COMMUNICATION CORE COURSES

Take the following courses:

CM-130 Introduction to Human Communication

Surveys the fundamental tenets of human communication through application. This course is concerned with how and why we speak, listen, respond, and strategize through the uses of verbal and nonverbal symbol systems.

3 CreditsS 

CM-132 Message Analysis

The study of rhetoric investigates the art of persuasion. The course introduces the basic rhetorical concepts and language we need to make sense of the sea of messages we swim in. The course aims to sharpen your ability to reason, reflect, send, perceive and discern messages in a variety of contexts. Upon completion of this course students understand several humanistic perspectives toward communication and are able to apply the basic tools of rhetorical analysis. Students have an increased awareness of the ways in which our symbolic behaviors shape our social lives.

3 CreditsH, CS 

CM-133 Mass Media and Society

An examination of the convergence of mass media (print, radio, television, sound, film, and internet) which serve our most common public interests. The focus is on the four primary functions to inform, to entertain, to persuade, and to transmit culture. Students have a better understanding of the tension between media as business and its social responsibility to its citizens. This course is not open to seniors.

3 CreditsH, CS

CM-200 Art of Public Speaking

Seeks to develop and improve fundamental principles and methods of selecting, organizing, developing, and communicating a line of reasoning and evidence for constructive influence in speaking situations. Students make three formal presentations, analyze messages, and improve their listening skills

3 CreditsCS, HPrerequisites: Sophomore, Junior, or Senior standing.

CM-401  Senior Seminar

Senior Seminar in Communication is an opportunity to refine your understanding of your communication POE and experiences and their application to the professional world of business or graduate school. Students will reflect on their communication expertise, prepare resumes and interwiewing techniques, network with alums in communication, and communicate their expertise. This course intends to make explicit the strong knowledge base acquired in a Communication POE and to explore the opportunities available in the field of communication.

1 CreditHPrerequisites: Senior standing.


SKILLS & METHODS COURSES

Complete 9 credits from the following courses below: (3 credits must be at the 300-level)

CM-210 Race and Language in the United States

This class examines racism as a cultural system observed through our beliefs and practices about spoken English. The goal of the course is to develop an understanding of how linguistic prejudice contributes to the cultural programs of racism in the US.

3 CreditsSW-US 

CM-220 Group Communication

This course is designed to improve communication with others in small group task and problem-solving situations. Working with a community partner students propose, plan and carry out a service project. We explore ways of developing communication strategies for group decision making, for leadership, and for managing interpersonal conflict, as well as presentations skills. This course takes a balanced approach to understanding and using communication theories, as well as offering practical experience using those skills for working in small groups. By the end of the semester students understand the group experience in terms of shared leadership of working cooperatively with diverse group members; and the necessity for ethical choices.

4 CreditsH, CS, SW-LEPrerequisite: CM-130 or CM-132 or CM-133. Pre- or Co-Requisite: FYC-101 or EN-110 or EN-109.

CM-240 Introduction to Storytelling

This course aims to develop a deeper understanding of the art of storytelling and the ability to create narratives for specific and diverse audiences and purposes across multiple mediums. To be able to create impactful stories that can achieve the goals we set as storytellers, we will focus on audience analysis, narrative structure and storytelling for different mediums. AI and ChatGPT will be used to explore the ideas of intercultural sensitivity, empathy, perspective, and humor in storytelling.

3 Credits

CM-261 CM Studies in Germany I

This course is a short-term study abroad class that meets for one hour a week in the spring semester to prepare for a 10-day trip to Germany in May. We will cover an array of communication topics including public speaking, intercultural and group communication, as well as journalism and PR/marketing related topics. The cost for the trip will include travel, hotel, food and fees. Estimated cost for the course is approximately $3,000.

1 CreditI, HCorequisite: CM262.

CM-262 CM Studies in Germany II

This course is a short-term study abroad class that meets for one hour a week in the spring semester to prepare for a 10-day trip to Germany in May. We cover an array of communication topics including public speaking, intercultural and group communication, as well as journalism and PR/marketing related topics. The cost for the trip will include travel, hotel, food and fees. Estimated cost for the course is approximately $3,000. 

