CST - Communication Studies

This course centers communication’s role in current issues and unpacks key theories, perspectives, and inquiry modes that constitute contemporary communication studies. It also develops research and writing strategies important to communication work, which examines challenges critically, scientifically, and rhetorically. Learning activities spur critical, applied thinking and improve conceptual conclusions about communication’s role in the world.

Change cannot happen without knowing how to create and present ideas that are lucid and persuasive. Students learn the importance and the essential nature of oral public communication. Students will be introduced to the theories and models of effective oral communication as well as have opportunities to practice these theories.

This course provides a relational approach to studying interpersonal communication by understanding how concepts such as affection, conflict, and listening are constrained and enabled in close relationships across diverse contexts. Students learn to see personal agency in interactions that shape quality of life, while also identifying and practicing the importance of dual perspective-taking, inclusion, civil discourse, and relational justice.

This course provides instruction and practice in the art of public speaking and debate. Students train to compete in debate and individual events. During classes members will practice debating and speaking. Members are taught reasoning, case writing, rebuttals, and cross-examination.

This course explores the nature of organizing as an outcome of symbolic interaction. We will learn several theoretical perspectives that provide a knowledge framework for observing, interpreting, and critiquing communication patterns for the informational and ideological meanings that influence how and why organizing happens as it does in any context–from corporations to social movements.

This course emphasizes critical thinking through the creation of multiple media projects focusing on a singular theme. These projects ask students to address contemporary concerns within multimedia practice and utilize digital tools from flatbed scanners to book publishing software for their production and final output.

Credit arranged.

Communication or organizational communication majors may undertake on-the-job training positions with professional organizations. This course is designed to provide reflective, specific guidance in applying students’ academic experience to a professional communication experience. Students may receive an IP (In Progress) grade until the completion of their internship. May be taken twice. Only 1 credit can apply to the major.

This course investigates the role of social science research in building knowledge to improve human communication. Students learn about the scientific method and its application in conceiving, designing, and implementing an original quantitative research project.  Students further learn skills in research collaboration and discuss research ethics and how to evaluate and critique others’ research.

Provides students theory and analysis necessary to understand mass media processes and messages as they shape personal, cultural, political, economic and civic life. History and contemporary development of media forms and processes are investigated.

Students learn to interrogate key ways science and communication intertwine, especially in this politically polarized internet era; draw conclusions about those interconnections; and develop their means to understand, process, and communicate science in public and in private. Projects, field outings, lab experiments, films, discussions, and community experts help uncover communication’s roles in scientific discovery.

Influential leaders speak well. This course helps future organizational and community leaders develop their ability to speak well and influence others. The class teaches students to recognize, understand, and apply persuasive and rhetorical theories in order to engage and persuade audiences and to promote the health and well-being of others.

This class challenges students to think, analyze, and write thoughtfully about public messages that influence your experience, profession, life, and culture. Your study of rhetorical theory and criticism will provide lifelong tools with which you can better understand the possibilities and difficulties of forming, using, and evaluating messages that individuals or groups use to influence or change large public audiences.

In this course students develop an understanding of the nature and application of argument in the context of advocacy. Students learn how to create, access, and apply arguments to advocate for the welfare of the marginalized and voiceless. Students study the work of Dr. King to gain an appreciation of what it means to be an advocate who argues well.

This course introduces qualitative research methods as the study of how humans create culture through symbolic communication. Students learn about qualitative methods through application in a semester-long project. Students will develop a research focus, gain access to a research site, design an ethical research study, collect and analyze data, and create an interpretation and representation of the data for others.

This course critiques and updates taken-for-granted presumptions about communication’s roles in face-to-face and remote group dynamics including formation, safety, inclusion, and performance. Applied theories and reflective, hands-on learning (projects, simulations, observations, analyses) help learners investigate and improve phenomena such as decision-making, leading, conflict management, problem-solving, and genuinely multivocal collaboration.

The nature of work is changing rapidly. New professions proliferate, new technologies disrupt, and new social and political changes impact communication inside and outside of organizations. This experiential course prepares students for “future” work. Students will draw from cutting-edge research on labor, organizing, and technology to develop an understanding of the future organization and their role in it.

Study of effective communication of visual messages in the mass media. Students will learn design, concept, and composition strategies for visual media by learning and using visual crafting and formatting software.

Instruction in news gathering, evaluating news, and writing typical news stories. Includes a variety of assignments such as hard news, cultural events, speeches, sports, and interviews. Practice work includes covering local assignments and preparing copy.

