Communication Studies
Interim chair
Professors
- Leslie Baxter, Steve Duck (Daniel and Amy Starch Distinguished Research Chair, Communication Studies/Psychology), Kristine L. Muñoz, John Durham Peters (A. Craig Baird Professor)
Professors emeriti
- Samuel L. Becker, David Depew, Bruce E. Gronbeck, Hanno Hardt, Robert Kemp, George Klingler, Donovan J. Ochs
Associate professors
- Shelly Campo (Communication Studies/Community and Behavioral Health), Timothy Havens (Communication Studies/African American Studies), Joy Hayes, David Hingstman, Kembrew McLeod
Assistant professors
- Jeff Bennett, Jiyeon Kang, Rachel McLaren, Keli Steuber, Isaac West, Rita Zajacz
Undergraduate degree: B.A. in Communication Studies
Undergraduate nondegree program: Minor in Communication Studies
Graduate degrees: M.A., Ph.D. in Communication Studies
Web site: http://www.uiowa.edu/~commstud
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 discourse specialization focuses on how citizens use public argumentation and other rhetorical processes to bring about cultural, social, and political changes. The media studies 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.
Back To TopUndergraduate Programs
- Major in communication studies (Bachelor of Arts)
- Minor in communication studies
First-year students interested in completing a major in communication studies are advised at the Academic Advising Center. Students who have earned 24 s.h. or more and have declared the communication studies major are advised in the department by the communication studies academic counselor.
Back To TopBachelor of Arts
The Bachelor of Arts with a major in communication studies requires a minimum of 120 s.h., including 36 s.h. of work for the major. Students must complete the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences General Education Program.
The curriculum is designed to encourage learning that progresses from foundation courses that teach the basics of communication to intermediate and advanced (capstone) courses. Students may choose 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 credit required for the Bachelor of Arts 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 2.50 in order to enroll in most communication studies courses.
Students work with the department academic counselor to develop study plans that meet the requirements of the communication studies major. They may check their progress toward the degree by logging on to ISIS (Iowa Student Information Services).
Students are encouraged to discuss their career goals and interests with faculty members.
The 36 s.h. required for the communications studies major consists of foundation courses (15 s.h.), intermediate courses (12 s.h.), a capstone course (3 s.h.), and an additional 6 s.h., which may be earned in courses listed under "Intermediate Courses," "Capstone Experience," and/or "Additional Courses" below. Students may not use one course to satisfy more than one requirement for the major.
FOUNDATIONS OF COMMUNICATION
Foundation courses cover introductory concepts in the field of communication. Students must complete five foundation courses (15 s.h.) and should take them early in their studies.
The following foundation courses are appropriate for first-year students. They do not have a minimum grade-point average required for enrollment, and none has prerequisites except 036:017, which requires fulfillment of the General Education rhetoric requirement for enrollment. Students complete three of these, as follows.
One of these:
| 036:012 Interpersonal Communication | 3 s.h. | | 036:070 Communication Theory in Everyday Life | 3 s.h. |
One of these:
| 036:017 Theory and Practice of Argument | 4 s.h. | | 036:030 The Art of Persuading Others | 3 s.h. |
And one of these:
| 036:068 Media, Music, and Culture | 3 s.h. | | 036:074 Media and Society | 3 s.h. |
The fourth and fifth foundation courses are appropriate for second-year students. Enrollment in these courses requires completion of 30 s.h. and a g.p.a. of at least 2.50 for University of Iowa and transfer course work. Students complete both of these:
| 036:001 Core Concepts in Communication Studies | 3 s.h. | | 036:005 Studying Communication: Methods and Critiques | 3 s.h. |
INTERMEDIATE COURSES
Intermediate courses cover detailed aspects of the study of communication. Students must complete four intermediate courses (12 s.h.), usually during their third and fourth years of study. They must have completed the five foundation courses listed above and must have a cumulative g.p.a. of at least 2.50 in order to enroll in intermediate courses.
