Chair   James H. Watt
Department Home Page   http://www.llc.rpi.edu/

The Department of Language, Literature, and Communication (LL&C) is an internationally recognized center for interdisciplinary education, research, and theory development. The department’s programs span areas including composition and writing, computer-mediated communication, foreign languages, graphics and visual communication, interpersonal and organizational communication, literature and cultural studies, rhetoric, and technical communication.

The department offers: a B.S. in Communication; M.S. programs in Technical Communication and in Communication and Rhetoric; and a Ph.D. in Communication and Rhetoric. In partnership with the Department of the Arts, we offer a B.S. In Electronic Media, Arts, and Communication (EMAC). In partnership with the Faculty of Information Technology, we offer a B.S. In Information Technology (IT) with either Communication or Communication with a concentration in Web Design and Analysis as a second discipline. The M.S. program in Technical Communication is available through Rensselaer’s distance education program as well as on campus.

The B.S. programs prepare students for advanced study or for employment in fields related to communication technology, strategic communication, technical communication, multimedia production, and careers in the emerging internet technologies. The M.S. degrees can lead to careers as information architects, web designers, multimedia specialists, graphic designers, electronic communication specialists, technical communicators, usability engineers, and instructional and interface designers. Either M.S. Program can also provide a foundation for doctoral study. Graduates of the Ph.D. in Communication and Rhetoric find careers in business and government as well as in the academic world. Graduates of all programs have found a strong demand for persons who understand the new communication technologies.

Certificate programs in graphics and in human-computer interaction (HCI) enable both graduate and undergraduate students to focus some of their elective courses. A concentration in graphics can provide special competency in visual design and communication. A concentration in HCI can provide special competency in the design and analysis of computer-user interfaces. Either certificate program can be incorporated into a standard plan of study for one of our degree programs. The program in HCI can be taken via distance education and is available as an option in the M.S. in Management and Technology as well as in the M.S. in Technical Communication.

Areas of Advanced Research and Study

In research, the department’s mission is to develop and assess new understandings of how people create and manage their social and professional worlds through the mediation of sign systems and communication technologies. Among the major thrusts of research in the department are the following:

Communication and Computers—including such specific areas as:

• Computer-mediated communication
• Design of human-computer interactions
• Information technologies in community development and networking
• Technical and professional communication practices

Rhetoric, Culture, and Communication Technology—including such specific areas as:

• Cultural studies of film, photography, advertising, cyberspace, and other media
• Cultural rhetoric, including ethnographic studies of themed cultural environments
• History and theory of rhetoric
• Rhetorical studies of American landscape representations/ constructions
• Language in collaborative design work

Media Design and Theory—including such specific areas as:

• Design of hypermedia texts and art works
• Writing for print and digital media
• Book design
• Visual communication/design and integration of visual with verbal codes

Supporting research in these areas are a number of facilities:

Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory   Situated at 4303 Sage Building, the objective of the laboratory is to promote and coordinate interdisciplinary research and development in human-computer interaction by encouraging interaction among faculty members and students with common interests. Ongoing projects include usability research, online support of performance, especially physical performance, technological support for collaborative work, and community networking. The laboratory is equipped with computer workstations and video equipment for recording and analyzing human-computer interactions.

LL&C Conference Circle   Located in 4518 Sage Building, the LL&C Conference Circle is a technology-supported conference room available by reservation to department students, faculty, and staff. Developed with funding from the National Science Foundation, NYNEX, and Intel, the Conference Circle provides three networked Pentium III processors linked to each other and to the campus network. With large screen monitors buried in the Conference Circle surface, work groups can view, discuss, and make changes to common work. The Conference Circle is available by reservation at ext. 6467.

Design Conference Room   Located in CII 3211, the Design Conference Room (DCR) is a conference room facility that integrates electronic and face-to-face interaction. Developed with funding from the National Science Foundation, the Design Conference Room provides support for intellectual teamwork by providing teams with individual private systems networked to a common public system. Using the Reconfigurable Collaboration Network© software, participants are able to take turns controlling sessions on the Public System, working together on common projects. The Design Conference Room is available to faculty and student teams in the department by reservation. More information about the DCR can be found at http://www.dcr.rpi.edu. Scheduling info can be found at http://www.rpi.edu/~geislc/DCR/DCRsched.htm.

Intel Laboratory   Students in the Department of Language, Literature, and Communication and in the EMAC program have access to the Intel Lab for both classes and individual work. The laboratory contains Pentium II 400 Mhz processors with MMX technology, two 4.3 Gig ATA hard drives, 128 megs of memory, and a variety of peripherals, all connected to the campus network via Fast Ethernet. Printers (B&W and color), scanners, and digital cameras are also available for use. Available software include packages from Adobe, Macromedia, Microsoft, as well as Cosmo Worlds, Extreme 3-D, SoftImage, Quarkexpress, RoboHelp, Chinese Word Processing, and a variety of browsers. For more information about the Intel Lab, please call x6467.

