by Abby Tomlinson

12.11.2008

Barbara D'Angelo earned a diploma, a promotion and a raise as a result of her hard work and dedication in the completion of the Doctor of Philosophy in Technical Communication and Rhetoric offered online through Texas Tech University.

Thanks to the opportunity to complete her doctoral degree from her home state of Arizona, the program kept her from having to make a difficult decision. "If the Texas Tech program hadn't been available, I would have had to decide between leaving a new job to move to an area where a program was available and applying to programs that weren't a good fit," D'Angelo said.
D'Angelo's education success story is similar to others. She said she heard about Texas Tech University's offerings through her supervisor and discovered a program that she thought would work for her. She found what she called, "high-quality education delivered in a different way," and successful completion of the program was beneficial to her career.
Although she is not the first to tell this story, there is one aspect of her distance education experience that is unique. She is one of the first two students to graduate from the cutting-edge distance technical communications degree program.

"Cutting-edge" is not an overstatement when it comes to describing this degree program. At its inception, it was the only program of its kind in the country. The admissions process is extremely selective and the graduates of the program represent an elite group of Texas Tech University scholars.
Dr. Joyce Locke Carter, coordinator of the program, said that selecting candidates from the large application pool is more difficult with each cohort. Each application cycle presents more aspirants than open spots, which gives the faculty the opportunity to select only students of the highest quality.

D'Angelo said that she has not put much thought into her distinction of being one of the first graduates of the program, but does realize that there is something special about being a part of the program's success story. "So if being one of the first two graduates means anything to me," D'Angelo said, "it's that I've helped contribute to the program's success and helped to demonstrate that an online Ph.D. program is viable and works."

According to D'Angelo and Carter, the program works well. Both have said that while there are differences between an on-campus experience and a distance experience, Texas Tech's Technical Communications faculty put in the effort required to make students feel connected, even from other states. "I think the interaction with faculty was probably equivalent to what I would have had if I had been an onsite student," D'Angelo said. "I didn't really think of myself as graduating any differently than someone who was in Lubbock."

D'Angelo got a diploma, a promotion, a raise and a doctorate that she says will help her reach her future goals.