At least four of these (12 s.h.):
| 036:011 Group Communication | 3 s.h. | | 036:016 Business and Professional Communication | 3 s.h. | | 036:040 Communication and Conflict | 3 s.h. | | 036:041 Gender Roles and Communication | 3 s.h. | | 036:042 Intercultural Communication | 3 s.h. | | 036:043 Rhetoric, Science, and Technology | 3 s.h. | | 036:044 Political Communication | 3 s.h. | | 036:048 Transforming Media: From Telegraph to Internet | 3 s.h. | | 036:051 Politics of Popular Culture | 3 s.h. | | 036:053 Secrets, Confidences, and Lies: Privacy Management in Interpersonal Relationships | 3 s.h. | | 036:054 Movements, Protest, Resistance | 3 s.h. | | 036:061 Persuasion in Society | 3 s.h. | | 036:062 Feminist Critical Practice | 3 s.h. | | 036:064 Media, Advertising, and Society | 3 s.h. | | 036:065 Television Criticism | 3 s.h. | | 036:071 Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies | 3 s.h. | | 036:075 Gender, Sexuality, and Media | 3 s.h. | | 036:076 Race, Ethnicity, and Media | 3 s.h. | | 036:083 Networking America: The Cultural History of Broadcasting | 3 s.h. | | 036:085 Media Industries and Organizations | 3 s.h. | | 036:086 Global Media Studies | 3 s.h. | | 036:087 Culture and Intellectual Property Law | 3 s.h. | | 036:088 Media and Democracy | 3 s.h. | | 036:089 Nonverbal Communication | 3 s.h. | | 036:090 Topics in Communication Studies | 3 s.h. | | 036:091 Organizational Communication | 3 s.h. | | 036:095 Queer Rhetorics | 3 s.h. |
CAPSTONE EXPERIENCE
Students must complete one capstone course (3 s.h.), a faculty-led experience in which they participate directly in producing knowledge, research, or creative work about communication. The capstone experience gives students a chance to synthesize what they have learned about the study of communication.
In order to enroll in a capstone course, students must have completed at least two of the required intermediate courses and must have a cumulative g.p.a. of at least 2.50. Most students take the capstone course during their senior year.
One of these (3 s.h.):
| 036:140 Communication and Relationships | 3 s.h. | | 036:142 Advanced Intercultural Communication | 3 s.h. | | 036:143 Classical Rhetoric and Greek Culture | 3 s.h. | | 036:145 Argument and Law | 3 s.h. | | 036:146 Issues in Rhetoric and Culture | 3 s.h. | | 036:147 Family Communication | 3 s.h. | | 036:150 Cultural History of Advertising | 3 s.h. | | 036:151 Cultural History of Television | 3 s.h. | | 036:152 Latin American Media | 3 s.h. | | 036:153 Communication Technologies in History | 3 s.h. | | 036:155 Visual Rhetoric | 3 s.h. | | 036:156 Feminist Visual Rhetoric | 3 s.h. | | 036:157 Advanced Topics in Communication Studies | 3 s.h. | | 036:158 Rhetoric and Past Public Controversy | 3 s.h. | | 036:160 The Talk of Everyday Life | 3 s.h. | | 036:163 The Dark Side of Interpersonal Communication | 3 s.h. | | 036:165 Criticism and Public Culture | 3 s.h. | | 036:166 Life-Span Communication | 3 s.h. | | 036:167 Communication, Cognition, and Emotion | 3 s.h. | | 036:168 Rhetoric of the Body | 3 s.h. | | 036:170 Theories of Persuasion | 3 s.h. | | 036:172 Television and African American Culture | 3 s.h. | | 036:173 Social Media, Culture, and Politics | 3 s.h. | | 036:174 Communication, Technology, and National Security | 3 s.h. | | 036:176 Advanced Relational Theory | 3 s.h. | | 036:181 Legal Communication and Culture | 3 s.h. |
ADDITIONAL COURSES
Students earn an additional 6 s.h. to complete the 36 s.h. in communication studies courses required for the major. They may choose from the courses listed below and/or from the lists of intermediate and capstone courses above. However, students may not use one course to fulfill more than one requirement for the major, so in selecting the additional 6 s.h. of course work, they may not choose a course they already used to fulfill the intermediate or capstone course requirement.
The following courses are open to all students; they do not have prerequisites or require a minimum grade-point average requirement for enrollment.
| 036:013 Practicum in Debate | 1 s.h. | | 036:014 Elements of Debate | 3 s.h. | | 036:018 Leadership and Organizational Procedures | 2 s.h. | | 036:019 Organizational Leadership | 2-3 s.h. |
The following courses have prerequisites, a minimum grade-point average, or other requirements for enrollment.
| 036:002 Workshop in Debate and Forensics | 3 s.h. | | 036:028 Communication Studies Internship | arr. | | 036:100 Independent Study | arr. | | 036:101 Honors Workshop | 1 s.h. | | 036:102 Honors Thesis | 3 s.h. | | 036:105 Workshop in Teaching Communication and Forensics | arr. |
Internships
Internships enable students to supplement their course work with professional experiences relevant to careers in communication-related fields. The department's internship program is open only to communication studies majors.
