COMM 190 Public Speaking
4 credits
Broz, Stefne
Prerequisite: None
This course addresses basic theoretical principles of effective public speaking necessary for pluralistic audiences, concentrating on content, organization, audience analysis, ethics, language, and delivery. Students apply these principles to several oral presentations, some videotaped and requiring the use of PowerPoint.
COMM 200 Introduction to Communication Studies
4 credits
Cunningham, Sheryl
Pre-requisite: ENGL 101
This course provides an introduction to the field of human communication studies and a foundation for future study within the communication discipline. The course introduces the core concepts, essential skills, and perennial issues found in several relevant contexts of human interaction, including interpersonal relationships, organizations, and cross-cultural interaction. It also examines these contexts from a theoretical perspective, suggesting how scholars have sought to formulate generalized explanations for the processes of human meaning making. Writing intensive.
COMM 270S Interpersonal Communication
4 credits
Smith, Matthew
Pre-requisite: None
This course offers an introduction to message production and interpretation in face-to-face and other interpersonal settings. The focus of the course is to illustrate how choices in interpersonal communication behaviors are basic to our character as human beings and the nature of our interpersonal relationships. Students will complete the course having learned about basic interpersonal communication principles related to, for example, self-presentation, self-disclosure, gender, culture, effective listening, relationship development, relational maintenance, relationship dissolution, power, compliance gaining, emotion, and conflict management.
COMM 280 Reasoning and Communication
4 credits
Waggoner, Catherine
Prerequisite: ENGL 101E
Are you excited about discussing "hot topics" such as immigration, smoking bans, same-sex marriage, health care reform, and use of torture in the fight against terrorism? Or do such topics intimidate you, even as you want to make your case persuasively? This course provides extensive training in critical thinking, listening, reading, practical reasoning, deliberation, and oral and written advocacy. As part of a deliberative process, participants prepare oral and written arguments on contemporary issues for critical, well-informed audiences. Emphasis is placed on the ability to anticipate and address the wide variety of alternative perspectives represented by such audiences. Required assignments include: a personal essay regarding attitudes toward argumentation, a deliberation log, a roundtable performance of oral arguments with question and answer sessions, and an argumentative position paper. Writing intensive.
COMM 290S Media Literacy
4 credits
Smith, Matthew
Pre-requisite: ENGL 101E
This course provides a broad foundation for examining the form, content, and consequences of mediated communication (including the Internet, recording, radio, television, cable, film, newspaper, and other publishing industries). The course introduces media industries from both an historical and contemporary perspective, covers the prominent theories that characterize mass media functions and effects, and addresses controversial issues in mediated communication. Students are introduced to intellectual tools that will enable them to be more critical consumers of media and given opportunities to practice applying those tools in both structured classroom discussions and formal writing assignments. Writing intensive.
COMM 300Z Social Scientific Methods
4 credits
Warber, Katie
Prerequisites: COMM 200; COMM 270S, 280 or 290S; Math Placement score 22
This course introduces students to the process of conducting quantitative communication research, including how to 1) formulate a research question, 2) conduct library research for a literature review, 3) select a method (e.g., participant/observation, in-depth interviewing, focus groups, experiment, content analysis, or survey research), 4) adhere to standards for scholarly writing, and 5) critically evaluate others' research studies. Writing intensive. Mathematical-reasoning intensive.
COMM 301 Critical Methods: Communication Criticism
4 hours
Waggoner, Catherine
Prerequisites: COMM 200 and either COMM 280 or COMM 290S; or permission of the instructor
This course is designed to foster critical analysis skills necessary for understanding a wide variety of messages, skills that are particularly important in our increasingly mediated culture. In particular, students will learn and practice several methods for systematically describing, interpreting, and assessing aspects of messages. The course attends to both the theory and praxis of communication criticism; as students learn of the assumptions and approaches that undergird each method of analysis, they will have the opportunity to apply those methods in the analysis of a variety of discourses (e.g., political campaign rhetoric, advertisements, news reports, television programs, films, and songs). In doing so, they will be encouraged to engage critically with issues of culture and power in the context of communication criticism. Students will demonstrate their comprehension and apply their understanding of methods of communication criticism in exams, several written essays, and participation. Writing intensive.
COMM 324 Family Communication
4 credits
Warber, Katie
Pre-requisites: COMM 200 and COMM 270S; or permission of instructor
This advanced course examines topics related to 1) family communication and basic family processes, 2) communication in family subsystems, 3) communication during family stress, and 4) family interaction, health and well-being. Research and theories from communication, sociology and psychology will be used to explain issues related to the family. Discussion topics include, for example, marital, parent-child, sibling, and intergenerational interactions in the family. Research pertaining to marital satisfaction, divorce, courtship, and the impact of the family on its children (and vice-versa) will also be examined.
COMM 327 Health Communication
4 credits
Broz, Stefne
Prerequisites: COMM 200 or permission of instructor
This advanced seminar is designed to introduce students to a wide range of scholarship about health communication. The course will investigate the nature of the communication processes that influence and/or are influenced by health and health care contexts. A growing body of research indicates that the equality of health care and of personal health is significantly dependent on the quality of communication that takes place between health care provider and patient, as well as among providers, management and staff. There is also a central role for communication when informing the public about health issues.
COMM 351 Media Law
4 Hours
Smith, Matthew
Pre-requisites: COMM 290S or permission of instructor
This course examines how the law helps shape the activities of mass media industries in the United States. Students have the opportunity to develop a basic understanding of the American legal system, its institutions, and some of its terminology, as well as a broad understanding of First Amendment principles as they relate to mass communication. Readings provide a working knowledge of the laws that directly restrict or enhance information gathering and message dissemination in the mass media, and an understanding of the rationales behind those laws. Projects encourage the development of skills to identify and interpret the law, particularly as it develops beyond its present shape. An additional evening meeting will focus on filmic representations of issues in media law.
COMM 403 Communication Senior Seminar
4 credits
Cunningham, Sheryl and Waggoner, Catherine
Pre-requisites: COMM 200, COMM 300, and senior status
This course is the capstone experience in the Communication program. Through their work on independent and group projects, students will practice research, writing, and critical thinking skills that are part of the process of conducting communication research, culminating in both written and oral presentations of results. Writing intensive.
COMM 495 Practicum: Comm Leaders
2 credits
Warber, Katie
Prerequisites: BY PERMISSION ONLY
COMM 499 Senior Honors Thesis/Project
0-4credits
Staff
Prerequisites:
