The WRTC Minor
The 18-credit minor in Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication is open to all JMU undergraduate students.
The WRTC minor complements all majors and is designed for students who wish to extend, enrich and formalize their education as writers and communicators.
WRTC minors work through a set of core courses offered every semester and choose elective courses that offer opportunities to focus in on literacy practices, research methods, rhetorical traditions and analysis, personal and civic writing, writing pedagogy, digital and social media, content strategy, user experience (UX), scientific and medical communication, website theory and design, publication management, technical writing, grant and proposal writing, editing, and more.
Declare your WRTC minor
- Log into MyMadison Student Center
- Select Major/Minor Change from the "Other Academic..." dropdown menu
- Select Add Major/Minor
- Search for WRTC (make sure that Academic Plan Type is "minor")
- Submit Request
Applicants will be notified of program admission following a review of their request. Program admission is required to enroll in WRTC minor core courses.
For more information
If you are thinking about minoring in Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication, welcome!
- Contact Karen McDonnell, WRTC's Minor Advisor, at mcdonnkm@jmu.edu with any questions and for more information.
If you have already declared your WRTC minor and then been admitted into the WRTC minor, congratulations!
- Declaring your WRTC minor and being admitted into the WRTC minor are not the same thing. If you plan to enroll in WRTC minor core courses in the coming semester, you should plan to declare your minor at least a week before your course registration window/appointment opens.
- After you've been admitted to the WRTC minor, Professor McDonnell should be listed on the right side of your MyMadison Student Center homepage as your WRTC minor advisor. Professor McDonnell can help you plan your WRTC minor core courses and elective opportunities.
- WRTC 200 introduces the WRTC minor and is a gateway for the other minor core courses and many WRTC minor electives.
Minor Requirements
In the 2025-2026 academic year, WRTC adopted a revised set of requirements for incoming and newly declared minors.
- If you are thinking about declaring a WRTC minor, or if you were accepted as a WRTC minor in 2025-2026 or later, you can consult the "Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication Minor" page in JMU's 2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog for your WRTC minor requirements and links to descriptions of the WRTC minor's core courses.
- Students who declared their WRTC minor before 2025-2026 need not worry: JMU and WRTC will honor the JMU Undergraduate Catalog in effect when you were accepted as a WRTC minor. If you were accepted as a WRTC minor before 2025-2026, you can consult the "Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication Minor" page in JMU's 2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog for your WRTC minor requirements.
If you are currently a WRTC minor and are not sure which catalog to look at, you can check the catalog year that applies to your WRTC minor by viewing your academic requirements report in MyMadison.