2 CreditsI, HCorequisite: CM261.

CM-288 Strategic Communication

This course will introduce students to strategic communication theory as it informs practices and skills that organizations employ to achieve goals. Students will learn about communicating with various stakeholders across corporate, non-profit, and public service organizations. This includes designing messages on behalf of social causes and corporate interests that are intended for diverse audiences.

3 CreditsPrerequisite: CM-130 or CM-132 or CM-133

CM-289 Communication Practicum

A Practicum in Communication encourage students to: (1) develop skills in analyzing and delivering public presentations; (2) assess, interpret and analyze messages data among diverse audiences; (3) understand speech communication in a variety of contexts; (4) appreciate public address from a historic perspective; and (5) participate actively in the communication field. This course is repeatable up to 4 credits.

1-2 CreditsF, H 

CM-290 The Metaverse

This introductory course focuses on how information technologies shape the way we think and organize ourselves. In studying the technology of the book, social media and the metaverse, students explore change and technology as central to the decision making of leaders. 

3 CreditsH, CW, CSPrerequisites: CM133 or IT110 or IT111.

CM-299 Special Topics

Allows departments to offer special topics not normally offered. Departments may offer more than one special topic. 

1-4 Credits Prerequisites vary by topic.

CM-330 Media Analysis

Designed to explore analytical approaches applied to a variety of media, including advertising, television sitcoms, new shows, propaganda, film, music and architecture, in order to ascertain the persuasive messages inherent in each artifact. By examining the rhetorical choices revealed by each method of criticism, we can better understand the structure of message design, the medium and in a larger sense the cultural values that shape both.

3 CreditsH, CW, CSPrerequisites: CM132 or CM133.

CM-310 Understanding Health Inequity

In this class, students will learn how to read, understand, and conduct social research about individuals and systems that create disparity in health care and outcomes. The research that we will read and learn to conduct will rely on texts and stories rather than numbers and statistics. The class will address questions such as: what conditions are present that allow some populations greater access to health care than others? What social problems underlie the disparities in health outcomes for women, people of color, and people from low-income backgrounds. Students will gather and analyze their own research data.

3 CreditsS, WK-SIPre-Req or Co-Req: FYC-101 or EN-110 or EN-109


UPPER-LEVEL SEMINAR COURSES

Complete 6 credits from the following courses below:

CM-300 Professional Presentations

Designed for students to improve and polish their speaking skills for effective presentations in professional settings. It is a performance course with emphasis placed on speech structure, audience adaptation, style of presentation (oral report and manuscript reading), with the use of PowerPoint and/or Prez1. Video is used to help speakers understand the relationship between their speaking behaviors and responses of listeners.

3 CreditsCS, HPrerequisites: CM200.

CM-340 Intercultural Communication

This course examines symbolic patterns of communication as they relate to issues of diversity. Interactive skills needed to open channels of communication between and among people of diverse backgrounds are analyzed and developed. A multi-cultural approach to the study of human communication serves as a basis for exploring issues of diversity that include but are not limited to race, gender, class, ability, orientation, religion and ethnicity.

3 CreditsH, I, SW-GEPrerequisite or Corequisite: FYC-101

CM-365 Organizational Communication

Examines the strategic uses of communication by individuals in organizations and by organizations as a whole in the pursuit of organizational goals. Provides students with a theoretical vocabulary to analyze communication in organizational settings in order to understand processes such as social networks, leadership, and power. Focuses on personal and organizational ethics in work place communication.

3 CreditsH, S, CWPrerequisites: CM130 and CM230 and CM220.

CM-388 Public Communication Campaigns

Provide catalog description here: This course examines the strategies and effects of public communication campaigns aimed at informing and persuading audiences in health, political and environmental contexts. During the semester, students will develop, execute, measure, and analyze a real-world communication campaign within the community.

Prerequisite: CM-130 or CM-132, or CM-133

CM-399 Special Topics

Allows departments to offer special topics not normally offered. Departments may offer more than one special topic.

1-4 Credits Prerequisites vary by topic.

CM-400A Health Communication

Explores how communication functions to promote health, the important role of information in health care, the development of communication campaigns to promote health awareness, alternative and multicultural approaches to health care, the promotion of ethical health communication, and the use of new health communication technologies.