Study of theory and practice of creating advertising messages as a creative. Course includes case studies and work on a dynamic set of projects replicating advertising industry creative practices. Key focus of course is also on advertising ethics and a cultural critique of advertising.

Survey course provides understanding of the role of public relations in the profit-making and non-profit sectors, and specific working knowledge of the various facets of the public relations process, including social media. Planning and implementing public campaigns will be discussed.

This course provides an introduction to the field of Environmental Communication, focusing on collaborative attempts to organize and advocate for environmental solutions. Using case studies, students will examine environmental communication in a range of contexts including communities, corporations, nonprofit organizations, governmental agencies, and social movements.

Credit arranged.

Students study American political culture using a rhetorical lens. They analyze the rhetorical strategies used in political messages, that create, maintain, and denigrate our political institutions. Students gain an appreciation and understanding how humans use symbols and how the symbols that humans create use them. They can see how political rhetoric can liberate us and confine us.

This course draws on critical media theory to investigate social media through its broad ability to organize for social change, undermine governments, and polarize politics. Students learn to challenge corporate definitions of social media, while providing tools to analyze the underlying values expressed across platforms. This course relies on case studies to explore topics such as protest, identity, and surveillance.

Survey course designed to increase student's understanding of the United States First Amendment law as it relates to individual citizens, mass media, environmental protections, and organizational communication. Ethical considerations inherent in communication law decisions are emphasized.

East Africa is one of the planet's riches sites of human and nonhuman ecological histories and provides the ideal space to study diversity and ecological entanglement. Topics include environmental communication, eco-tourism, conservation, post-colonialism and neocolonialism, climate change, and slavery and trade.

This course develops the ability to identify and analyze assumptions underlying theoretical models of communication that shape knowledge about ourselves, others, and reality. The course investigates major explanatory theories of communication. Students develop foundational knowledge about the communication discipline, equipping them in all other courses in their major.

This course explores barriers to effective communication between members of differing social groups (sexes, races, generations, etc.). Consideration is given to causes of problems and effective strategies for solutions.

This course explores how to communicate during conflict in ways that create intimacy, connection, and peace in relationships, organizations, and society. This class begins by developing contemporary theory about communication, conflict, and peace. Students apply this theoretical frame to inform and shape practical skills that aid in ethically and constructively engaging in conflict communication.

Students learn about and explore romantic, familial, platonic, earthly, and sometimes “radical” relationships through various interpersonal, mediated, and culturally-situated communication concepts and theories. Special focus is given to the ways love, care, and/or grief inform our lived experience(s) over the life cycle. Topics span philosophies of birth, death, suicide, joy, fertility, queerness, eco-spirituality, and otherness.

This course integrates social scientific, interpretive, and critical scholarship connections between cultures and interactions. Encoded in communication, it unpacks how people’s cultures shape – and are shaped by – their socio-cultural realities, identities, and interactions across boundaries. It also applies that knowledge to help learners advance their cultural sensitivity, engagement, flexibility, and effectiveness in intercultural situations.

Students learn about the ideology of “the global commons” by considering what stories are told and what stories are hidden, whose positionalities are celebrated and whose are disappeared, and how liberation may be possible for our future work and relationships with/in the era of climate collapse. Special attention is given to indigenous, feminist, flora, and fauna ways of knowing.

This course explores current organizational issues from a critical perspective. Students use organizational communication theory to unpack various topics including gendered and raced labor, culture and identity, work/life balance, and organizational power and decision-making. An underlying theme of this course is the transformative potential of meaningful work in various contexts, such as for-profit, nonprofit, and global organizations.

This course offers an advanced investigation of organizational culture. Students will identify symbolic organizing practices and ideological meanings tied to them, and examine how plural cultural meanings and beliefs inform organizing practices. Topics include organizational ethnography, cultural diversity, and social justice. Drawing from interpretive and critical traditions, students will design and implement an advanced research project.

Examines the cultural significance and accomplishments of visuality. Considers the social and political implications of “looking” practices, the impact of “representation” in contemporary culture, and the circulation of images (through virality and sharing practices). Specific focus on race, gender and class and the role that visual images play in cultural perceptions of and practices toward race and racialized bodies. 

Students study and write media criticism which closely analyzes messages as cultural repositories of meaning or which investigates the interaction between media and culture. Emphasis is on the method, stance, and purpose of media critics.