The Writing Center   The Writing Center is a tutorial service available to all students at Rensselaer. The center offers help in all areas of writing: lab reports, research projects, papers, proposals, reports, formal letters, and resumes. Students receive instruction on a one-to-one basis with a faculty member or a trained graduate assistant. Attendance is voluntary and no appointment is necessary. Students can also arrange more formal programs of writing improvement. Hours are posted at the center in 4508 Sage Building. More information about the Center’s resources (including on-line publications) can be seen on the Writing Center’s web site at http://www.rpi.edu/web/writingcenter/.

Collaborative Classroom   Drawing on previous work in the Rensselaer Design Conference Room, the Collaborative Classroom, built with funding from NSF and NYNEX, supports classroom use of intellectual teamwork by providing teams of laptop users with the technological support required to generate, coordinate, and refine the joint action required in collaborative design. The Collaborative Classroom provides across-the-table seating for seven teams of six students each at technology-enhanced conference tables. At each table, a single shared high-end workstation, the Public System, serves students via two large-screen color monitors buried in the table and four sets of keyboards and mice. A high speed network connects the Public System via a gateway to the campus and world wide network. Ethernet ports at each of the 42 seats allow students to link their Private Systems—laptop computers brought to class. At the front of the room, a Podium System, consisting of a high-end workstation and input devices, controls a high-end projection system.

Faculty

Professors

Geisler, C.   Ph.D. (Carnegie-Mellon University); language and design; computer-supported cooperative work; multidisciplinary collaboration; professional discourse; genre theory; academic literacy.
Halloran, S.M.   Ph.D. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); rhetorical theory, history, and criticism; rhetoric of nature and the environment; public representations of history.
Harrison, T.   Ph.D. (Bowling Green State University); communication theory; computer-mediated communication and scholarship; computerized community networking systems; organizational communication.
Krull, R.   Ph.D. (University of Wisconsin-Madison); research design; online interfaces and performance support; documents for physical skills.
Nadel, A.   Ph.D. (Rutgers University); literary theory; modern and contemporary American literature; American cultural studies; creative writing; film and television studies; African-American studies.
Odell, C.L.   Ph.D. (University of Michigan); composition theory and research; integrating visual and verbal information; writing in nonacademic settings; rethinking “literacy”; education reform.
Watt, J.   Ph.D. (University of Wisconsin-Madison); survey research via the internet; marketing communication; media and web cognitive processes; mathematical models of communication processes.
Whitburn, M.   Ph.D. (University of Iowa); writing process in industry; teaching of technical communication; history of English studies; history of rhetoric; rhetoric bibliography.

Associate Professors

Deery, J.   D.Phil. (Oxford University); media studies; advertising and culture; feminism; literature and science; modern and contemporary Anglo-American literature; utopian literature.
Esrock, E.J.   Ph.D. (New York University); literature and psychology; literary and visual arts theory; photography history and criticism; modern literature; feminist studies.
Gordon, T.   Ph.D. (University of California-Berkley); cultural anthropology; religion and globalization; sociolinguistics; ethnographic methods; themed environments; popular/public culture; Polynesia and U.S.
Burke LeFevre, K.   Ph.D. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); rhetorical invention; social aspects of rhetoric and communication, particularly relating to the fields of medicine and intellectual property law; curriculum design for teaching writing in all disciplines; scholarship and pedagogy of electronic portfolios.
Search, P.   M.A. (Goddard College); visual design theory and practice; computer-generated imagery and graphics; computer animation and hypermedia; user interface design for hypermedia programs.
Stephen, T.D.   Ph.D. (Bowling Green State University); interpersonal communication; social history; research methodology; group communication; social relationships; computer networks and scholarly communication systems; computer-assisted textual analysis.
Walther, J.B.   Ph.D. (University of Arizona); computer-mediated communication; virtual teamwork; relationships via Internet; distributed student teams; verbal and nonverbal cue systems in relational communication; research methods for online behavior.
Zappen, J.P.   Ph.D. (University of Missouri); dialogical rhetoric; cyberhetoric; web design and community networking.

Clinical Associate Professor

Grice, R.   Ph.D. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); information usability; human-computer interaction; communicating on the WWW; usability testing and evaluation; analysis of computer-games interfaces; effective teaching and learning in the virtual classroom.

Assistant Professors

Bennett, A.   M.F.A. (Yale University); design pedagogy; interactive learning in visual communication; visual literacy; audience-response testing of visual artifacts; conceptual design practice; graphic problem solving; graphic interpretation of text and memory.
Choi, J. Ph.D. (State University of New York at Buffalo); social uses of the Internet; Internet law and policy; computer-mediated communication; global telecommunication systems; digital divide; social network analysis; international and intercultural communication.
Gerber, L.R.   Ph.D. (University at Albany, SUNY); scientific French; electronic media; computer-mediated communication in France; the development side-by-side of the Minitel and Internet in France and the Francophone countries.
Hart-Davidson, W.   Ph.D. (Purdue University); technical communication theory and practice; usability and participatory design; rhetoric and composition theory; design and content management for the World Wide Web; theories and histories of writing technologies.