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 and daily log submitted at the end of the internship and for the number of hours worked. Internships can be completed during fall semester, spring semester, or summer session.
Visit the department's web site for information on communication studies internships.
Back To TopFour-Year Graduation Plan
The following checkpoints list the minimum requirements students must complete by certain semesters in order to stay on the University's Four-Year Graduation Plan. Students who have signed the four-year graduation agreement should consult the department for details.
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
Back To TopHonors
The department encourages outstanding undergraduates to take part in the honors program. To graduate with honors in communication studies, students must maintain a cumulative University of Iowa g.p.a. of at least 3.33, be a member of The University of Iowa Honors Program, and complete the following courses.
| 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 advisor'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 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.
For detailed information, see Honors Program in Communication Studies on the department's web site.
Back To TopMinor
The minor in communication studies requires a minimum of 18 s.h. in communication studies courses, including 12 s.h. in courses taken at The University of Iowa. Students must maintain a g.p.a. of at least 2.00 in the minor. Course work in the minor may not be taken pass/nonpass. The minor must include the five courses (15 s.h.) listed under "Foundations of Communication" above and one (3 s.h.) listed under "Intermediate Courses" above. Although students must maintain a g.p.a. of at least 2.00 in courses taken for the minor, they must have a cumulative g.p.a. of at least 2.50 in order to enroll in some of the courses required for the minor.
Back To TopForensics/Debate
Students in the forensics/debate program have the opportunity to participate in on-campus debates, in developmental programs designed to improve speech activities in the state, and as members of competitive intercollegiate debate teams. Forensics scholarships are available. Students interested in debate should enroll in 036:013 Practicum in Debate or 036:014 Elements of Debate.
Back To TopGraduate Programs
- Master of Arts in communication studies
- Doctor of Philosophy in communication studies
The Doctor of Philosophy program in communication studies includes specializations in interpersonal communication and relationships, media studies, and rhetoric and discourse.
Graduate education in communication studies focuses on the Ph.D., but doctoral students may choose to earn a Master of Arts on their way toward the Ph.D. A terminal master's degree may be an option for some students already admitted to the doctoral program.
Back To TopMaster of Arts
The Master of Arts degree in communication studies requires a minimum of 30 s.h. of graduate credit. It may be granted to students working toward the Ph.D.; it also may be granted as a terminal degree for doctoral students who decide not to complete the Ph.D. All master's students take 036:200 Introduction to Research and Teaching (3 s.h.) and at least two courses numbered 200 or above. They also prepare a graduate seminar paper that involves significant original research. For a detailed description of M.A. requirements, see the Communication Studies Graduate Student Handbook.
Back To TopDoctor of Philosophy
The Doctor of Philosophy degree in communication studies requires a minimum of 82 s.h. of graduate credit, including dissertation credit. All students take 036:200 Introduction to Research and Teaching and earn at least 10 s.h. of dissertation credit in 036:399 Ph.D. Dissertation.
Ph.D. students must take a 3 s.h. course in each of the program's three areas of specialization; 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 graduate program.
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 communication and relationships program is centered on theory complemented by strength in quantitative and qualitative research methods. It focuses on scholarly issues that arise from face-to-face, everyday communication practices. It emphasizes personal relationship and family processes, identity construction, persuasion, and culture.
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 Studies
The graduate program in media studies focuses on the interplay of institutions, texts, and audiences in mediated communication systems. Its central aim is to examine modern media—radio, television, advertising, music, new media, and a wide range of other popular cultural expressions—within their historical, social, political, economic, and cultural contexts. It also uses the mass media as sites for asking basic questions about culture, society, politics, and modernity.
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 Discourse
The program in rhetoric and discourse is built on foundation courses in classical and 20th-century rhetorical theory and in an overview of 20th-century rhetorical criticism. Courses from a rhetorical perspective include rhetorical theory, rhetorical criticism, visual rhetoric and politics, public address and public culture, studies in argumentation and freedom of speech, work in science and technology as well as academic inquiry, and historical methods. Cognate work of interest to rhetoricians also can be found in interpersonal communication and relationship studies as well as media studies.