Explores the influence of film on American culture. Students explore theories and ideas concerning film, society, conflict, visual persuasion, and narrative. Students view popular American films as focal points for lecture and discussion.

This course provides critical analysis and instruction about news that seeks to serve the public’s interest. Students learn to research, report, and write in-depth, interpretive, and analytical stories on public affairs in areas such as crime and police, environment, healthcare, politics, and education. Students learn how the press can best serve democracy and its role in public knowledge and debate.

This course teaches the fundamental nonfiction storytelling skills of professional media production. These skills are applicable to careers in public relations, marketing, journalism, or any modern communication field. Students gain hands-on experience with photo, audio and video production gear, analyze the work of professional producers and their peers, and discuss the many ethical questions that come along with nonfiction storytelling. 

Students learn and apply communication theories to critically analyze contemporary discourses and counter-discourses surrounding ecology, environmentalism, and environmental justice. Students unpack and interrogate how their own assumptions, beliefs, language, and practices support and/or resist various environmental narratives around plants, nonhuman animals, food systems, and climate communication.

This course provides a space to reflect, synthesize, and apply knowledge developed as a Communication Major or Organizational Communication Major. Students design and implement a semester-long culminating capstone project that showcases majors’ knowledge and competence in communication. Senior projects integrate theories, concepts, and processes learned as a major to generate knowledge and new applied communication practices about social issues.

Credit arranged.

Credit arranged.

Credit arranged.

Credit arranged.

Credit arranged.

This course provides reflective, specific guidance in applying communication theories to a professional communication setting. Students learn how to observe and apply theory to practice, increasing their understanding and ability to function successfully in a professional communication setting by working directly with a qualified internship supervisor and academic internship director. May be taken twice, only 3 credits apply to major.

This course is under the direction of a faculty adviser or within a class context, leading to a scholarly thesis document with a presentation of results. Students demonstrate advanced knowledge and research expertise in the communication field by designing, conducting, and implementing an original thesis study. 

This course investigates the role of social science research in building knowledge to improve human communication. Students prepare graduate-level research papers while learning about the scientific method and its application in conceiving, designing, and implementing an original quantitative research project. Students further learn skills in research collaboration and discuss research ethics and how to evaluate and critique others’ research.

Students study the American political culture using rhetorical framework. They evaluate the rhetorical strategies used in campaigns, issues, create, maintain, and denigrate our political institutions. They examine the political strategies used in deliberative and constitutive rhetoric.

This course draws on critical media theory to investigate social media through its ability to organize for change, undermine governments, and polarize. Students learn to challenge corporate definitions of social media bringing the world together, and receive tools to analyze logics by which social media sites function. This course uses local and global case studies to explore topics such as protest, identity, political economy, and surveillance.

This graduate-level survey course is designed to develop an advanced understanding of First Amendment law as it relates to citizens, mass media, and democratic practice. The course examines core questions about how communities function and how civil society can be constructed and maintained through free and robust public discussion from diverse and antagonistic sources.

This course develops the ability to identify and analyze assumptions underlying theoretical models of communication that shape knowledge about ourselves, others, and reality. The course investigates major explanatory theories of communication. Students develop foundational knowledge about the communication discipline, equipping them in all other courses as graduate students.

This course investigates dynamics of differences that frame, enable, and constrain people’s communication opportunities across diverse social identity groupings. Focusing on ‘isms’ related to race, gender, sex, social class, ability, sexuality, and age, its learning activities apply theory and scholarship to understand, integrate, and more insightfully navigate interactions across the welcome range of human differences.

This course explores how to communicate during conflict in ways that create intimacy, connection, and peace in relationships, organizations, and society. This class begins by developing contemporary theory about communication, conflict, and peace. Students apply this theoretical frame to inform and shape practical skills that aid in ethically and constructively engaging in conflict communication.

This class challenges students to think, analyze, and write thoughtfully about public messages that influence your experience, profession, life, and culture. Your study of rhetorical theory and criticism will provide lifelong tools with which you can better understand the possibilities and difficulties of forming, using, and evaluating messages that individuals or groups use to influence or change large public audiences.

Students learn about and explore romantic, familial, platonic, earthly, and sometimes “radical” relationships through various interpersonal, mediated, and culturally-situated communication concepts and theories. Special focus is given to the ways love, care, and/or grief inform our lived experience(s) over the life cycle. Topics span philosophies of birth, death, suicide, joy, fertility, queerness, eco-spirituality, and otherness. 

