ABSTRACT
To thrive within contexts of scarcity, faculty who direct or teach in technical
communication programs can benefit from embracing tenets promoted by move -
ments that employ systems thinking, such as ecocriticism and sustainability
studies. As Wals and Corcoran (2012) explain, sustainability studies promote
anticipatory thinking, “seeing relationships and interdependencies,” and altering
values through cultivating “empathetic understanding and open mindedness”
(p. 24). Systems thinking is especially important for technical communication
programs that are small, recently developed, and/or embedded within larger
interdisciplinary departments.
