College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Courses

Communication Studies

The Department of Communication Studies focuses on the study of human communication as a social practice. Scholarship and teaching in the department center on the role that human communication processes play in the construction, maintenance, reinforcement, and reformation of various aspects of social, professional, and institutional life.

The department provides a liberal-arts-based undergraduate education that prepares students to meet the complex communication challenges of the 21st century. It provides top-ranked doctoral education and is a national and international leader in research and knowledge dissemination.

The department has three areas of specialization. The rhetoric and public advocacy specialization focuses on how citizens use public argumentation and other rhetorical processes to bring about cultural, social, and political changes. The media and society specialization focuses on modern media in their cultural, economic, historical, political, and social contexts to understand how society and social relations shape and are shaped by media practices. The interpersonal communication and relationships specialization focuses on how the communicative practices of relating in everyday life construct, shape, sustain, and change who people are as individuals, as well as the quality of their lives.

The Department of Communication Studies encourages exploration of the practical, political, social, and aesthetic dimensions of symbolic exchange and awareness of the relationships among these dimensions. The department has produced many influential scholars and artists and has been a hub for the intersection of programs and projects of the University and other institutions.

Undergraduate Programs

Bachelor of Arts

The curriculum is designed to encourage learning that progresses from a basic understanding of communication as symbolic action to intermediate and advanced courses that emphasize four approaches to communication: the practice of communication, the context of communication, communication research and criticism, and communication theory. Students who major in communication studies can choose among courses in interpersonal communication and relationships, media and society, public communication, and rhetoric and public advocacy. They may choose to focus on specific areas of the field to build creative combinations of course work that suit their individual learning and career goals.

Students may count up to 50 s.h. of communication studies course work toward the degree. Guided Independent Study and transfer courses may be accepted as long as the student meets University of Iowa and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences residency requirements and the department approves the courses; a maximum of 15 s.h. of transfer credit may be counted toward the degree. Students must have a cumulative g.p.a. of at least 2.60 to take most communication studies courses.

All majors begin their studies with 036:001 Core Concepts in Communication Studies (3 s.h.). This course is prerequisite to most other major courses. It introduces core concepts and problems in the field and orients students to the organization and goals of the major.

Students complete course work in each of the following areas. Lists of courses approved in each area are available from the department.

036:001 Core Concepts in Communication Studies

3 s.h.

Practice courses

6 s.h.

Context courses

6 s.h.

A research and criticism course

3 s.h.

A theory course

3 s.h.

Advanced courses numbered 036:075 and above, including

3 s.h. in courses numbered 036:110 or above

9 s.h.

Practice courses focus on communication production and practice. Students acquire practical skills and learn to recognize and understand the interpersonal, public, or technical communication practices of others.

Context courses explore how communication practices and meanings are shaped by context--for example, historical, cultural, social, interpersonal, or institutional settings. Context courses provide students with a better understanding of communication practices useful in professional careers such as business, education, health care, and law.

Research and criticism courses emphasize communication study methods and approaches as well as how those methods and approaches are interpreted and evaluated. They focus on the application of interpretive schemas and analytical models to communicative practices or bodies of discourse. Students work directly with primary materials such as institutional data, transcripts of conversations, speeches, historical documents, media programs, and performances.

Theory courses examine the process of abstracting, modeling, and conceptualizing communicative relationships and interactions. Students learn how scholars have described and explained communication practices as behavior, cultural and social forms and formations, expressions of commonality and difference, mediated discourses, and symbolic interaction. They explore particular bodies of theory and investigate the process of theorizing in communication studies.

Students work with the department academic counselor to develop study plans that meet the requirements of the major. They may check their progress toward the degree by logging on to ISIS (Iowa Student Information System).

Students may discuss their career goals and interests with faculty members.

Four-Year Graduation Plan

Before the third semester begins: at least one-quarter of the semester hours required for graduation

Before the fifth semester begins: at least two courses in the major and at least one-half of the semester hours required for graduation

Before the seventh semester begins: at least six courses in the major and at least three-quarters of the semester hours required for graduation

Before the eighth semester begins: at least eight courses in the major

During the eighth semester: enrollment in all remaining course work in the major, all remaining General Education courses, and a sufficient number of semester hours to graduate

Honors

036:101 Honors Workshop (seminar offered fall semesters only)

1 s.h.

036:102 Honors Thesis (usually taken final semester before graduation)

3 s.h.

In special cases, independent study course work may be substituted for the Honors Workshop, with the honors officer's permission. Additional course work may be required by the student's honors advisor.

To begin work toward a degree with honors in communication studies, students choose a faculty member to supervise their honors project and act as their honors advisor.

Students who enroll in the honors program are eligible to take courses offered through the University of Iowa Honors Program and to add an honors designation to any other departmental course by completing an agreement with the course instructor for special work in that course.

Detailed information on the honors program is available from the communication studies departmental honors officer.

Minor

Forensics/Debate

Internships

To earn academic credit for internships, students must obtain approval for their internship experience and site before they register for 036:028 Communication Studies Internship (arr.). Internship academic credit is awarded for an analytical paper submitted at the end of the internship and for the number of hours worked. Internships can be completed during the fall or spring semester or summer session.

For internship information, visit http://www.uiowa.edu/~commstud/undergrad/index.html or consult the Department of Communication Studies internship coordinator.

Graduate Programs

Master of Arts

Doctor of Philosophy

Ph.D. students must successfully complete a qualifying examination during their second or third semester and a comprehensive (predissertation) examination in their major research area during their fifth or sixth semester, and write a substantial scholarly dissertation. Students must maintain a cumulative g.p.a. of at least 3.00 throughout the program. Individual Ph.D. specializations may have additional requirements; contact the director of graduate studies for details.

Admission usually is for fall semester entry. Applicants whose materials are received at the department by January 1 receive preference for admission and financial support. Admission decisions are based on undergraduate achievement, letters of reference, Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test scores, the statement of purpose, and samples of scholarly work.

Interpersonal Communication and Relationships

The goal of the program is to produce scholars who possess sophisticated knowledge of theory and methodology, who are careful consumers of theories and methods, and who can develop their own approaches to communication phenomena. The program emphasizes systematic analysis of the forms, functions, and meanings of messages within various contexts. Its broad social-scientific orientation springs from the belief that many methodological approaches are appropriate to studying and building theoretical explanations of communication.

Graduate students typically enter the program to earn a Ph.D. Advisors and committee members work closely with individual students to select courses from communication studies and other University departments and plan teaching and research experiences that will prepare students well for the employment they seek after graduation.

Media and Society

Like the department's other graduate programs, media studies has a strong interdisciplinary flavor. Students draw not only on allied areas in the Department of Communication Studies but on fields across the University.

Rhetoric and Public Advocacy

The Ph.D. in rhetorical studies is designed to give students a mature grasp of the specialties and perspectives embraced by the field and to develop research competence essential to a life of productive scholarship.

Work in related departments--political science, history, sociology, English, cinema and comparative literature, anthropology, American studies, and journalism--complements rhetorical studies course offerings. Faculty from the Departments of Rhetoric, Political Science, and American Studies cross-reference their courses on rhetorical topics in this program.

The Project on Rhetorics of Inquiry (POROI) offers a certificate program, allowing doctoral students to specialize in the study of how academic fields use argumentative and linguistic strategies to generate and control knowledge. Many doctoral students also do extensive work in media studies or interpersonal communication to improve their range of teaching opportunities and their research skills.

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Courses