In this course students develop an understanding of the nature and application of argument in the context of advocacy. Students learn how to create, access, and apply arguments to advocate for the welfare of the marginalized and voiceless. Students study the work of Dr. King to gain an appreciation of what it means to be an advocate who argues well.

This course introduces qualitative research methods as the study of how humans create culture through symbolic communication. Students learn about qualitative methods through application in a semester-long project. Students will develop a research focus, gain access to a research site, design an ethical research study, collect and analyze data, and create an interpretation and representation of the data for others.

This course integrates social scientific, interpretive, and critical scholarship connections between cultures and interactions. Encoded in communication, it unpacks how people’s cultures shape – and are shaped by – their socio-cultural realities, identities, and interactions across boundaries. It also applies that knowledge to help learners advance their cultural sensitivity, engagement, flexibility, and effectiveness in intercultural situations.

Students learn about the ideology of “the global commons” by considering what stories are told and what stories are hidden, whose positionalities are celebrated and whose are disappeared, and how liberation may be possible for our future work and relationships with/in the era of climate collapse. Special attention is given to indigenous, feminist, flora, and fauna ways of knowing.

This course explores current organizational issues from a critical perspective. Students use organizational communication theory to unpack various topics including gendered and raced labor, culture and identity, work/life balance, and organizational power and decision-making. An underlying theme of this course is the transformative potential of meaningful work in various contexts, such as for-profit, nonprofit, and global organizations.

This course offers an advanced investigation of organizational culture. Students will identify symbolic organizing practices and ideological meanings tied to them, and examine how plural cultural meanings and beliefs inform organizing practices. Topics include organizational ethnography, cultural diversity, and social justice. Drawing from interpretive and critical traditions, students will design and implement an advanced research project.

Examines the cultural significance and accomplishments of visuality. Considers the social and political implications of “looking” practices, the impact of “representation” in contemporary culture, and the circulation of images (through virality and sharing practices). Specific focus on race, gender and class and the role that visual images play in cultural perceptions of and practices toward race and racialized bodies. 

Students study and write televisual criticism which closely analyzes messages as cultural repositories of meaning or which investigates the interaction between television and culture. Emphasis is on the method, stance, and purpose of broadcast critics.

Explores the influence of film on American culture. Students explore theories and ideas concerning film, society, conflict, visual persuasion, and narrative. Students view popular American films as focal points for lecture and discussion.

Provides instruction in news reporting of public affairs, including crime and police, courts, governments, politics and education. Students learn about the problems and challenges of serving a watchdog role over the institutions and processes that shape civic life. Includes an advanced investigative reporting component in which graduate students produce a series of investigative stories on an important public issue.

Students evaluate and critique current online journalism practices and gain experience in editing, collaborating, and producing multimedia stories.  Students analyze current digital storytelling practices of big and small news organizations in order to address some of the key ethical and entrepreneurial challenges associated with digital journalism, including commenting capabilities and revenue streams.

Course designed to help students attain professional-level competence in oral and written business communication. Students learn rhetorical principles and apply them to business communication situations, such as: making formal oral presentations, conducting meetings, and writing business correspondence and reports.

This course unpacks leaders’ communicative means to engage people’s thought, attention, motivation, and learning. Students examine research, theory, philosophy, and instructional communication practices designed to increase credibility, flexibility, comfort, and effectiveness in teaching-learning leadership situations. Students develop their own teaching philosophies and learn about sharing memorable information, facilitating teamwork and discussion, and developing productive, satisfying teaching-learning relationships with others.

Credit arranged.

Credit arranged.

Credit arranged.

This course is for students nearing completion of their academic program. It will provide an opportunity for students to explore a research project in more depth and explore areas of special interest in communication.

Credit arranged.

This course provides reflective, specific guidance in applying communication theories to a professional communication setting. Students learn how to observe and apply theory to practice, increasing their understanding and ability to function successfully in a professional communication setting by working directly with a qualified internship supervisor and academic internship director. May be taken twice, only 3 credits apply to major.

This course is under the direction of a faculty adviser, leading to a scholarly thesis document with a public presentation of results. Students demonstrate advanced knowledge and research expertise in the communication field by designing, conducting, and implementing an original thesis study. The course must be taken twice for 6 credits, which fulfills two degree elective requirements.

Registration for any graduate student who has received the grade of IP in CST 599 is required while the thesis is in progress. Fee: $50.