The Ph.D. in rhetoric and discourse 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 disciplines—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.
Back To TopAdmission
Applicants to graduate programs in communication studies must meet the admission requirements of the Graduate College; see the Manual of Rules and Regulations of the Graduate College or the Graduate College section of the Catalog.
Back To TopFacilities
The Samuel L. Becker Communication Studies Building is designed to meet the department's research and technological needs.
Back To TopCourses
Courses numbered below 200 are intended primarily for undergraduates; those numbered 200 and above are for graduate students. Graduate students may take 100-level courses for credit, with their committee's approval.
Not all courses are offered each semester.
Back To TopFor Undergraduates
To register for most undergraduate communication studies courses, students must have earned 30 s.h. and have a cumulative g.p.a. of at least 2.50. However, registration for the following General Education courses is open to all undergraduates, regardless of their grade-point average: 036:017 Theory and Practice of Argument, 036:070 Communication Theory in Everyday Life, and 036:074 Media and Society. Registration in 036:029 First-Year Seminar is open to first- and second-semester students regardless of grade-point average.
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036:001 Core Concepts in Communication Studies | 3 s.h. | | Introduction to communication topics; face-to-face interaction, public speaking, globally-distributed film, music, and television; ways of thinking, vocabulary, and overview of concepts used in other communication studies courses. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and 30 s.h. of credit. | | |
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036:002 Workshop in Debate and Forensics | 3 s.h. | | Public argument on questions of value and policy; opportunities for demonstration and practice in discussion and debate. Requirements: concurrent enrollment in the National Summer Institute in Forensics. | | |
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036:005 Studying Communication: Methods and Critiques | 3 s.h. | | Social scientific methods used to generate knowledge about communication processes; basic tools necessary to conduct and evaluate communication research; epistemological perspectives, research procedures, and data analysis; readings and hands-on activities. Communication studies majors may apply to this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Research and Criticism. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and 30 s.h. of credit. | | |
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036:011 Group Communication | 3 s.h. | | Study of relevant theory, research, and application to increase understanding of communication in small groups; critical thinking and communication skills; individual roles in groups, creativity, leadership, decision making, problem solving, and conflict resolution. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Practice. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:012 Interpersonal Communication | 3 s.h. | | Introduction to face-to-face communication in social and personal relationships; maximizing communicative effectiveness in relationships with knowledge about how communication functions; analysis of one's own and others' communication practices and experiences. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Practice | | |
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036:013 Practicum in Debate | 1 s.h. | | Practice of skills in research, reasoning, argument development, and argumentative performance in debate undertaken by members of the A. Craig Baird Debate Forum in preparation for and participation in intercollegiate debate competition. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Practice. Requirements: participation in A. Craig Baird Debate Forum. | | |
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036:014 Elements of Debate | 3 s.h. | | Debates that occur everyday in a wide variety of situations and settings; how to recognize when a debate is occurring and the different procedures by which people conduct debates; emphasis on development of personal advocacy skills and how one goes about teaching those same skills to others by example and practice; examination of the role of debate in achieving collective economic and political purposes in contemporary societies. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Practice. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.60 and 30 s.h. of credit. | | |
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036:016 Business and Professional Communication | 3 s.h. | | Introduction to business and professional communication at individual and corporate levels; individual-level topics cover organizational communication, business vocabulary, speaking and writing, professionalism and interviewing; corporate-level topics focus on marketing, advertising, public relations, corporate communications, crisis communication management, business and communication plans, proposals; guest speakers from for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Practice. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:017 Theory and Practice of Argument | 4 s.h. | | Public arguments as practiced in law, politics, science, and other public arenas; improvement of skills in researching, constructing, organizing, and presenting arguments on disputed subjects; analyzing and refuting arguments of others; developing a better understanding of how scholars apply the tools of formal and informal logic in a variety of disciplines to improve the quality of academic argument. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Practice. Requirements: completion of General Education Program rhetoric component. GE: Quantitative or Formal Reasoning. | | |
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036:018 Leadership and Organizational Procedures | 2 s.h. | | Use of organizational procedures to facilitate discussion, from by-laws to full parliamentary procedure; knowledge of effective organizational procedures enhances ability to participate in meetings and organizational business runs more smoothly; benefits instructors of speech communication with inclusion of parliamentary procedure/debate units. Offered only through Guided Independent Study. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Practice. | | |
