Here at SCSU we're in a bit of a catch-22. To offer more graduate courses we need more graduate students. To get more graduate students we need more graduate courses. Sigh. A few of us are also thinking we need to somehow make our program sexier (Yeah, I know, if a platypus can't do it, who can, right??) To that end, I'm wondering what you think would make our master's program a destination for students hoping for careers in new media or who hope to move on to PhD programs in computers & writing or what have you. We have at least three faculty here who have the tech background to teach the courses, but currently only have one course on the books (computers, English, and pedagogy) that really addresses the subject. There's also a mixed under/grad course (computers & English). The rest is handled through special topics courses, but they're hard to get.

I know that many of you are part of programs that really push new media/visual rhetoric and online writing, so what has worked for you as a recruiting tool? What courses tend to be popular? Would it be better to have a new emphasis? Some type of certification program? Or would it be better to work within the existing programs? There's a movement here to focus the graduate program on professional and technical communication. How can we link our new media/computers and writing type stuff concretely to good jobs?

We do have a nice "new media studio" equipped with Macs and all the latest software...! Only problem is, it's pretty pointless if we don't have courses (and a demand for them) to put it to use.

I'm trying to imagine a student with some talent for writing and interests in new media, and what that student would need to see in an MA program before applying to it. Also: what are the sexiest programs out there and what makes them so? Or, if you're at a PhD institution, what would you most like to see a students' transcript before accepting him or her into your doctoral program?

in short, HELP!!!