Professional and Technical Communication Students as Entrepreneurs-in-Training

As director of a university professional and technical writing (PTW) program, my pedagogy must have two aims: to teach students strategies for using language effectively in various genres, and to train them to see themselves as working professionals. To meet the first aim, our program's course work requires students to examine a wide range of document types through a rhetorical lens. To meet the second aim, we advise students early in their college careers that their degree will be a credential, not a ticket to a job. They are encouraged to seek out, well before they graduate, internships, projects for businesses and organizations, and other work in the field. We advise them to think of themselves not simply as students majoring in a subject, but as professionals. In other words, we are training students to see themselves as "entrepreneurs-in-training." This paper advocates for a view of PTW students as entrepreneurs-in-training and includes an interview with a student who fulfilled this goal successfully.