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036:019 Organizational Leadership | 2-3 s.h. | | Introduction to the nature of leadership, styles of leadership that are most effective, and ways in which obstacles may be overcome in groups or organizations; different approaches to qualities of leadership, role of visions and motivation, interpersonal and decision-making skills, meeting preparation and evaluation, and related communication skills. Offered only through Guided Independent Study. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Practice. | | |
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036:021 Oral Interpretation | 3 s.h. | | Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Practice. Requirements: (for 036:021) g.p.a. of at least 2.60 and 30 s.h. of credit. Same as 07E:021. | | |
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036:028 Communication Studies Internship | arr. | | Communication skills, knowledge in work assignments related to students' academic and career interests; full- or part-time, on or off campus. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Practice. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, communication studies major, and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:029 First-Year Seminar | 1 s.h. | | Small discussion class taught by a faculty member; topics chosen by instructor; may include outside activities (e.g., films, lectures, performances, readings, visits to research facilities). Requirements: first- or second-semester standing. | | |
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036:030 The Art of Persuading Others | 3 s.h. | | Basic theoretical concepts of effective public communication; employ knowledge of concepts in analyzing texts; definition and influence of the rhetorical situation, different elements of persuasion (message logic, appeal to feelings, character of the speaker), ability of speakers to invent arguments; issues of judgment, public discourse, identity, and agency. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Practice. | | |
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036:040 Communication and Conflict | 3 s.h. | | Conflict and its management as critical issues that pervade people's personal and professional lives; complexities of conflict; forces that make conflict challenging; skills for thinking about and managing conflict more effectively; central features that define conflict; behaviors, attributions, and emotions that are manifest during conflict; formal models of conflict management and their corresponding recommendations for handling conflict. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:041 Gender Roles and Communication | 3 s.h. | | Interactive relationships between gender and communication in contemporary U.S. society; multiple ways families, schools, and media perpetuate, negotiate, and contest gender roles; how we are part of those processes by looking at how we enact socially-created gender differences in public and private settings. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Practice. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. Same as 131:041. | | |
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036:042 Intercultural Communication | 3 s.h. | | Culture defined as a system of taken-for-granted assumptions about the world that influence how people think and act; cultural differences that produce challenges and opportunities for understanding and communication; those differences from several theoretical perspectives; opportunities to examine culture and cultural differences in practical, experience-driven ways. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. Same as 042:042, 187:042. | | |
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036:043 Rhetoric, Science, and Technology | 3 s.h. | | How science and technology shape culture; media representations of technology; role of rhetoric in science and technology, especially in the physical and biological sciences; cultural implications of the information revolution. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:044 Political Communication | 3 s.h. | | Relationship between media, cultural politics, and the American political system; focus on advertising, campaigns, and new media outlets; ways politicians, the press, and intermediaries create and disseminate messages into mainstream culture; how people generate their own discourses of political identity and dissent, creating a robust democratic practice that is both empowering and central to the contemporary political landscape. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:048 Transforming Media: From Telegraph to Internet | 3 s.h. | | Communication media as global phenomena in which U.S. corporate and government interests play a major part; from electronic telegraph to broadcasting and cable, an investigation of historical contexts in which these media emerged and tracing the ways in which they have been shaped by political, economic, and social relations of power. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:051 Politics of Popular Culture | 3 s.h. | | How culture is political and how politics is cultural; overview of theories of culture and critical-cultural approaches to the study of popular culture, past and present; specific topics of analysis vary, may include television, celebrity culture, music, film, games, sports, and more. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:053 Secrets, Confidences, and Lies: Privacy Management in Interpersonal Relationships | 3 s.h. | | How individuals manage private information with regard to their interpersonal relationships; multiple theories of privacy management; how aspects of the information, the individual, and the target of disclosure all contribute to decisions to reveal or conceal private information to friends and family. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. | | |
