2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Students progressing through an engineering Ph.D. program need communication-related supports that address a complex of skill development for both the efficient completion of their degree as well as preparation for the future professoriate. Although students are often highly motivated to improve their writing and speaking, the demands of engineering Ph.D. programs as well as perceptions that communications training is low priority, can result in students avoiding opportunities to improve. The benefits of strong academic communication skills for students to attain and succeed in academic positions are clear: independence, impact, full participation in the scholarly community and teaching and managing collaborative work among other benefits.
Study of engineering graduate student’s needs and how to effectively meet these needs is based on a periodic survey of the entire population of over 1,000 Ph.D. students across nine fields of engineering at a major U.S. university. The latest survey was carried out in November 2022 and indicates broadly that students consider their academic writing skills to be weak in a number of areas and are most likely to take advantage of elective writing and speaking courses if they are encouraged by their advisor or hear from friends that their experiences with the courses have been beneficial. Even with enthusiastic recommendations students, however tend to approach these courses with some hesitations namely, fearing the perceived time investment, questioning whether they will be able to improve among other impediments.
This paper details the evolution of communication supports that have been provided for Ph.D. students in response to perceived needs and utilization over two decades. Initial offerings included a semester long communications course which evolved into a pairing of two half-semester intensive courses, one focused on writing and the other focused on oral presenting. A recent supplementary support to augment the courses that began in fall 2022 has been a dedicated graduate writing center, (GWC) called the Communications Hub. The courses and GWC together support student’s efforts to gain mastery and independence of their academic communications.