3 CreditsHPrerequisite: CM-130 or CM-132 or CM-133

CM-405A Women, Work & Identity

Women. Work. Identity. These three words are related in a complex web that many of us struggle to untangle for our entire working lives. In this course, we identify and name the components of the relationships among these words--all in the context of the unique perspective that the communication discipline offers.

3 CreditsSPrerequisites: CM130 or CM230 or CM220 or CM365 or permission of the instructor.

CM-420A Hollywood Films

In this course we explore one visual medium: film. Hollywood film is understood as mainstream media which is meant for a general audience and with strong box office constraints. A rhetorical perspective insists on the presence of an audience which is not necessarily of interest in all types of film study but will be crucial in our discussions. We relate theories, methods of production, and criticism to our work but it is not limited to them. This course is an opportunity for students to explore what mainstream films mean and why they are such an important cultural phenomenon.

3 CreditsH, CWPrerequisites: CM132 or CM133.

CM-420E  Digital Storytelling

Digital stories derive their power in weaving images, music, narrative and voice together, and thereby giving deep dimension and vivid color to characters, situations, experiences, and insights. This course offers students the opportunity to experiment with narratives and their visualization using digital media technologies as a vehicle to tell stories creatively with a clear point of view and audience awareness.

3 CreditsH, F, CTDHPrerequisites: CM133 or 1 of the following courses, CM290 or IT110 or AR404.

CM-499 Special Topics

Allows departments to offer special topics not normally offered. Departments may offer more than one special topic.

1-4 Credits Prerequisites vary by topic.


WRITING COURSES

Complete 4 credits from the following courses below:

EN-315 Technical Writing

An examination of writing for the real world: as such it concentrates equally on content and practice. The course builds around various document designs and waysto present those designs in expressions appropriate to audience and purpose. While sophomores are allowed to register they may be removed from the course if the demand by upperclassmen is high.

4 CreditsH, CWPrerequisites: EN110 or EN109 and Sophomore, Junior or Senior standing.

EN-376 Writing Across Media

When we want to convey a message to others, how do we choose whether to Tweet, blog, or shoot video? And why does it matter which we choose? Contemporary life asks us to be agile interpreters of images, texts, and sounds. In response, this course immerses students into the theory and practice of how and why we choose the media in which we communicate. Students explore how we understand and manipulate media, but also how media-in and of themselves-influence what gets written and how. Through an assignment sequence that includes text, webtext, image, sound, and video, students gain strength and versatility as writers by honing their awareness of genre, audience, and rhetorical situation. The course culminates in a multimodal, web-based portfolio. This course may be of interest to those considering not only professional writing, but also business, marketing, technology, creative entrepreneurship, media studies, art, and/or design.

3 CreditsH,CW,CTDHPre-Req: FYC-101 or EN-110 or EN-109.

EN-378 Video Production Writing

Writing for Video Production is a course that combines contemporary rhetoric, creative inquiry, design thinking, media authorship, self-reflection, and social engagement. Students complete directed writing such as journal entries, scripts, storyboards, and shotlists in concert with video production, facilitating an integrated process of thinking, creating, and problem-solving. 

4 CreditsH,CW,CTDH,WK-CETake FYC-101 or EN-110 or EN-109


ELECTIVES

Complete 3 credits from the following courses below:

IM-250  Digital Audio Production

Digital Audio Production introduces the student to the fundamentals of capturing, editing and reproducing sound, using digital tools. Hands on studio work combines with basic acoustic theory to help conceptualize the bridge between the analogue and digital worlds. The final project for the course puts the student in teams to record, edit, mix and do simple mastering on a full length CD.

3 CreditsF,CTDH 

IM-310  Social Media

This course will introduce students to the context and forms of social media. We will explore the theories and practices of narrative expression in online context, explore social media as culture and study the impact of " the sharing economy. " What is social media, who uses it, who gains from it, and how is it transforming new media aswell as traditional media. One of the outcomes of social media is that everything is connected, creating massive amounts of user generated content and data. Students will learn to analyze, design and visualize this data. We will also focus on the social norms of user communities and how we can leverage it to better understand emerging technologies. Students will have the opportunity to explore both theory and practice of social media through writing assignments, presentations, curating and creating creative content, and participating on both online and offline discussions. 