Undergraduate Programs

All undergraduate programs in the Department of Language, Literature, and Communication (LL&C) aim to provide students with the multidisciplinary education that is essential for leadership in an “information society,” a society that is rapidly being transformed by new communication processes and technologies. Building on Rensselaer’s strong technological infrastructure, these programs offer students hands-on education in the new communication technologies as well as theoretical frameworks for understanding and eventually shaping the cultural impact of these technologies.

Bachelor of Science Degrees:

Students are required to take at least 8 mathematics credit hours. Recommended courses are: Calculus I H&SS followed by Multivariable Calculus (special section for H&SS students.) Beyond this, students may take any mathematics or science courses with the prefixes MATH (Mathematics); CSCI (Computer Science); MATP (Mathematical Programming); BIOL (Biology); BCBP (Biochemistry and Biophysics); CHEM (Chemistry); ERTH (Earth and Environmental Science); PHYS (Physics); and ASTR (Astronomy). Some courses with the prefix ENGR (Core Engineering) and DSES (Decision Sciences and Engineering Systems) may also be selected. Note: there is no required science sequence. One credit courses that are graded satisfactory/ unsatisfactory do not satisfy science requirements. Please see departmental advisor for more information.

Communication (Comm)   The B.S. in Communication requires a total of 124 credit hours. It consists of 44 credit hours of major requirements, 32 credit hours of free electives, and the Rensselaer requirements of 24 credit hours in the humanities and social sciences; and 24 credit hours in math, science, and computing. All Communication undergraduates may opt to follow a more specialized track, or Concentration, in order to fulfill a Bachelor’s degree.

The first concentration to be offered, Web Design and Analysis (WD&A), is intended to prepare students to take leadership roles in designing, assessing, and shaping the World Wide Web and emerging Internet technologies. The B.S. in Communication with the concentration in Web Design and Analysis is focused on a comprehensive study of the communication principles operating within the parameters of the Web and the Internet. Students in this concentration develop competencies in Graphics, Information Architecture, Assessment of Media, and Applications of Technology (e-business, for example). Students completing this sequence will know how to conceptualize, construct, and critique WWW communication from an intellectual and practical perspective.

In consultation with their advisers, students in the Web Design and Analysis concentration will choose 12 credit hours of electives in LL&C. Students are especially encouraged use these electives to take a set of related courses, such as those leading to LL&C’s Certificate in Graphics or Certificate in Human-Computer Interaction. A 4-credit hour Web Design Internship is also required.

Required courses are: Introduction to Communication Theory; Introduction to Literature; Introduction to Visual Communication; and Rhetoric and Writing.

Electronic Media, Arts, and Communication (EMAC)   The EMAC program offers undergraduates the opportunity to study electronic arts with relation to the communication field and prepares students for careers in the applied arts and communication. The EMAC program combines offerings in the Department of Language, Literature, and Communication and the Arts Department, for a total of at least 60 credit hours. Level One: Required introductory courses are: Intro. to Communication Theory; Intro. to Visual Communication; Media Studio: Imaging; Media Studio: Video/Audio. Level Two: Students complete 24 credit hours in selected LL&C and Arts courses: in Writing (4), Arts History/Theory (4), and a short list of courses in the areas of Electronic Arts, Electronic Communication and Design, Film, Media and Culture, and Literature. Level Three: An EMAC concentration is required, consisting of 12 credit hours of 4000-level LL&C, Arts, or other courses as part of a plan of study approved by the student’s academic advisor. Level Four: In their senior year, students take a Capstone seminar, consisting of four credit hours in each of their last two semesters.

Information Technology and Communication (IT/Comm)   The B.S. in IT/Comm is a degree with a second discipline, consisting of a 56-credit core in Information Technology followed by 32 credits taken in Language, Literature, and Communication (LL&C). This degree prepares students to take a leadership role in careers as communication specialists and corporate information officers. Students begin with courses introducing them to the basics of communication theory, literacy theory, and written and visual communication. Students in IT/Comm should consider taking course work in one or more of the following LL&C Pursuits: Communication in Digital Media, Visual Design, and Human-Computer Interaction. In addition, IT/Comm students may focus on the communication concentration in Web Design and Analysis. This would include courses in graphics, information architecture, approaches to assessment, and applications.

We strongly advise students in all of our undergraduate degree programs to develop a minor in a compatible field of interest. We also recommend that students participate in an internship or co-op in order to gain professional work experience. In some instances, a dual major may also be possible.