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036:054 Movements, Protest, Resistance | 3 s.h. | | Historical and contemporary study of social movements from a symbolic perspective (e.g., speeches, protests, propaganda, media events); social movements as interpersonal and group communication; relationships between media and social change; the efficacy of individual and larger-scale forms of resistance. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:061 Persuasion in Society | 3 s.h. | | Introduction to concepts, theories, and methods designed to build critical understanding of mass persuasion processes; persuasion theory and research; theories that account for the processes of social acculturation, maintenance, and change; specific mass persuasion processes (i.e., advertising, corporate advocacy or public relations, film and television programming, sociopolitical rituals, and social protest and change). Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Research and Criticism. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:062 Feminist Critical Practice | 3 s.h. | | Feminist approaches to communicative practices. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Research and Criticism. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:064 Media, Advertising, and Society | 3 s.h. | | Introduction to the critical study of advertising in the United States; advertising contextualized as an industry and as a key part of media and culture; advertising as an institution and as a series of symbols, ideas, and fantasies; how advertising works--the role and function of advertising in culture and society. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Research and Criticism. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:065 Television Criticism | 3 s.h. | | Introduction to scholarly study of television as a social institution; nature of television form and content; role of the industry itself in the creation, selection, and presentation of television programs; production conventions and textual conventions in defining the medium; application of genre and narrative theory, semiotics, political economy of media industries, and audience reception study. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Research and Criticism. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:068 Media, Music, and Culture | 3 s.h. | | What makes popular music important for people; music's power to change culture; production, distribution, reception of popular music in cultural and historical contexts. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Research and Criticism. | | |
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036:070 Communication Theory in Everyday Life | 3 s.h. | | General overview of everyday life communication and the theories and research techniques used to understand it; sheer depth and complexity of processes in communication that occur in everyday lives and which appear to be trivial; how to observe conversations and identify what is really happening in them; ways in which scholars explain everyday communication and how it works; applications of theoretical thinking to explain processes of everyday communication. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Theory. GE: Social Sciences. | | |
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036:071 Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies | 3 s.h. | | Engagement of cutting-edge rhetorical and social theories; ways in which rhetorical and social theories play out in daily life, especially in decision-making activities; weekly readings, class discussions. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Research and Criticism. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:074 Media and Society | 3 s.h. | | Processes and effects of mass communication; how mass media operate in the United States; how mass communication scholars develop knowledge. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Theory. GE: Social Sciences; Values, Society, and Diversity. | | |
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036:075 Gender, Sexuality, and Media | 3 s.h. | | Mediated representations of gender and sexuality (television, film, and internet) to understand how these complex and complicated codes influence the meaning of sex, sexuality, and gender; contemporary and historical examples used to engage texts that illuminate cultural conceptions of femininity, masculinity, heterosexuality, and homosexuality; cases that confuse and trouble the stability of these categories. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Theory. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. Same as 131:065. | | |
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036:076 Race, Ethnicity, and Media | 3 s.h. | | Introduction to debates about media portrayals of race and ethnicity; focus primarily on entertainment media; use of general analytic perspectives--stereotype analysis, aesthetic analysis, history--applied to real-world examples; address one or more racial/ethnic groups in the United States. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Theory. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. Same as 129:076. Same as 129:076. | | |
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036:083 Networking America: The Cultural History of Broadcasting | 3 s.h. | | Exposure to different interpretations of the cultural impact and legacy of U.S. broadcasting in the 20th century; institutional practices, program genres, and audience formations of the radio and television network eras of the 1920s-1970s; how historical contexts shape, and are shaped by, production and reception of broadcasting texts. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:085 Media Industries and Organizations | 3 s.h. | | Trends in media industries as reflected in changes of ownership, different work conditions, media convergence, and globalization generally; focus on local, network, and cable television; examination of industry structures, business practices, economic fundamentals, and theoretical explanations of media industries in society. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Practice. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:086 Global Media Studies | 3 s.h. | | Key developments in contemporary international communication; impact of deregulation and privatization on the ownership and control of the global communication infrastructure; spread of American television abroad in terms of production, texts, and reception; cultural concerns surrounding the phenomenon. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:087 Culture and Intellectual Property Law | 3 s.h. | | How digital technologies have dramatically changed media and popular culture landscapes; the advent of relatively cheap editing programs that allow anyone to collage media on their home computers and enable people to become cultural producers; technologies that allow more people to break the law in the eyes of copyright industries; historical look at collage practices, from pre-digital era to present; ethical and legal questions surrounding the use and re-use of copyrighted materials; the notion of free speech in a media age. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:088 Media and Democracy | 3 s.h. | | Exploration of the relationship between democracy and mass communication; why controversies regarding mass communication are also controversies about democracy; the logical relationship between democracy and mass media; roots and history of ideas of democracy, contemporary obstacles to the realization of these ideas, and varied issues of the present; latest developments in the world of politics and media. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Theory. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:089 Nonverbal Communication | 3 s.h. | | Introduction to theoretical study of nonverbal communication; focus on the major principles and research trends in the area; examination of the role of nonverbal communication in communication as a whole; perception and interpretation of nonverbal communication (i.e., posture, eye movements, tone of voice); nonverbal behaviors (i.e., facial expression, eye movement) as used to persuade, impress, or deceive someone. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Theory. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:090 Topics in Communication Studies | 3 s.h. | | Topics vary. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:091 Organizational Communication | 3 s.h. | | Theories and concepts of organizational communication; focus on issues of good communication at a number of levels: people within the organization must be able to work with one another and communicate in effective ways; people, and especially leaders, need to be able to persuade one another effectively; organizations must be able to persuade outsiders, whether persuading them to buy the organization's products, or, in more complex circumstances, persuade the outside world to accept apologies or statements of regret when the company does something wrong. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. | | |
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036:095 Queer Rhetorics | 3 s.h. | | Overview of queer theory and its application to different communicative situations including television, film, and everyday life; development of critical thinking skills in relation to cultural constructions of gender, sexuality, race, and other identity categories. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50 and completion of Foundations of Communication requirement. Same as 131:095. | | |
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036:100 Independent Study | arr. | | Creative or research project under faculty supervision. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:101 Honors Workshop | 1 s.h. | | Preparation for honors thesis prospectus; coordination of student's individual thesis work, introduction to issues in research design, methods. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 3.33, honors standing, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:102 Honors Thesis | 3 s.h. | | Individual research, writing, or creative production under faculty supervision. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, 036:074, and 036:101. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 3.33, honors standing, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:105 Workshop in Teaching Communication and Forensics | arr. | | Methods, materials, progression, evaluation in teaching and supervising students in courses and class activities; opportunities for observation, demonstration, practice in teaching theater, discussion and debate, individual speech, dramatic and forensic events. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. Same as 07S:178. | | |
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036:140 Communication and Relationships | 3 s.h. | | Communication process in personal relationships; how communication functions to initiate, sustain, and dissolve a variety of relationships including friendships, romantic couples, marital pairs, and family relationships. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:142 Advanced Intercultural Communication | 3 s.h. | | Defining culture as a historically-transmitted, socially-constructed system of meaning enacted in face-to-face interaction and mass media; focus on a specific topic within intercultural communication research and theory (i.e., cultural nature of personal relationships, built environment as culture, intersection of private with public cultural meaning); in-depth follow-up of the general approach to intercultural communication covered in lower-level courses. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:143 Classical Rhetoric and Greek Culture | 3 s.h. | | Origins, development of the art of rhetoric from Sophists to Aristotle; significance to Greek culture from fifth to fourth century B.C. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:145 Argument and Law | 3 s.h. | | Practices of argumentation that have special legal significance; court practices in legal argumentation (constructing legal arguments and briefs, trial and appellate oral advocacy); structure of argumentation that creates the categories and limits of freedom of expression. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:146 Issues in Rhetoric and Culture | 3 s.h. | | Rhetorical theory and criticism as culturally embedded practices; rhetorical production of selves and social difference; relationships between rhetoric and literature, philosophy, popular texts. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Requirements: (for 036:146) g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. Same as 048:160, 160:160. | | |
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036:147 Family Communication | 3 s.h. | | Family relationships and the various ways they develop and change, how they affect those who participate in them; theory and research on communication in the family; family conceived as a group of persons who share their lives over an extended period of time bound by ties of marriage, blood, or commitment. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:150 Cultural History of Advertising | 3 s.h. | | Cultural, historical, and critical approach to creating, maintaining, repairing, and transforming a consumption culture in the United States; material and ideological character of life in the United States as it evolved from a culture of production in the Gilded Age (late 19th century) to a culture of consumption through the first half of the 20th century, culminating in the collective fantasy of the American Dream as articulated and celebrated in the 1950s; emergence of corporate capitalism and its crucial ideological voice, national brand advertising. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:151 Cultural History of Television | 3 s.h. | | Cultural history of television in the United States; focus on the rise of network television, relationship between networks and advertisers, imagery surrounding the introduction of television into the home, and larger historical context; postwar era (the 1950s) and the rise of genres that are still with us, especially the sitcom (situation comedy); questions about desire, gender, family, nation, and the body. