The need for experts in technical communication is growing significantly while the number of college graduates in the field accounts for less than one percent of the need. Three major types of problems should be considered in trying to establish a technical communication program: those involving society's need for better technical communicators, such as the enormously growing demand for students with a strong background in writing and in science and some background in technology; those involving the business community specifically, such as inadequate funding to provide training; and those involving the academic community specifically, such as departmental protectiveness or parochialism, the appropriate place in the curriculum for a technical communication course, flexibility to allow students to transfer from a different major to technical communication, and possible difficulty of approval by the state legislature. The enormous demand by society for trained persons and the high entry-level salaries make it desirable to establish such programs where possible. (TJ)