Publications and Documents
Best Practices
- Communication Studies (CMS), as well as many other departments, do not send out hard copies of information anymore. It's too expensive, and potential students all over the world use the web.
- As
GIAC uses an electronic application, anyone applying
to the department has to be on the web anyway --
if there's a non-email request for information
to be mailed to a potential student, we send a
postcard with our logo and address on one side,
and the following on the other side (as well as
their address):
Thank you for your interest in our Graduate Program. We have all the most up-to-date information on the web, including the entire application process.
You can find information about the university and the electronic (preferred) application for admission on the web, as well (http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/prospective/).
If you do not have personal access to the internet, you may be able to try via a library source, or cyber cafe (http://www.cybercafes.com/).
We only admit students for the Fall, and our deadline is January 15th of the year you plan on entering.
If you have any additional questions after looking at the above sites, feel free to use the email addresses located on the web for more information.
Thank you for your interest in the Graduate Program in Communication Studies at the University of Texas at Austin! - Here
is the web address for our site: http://www.utexas.edu/coc/speech/
Please go to both the Prospective Graduate and Current Student pages to see the informational links that are provided. The Letter to Fall 2002 Applicants (minus the note at the top to Fall 2001 Incoming Students) is verbatim of an email that I send to those interested in the program. If a student has a specific concern, I address the concern and then paste the entire letter after it - this method has served me very well in the past year, and Patti Rose from C&I taught me well. - I do keep about 5 copies of the "Prospective Graduate Student Brochure" on hand to give to those students that stop by the office. As information is constantly changing, I am able to ditch a few copies and print new ones, rather than waste a bunch of trees.
- If Graduate Coordinators do not update their own information on the departmental web site, should keep in close contact with the webmaster that is in charge of corrections/updates. It is vital to always have the most current information available online, as it really cuts down on the confusion.
- Integrated Biology (http://www.biosci.utexas.edu/IB/) is a great site, and I'm not just saying that because I went to high school with the webmaster! It's a different approach than we're using, and just another way that information can be displayed.
As every departmental graduate coordinator does a million and one things, and not all of them the same, the common thread is the internet. If GIAC requires online applications, then there is no reason we should be slack in keeping updated information on our sites. If we want to sell our program, we don't have to be the glitziest page, or have photos, or neat effects. We have to be up-to-date and willing to answer student questions in the main form: email. Almost 90% of my communication with my office is done this way, and I don't doubt it will change anytime soon.