3 CreditsFPrerequisites: IM110 or IT110 or IT111 or CS110. 

IM-360  Digital Video Production

Video Production I is a practical hands-on experience with cinematography, audio production, and lighting. Students learn the necessary skills to tell an well produced digital story with appropriate technical knowledge to enhance the narrative and audience engagement. This course will teach students how to work as a professional videographer by expanding digital media knowledge and techniques. Students will learn the technical foundations of video production, camera operation, lighting, audio acquisition and editing. Students will be encouraged to investigate the impact of video content based on the viewer in addition to artistic potential through digital storytelling.

3 CreditsF,CTDHPrerequisites: IM110 or permission by permission of instructor with prior video experience. 

IM-361  Video Production II

Digital Video Production II allows students to work from ideas to a final video production that is ready to showcase at a film premiere, enter into film competitions, or share with a client as a professional commercial for their business. From preproduction planning all the way to post production editing, students will work on a series of videos with full creative rights. Students will be required to oversee planning, storyboarding, shooting, editing, and final exporting. Students with prior video production experience are preferred. 

3 CreditsF,CTDHPrerequisite: IM360 or by instructor permission. 

PACS-108  Mediation

Students learn the basic model of interest-based mediation and the theoretical framework that guides its use. Role-plays and simulations will be used to prepare students to serve as mediators in a variety of contexts. Students will be trained to use a co-mediation model to resolve interpersonal and small group conflicts. There will be Saturday and Sunday meeting times 9 am-5 pm. There are 3 weekends. You will enroll for 1 weekend if you take 1 credit, 2 weekends if you do 2 credits and 3 if you take 3 credits. Homework assignments will be completed online.

1-3 CreditsS 

PACS-210 PACS-210 Technology, Social Media, and Conflict

This course covers the role of technology andsocial media in both mitigating and exacerbatingconflict. The course exposes students to violenceprevention and conflict transformation approachesused at a local level by exploring cases relatedto media and institutions and the proliferation ofmis/disinformation, conspiracy theories, andmalign information operations over social media. It also addresses the emerging field of digitalconflict at a macro-level, between nation-states,covering challenges related to cyber security,foreign election interference, and manipulativecommunication designed to influence, disrupt, anddestabilize.

3 Credits


CAPSTONE

Complete one of the following options below:

OPTION 1:

CM-490 Communication Internship

Communication students may apply their acquired skills and knowledge to on-the-job internships for a semester during their junior or senior year for a total of 9 credit hours. Television stations, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, public relations, advertising agencies and human relations in health organizations are all possible placements. You not only work as full-time members of a business team, but also evaluate and document your growth in a work journal and prepare a portfolio of presentations or publications.

2-9 Credits Corequisite: CM495. Prerequisite: Communication core and Jr. or Sr. standing.

CM-495 Communication Internship Research

In addition to the on-the-job experience provided by the internship, students are required to pursue research related to their placement. An in-depth research paper or presentation is completed during the semester. 

2-6 CreditsHCorequisite: CM490. Prerequisite: Communication core and Jr. or Sr. standing.


OPTION 2:

CM-497  Senior Thesis Seminar

Designed to serve as a capstone course for students who emphasize Communication in their POE. The students will be expected to examine communication theories and research methods relevant to a topic, theme, issue, or problem that has served as an area of special interest throughout the previous years of study. 

3-6 CreditsH, CSStudents must have Senior standing and a POE in Communication.

CM-498  Senior Thesis Research

Designed to serve as a capstone course for students who emphasize Communication in their POE. The students will be expected to examine communication theories and research methods relevant to a topic, theme, issue, or problem that has served as an area of special interest throughout the previous two years of study. 

3-6 CreditsH, CSStudents must have Senior standing and have a POE in Communication.  Prerequisite: CM-497.


POE Credit Total = 39

Students must complete at least 18 credits at the 300/400-level.  Any course exception must be approved by the advisor and/or department chair.