspects of technical communication, empirical traditions in TC, information design, usability testing, user-centered design processes, computer-mediated communication, international communication, content management, research methods in TC, visual communication, and advanced Web design.

In the directed research program, students have the opportunity, under the guidance and mentorship of a faculty member, to work in a small group doing hands-on research on specific topics. This research experience enriches the students' depth of knowledge and breadth of research expertise to augment the more narrowly focused inquiry of the dissertation.

The goals and objectives of the TC Ph.D. program are as follows:

• To prepare individuals for a career as researchers, teachers, and intellectual leaders in the discipline of technical communication
• To foster the development and dissemination of new knowledge in technical communication
• To foster the development of an international, multi-cultural perspective and a diverse, inclusive student body and workforce in technical communication
• To invent new technical and strategic solutions to technical communication problems

By completion of the course of study, technical communication doctoral students will be able to:

• Analyze a communication situation in its full complexity
• Select or develop an appropriate theoretical framework to motivate an understanding of the situation
• Select an investigative method from a broad range of methods and effectively use it for conducting an inquiry.
• Confront specific communication problems and create solutions for them that can be defended theoretically
• Translate theory and research findings into technical or strategic inventions for solving communication design problems

TC's Ph.D. program differs from other technical communication doctoral programs in the nation in several ways:

• The Ph.D.program emphasizes the application of research results to design problems.
• The Ph.D. program has a multi-disciplinary HCI focus and collaborates with schools across the UW (Visual Design in School of Art, Information School, Computer Science) to teach user-centered design principles.
• UWTC offers one of the strongest emphases on international technical communication in the nation; our Technical Japanese program, our multi-faceted relationship with the Department of Applied Communication Studies at the University of Twente, The Netherlands, our diverse student body, and our ongoing development of relationships with emerging technical communication units at universities around the world, equip us to offer students a uniquely rich international perspective. This perspective will in turn generate a rich set of research questions and communication design problems related to international and cross-cultural communication.
• The Ph.D. program is structured around formal research groups.
• Housed in the UW College of Engineering, the UWTC Ph.D. program has access to technology and funding that other schools do not.