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:152 Latin American Media | 3 s.h. | | Development of media institutions, texts, and audiences across a number of Latin American countries; focus on broadcast media (radio and television) and situates them within the larger historical context of 20th- and 21st-century Latin America; readings, discussions, and assignments pay particular attention to the influence of U.S. corporate and state interests on Latin American media, and engage debates over cultural dependency, globalization, and hybridity in the region. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:153 Communication Technologies in History | 3 s.h. | | How media has altered culture, society, and human consciousness throughout history with focus on the last two centuries (or modernity); how communication has been shaped by a variety of media (i.e., gesture, language, writing, printing, calendars, clocks, photography, telegraph, telephone, phonograph, film, radio, television, computers, etc.); 21st-century questions concerning technology, and how few communicate today without the aid of some kind of machine or technique. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:155 Visual Rhetoric | 3 s.h. | | Introduction to the politics of images as they relate to the field of communication; ideas and research ranging from the visual rhetoric of images and films to that of architecture and fashion; ways in which visual communicative messages impact individuals on a daily basis; developing a critical eye for deconstructing visual messages. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:156 Feminist Visual Rhetoric | 3 s.h. | | Exploration of connections among feminist rhetoric, visual rhetoric, and visual culture; critical analysis of the scholarship on visual rhetoric; feminist theoretical and conceptual frameworks about the body; fields of visual culture and visual rhetoric; critiques of several feminist body artists' artworks as a means to concretize theories. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Theory. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:157 Advanced Topics in Communication Studies | 3 s.h. | | Issues or problems in particular communication contexts. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:158 Rhetoric and Past Public Controversy | 3 s.h. | | Role of rhetoric in public controversy in particular historical time periods; focus on various perspectives, diverse voices, and multiple arguments informing particular movements/issues. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:160 The Talk of Everyday Life | 3 s.h. | | In-depth study of various genres of talk that organize everyday communicative life; mundane interaction rituals (i.e., small talk, gossip, face-saving talk, compliance-gaining, asking for and giving advice and support, and telling stories); formalized interaction rituals (i.e., rites of passage); functions of talk in constructing identities, building relationships, and sustaining the social order more generally across all genres. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Theory. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:163 The Dark Side of Interpersonal Communication | 3 s.h. | | Review of advanced communication theories and research with focus on the dark side of interpersonal communication and close relationships; negative or difficult elements of developing and maintaining relationships; expression of difficult emotions; mundane communication that can function in destructive or negative ways. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Theory. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:165 Criticism and Public Culture | 3 s.h. | | How people formulate attitudes, beliefs, and values about an array of arenas in public culture; critical perspectives (i.e., feminism, Marxism, psychoanalysis, queer theory); sporting rituals, television programs, political speeches, museums, sacred cultural documents; practice of critical reading to engage various cultural texts such as films, national memorials, and social movement rhetoric. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Research and Criticism. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:166 Life-Span Communication | 3 s.h. | | How communication processes (social support, language skills, interpersonal relationship management) change across the course of one's existence; normative and unexpected demographic and health events mapped out across a life span; how our communication processes influence and are influenced by social experiences; underlying premise of the life-span perspective that our potential for human growth extends throughout our life course. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Theory. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:167 Communication, Cognition, and Emotion | 3 s.h. | | Understanding how communication, cognition, and emotion are tied together; different theories of emotion and types of emotions (i.e., love, anger, jealousy, happiness, embarrassment, and hurt). Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Theory. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:168 Rhetoric of the Body | 3 s.h. | | Survey of a range of theories about the body and application to specific case studies; implications of how bodies are endowed with and convey meaning; theories of pollution, pain, ability, and normativity; diverse case studies are seemingly disparate, but all preoccupy themselves with public conceptions of bodily meaning (i.e., beauty pageants, freak shows, plastic surgery, the wannabe movement, tattoos, the FDR Presidential Memorial, Deaf culture, fat bodies, illness, and torture). Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Theory. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:170 Theories of Persuasion | 3 s.h. | | Theoretical examination of four perspectives on persuasion--historical, psychological, social, and cultural; analysis of persuasive attempts; questions of cultural persuadables and current problems in U.S. American culture (i.e., obesity, drunk driving, date rape). Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Theory. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:172 Television and African American Culture | 3 s.h. | | Role of television in African American culture; examination of debates; topics include stereotyping, authenticity, effects of programming, aesthetics, and television's relationship to other forms of cultural expression. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Theory. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. Same as 129:195. | | |
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036:173 Social Media, Culture, and Politics | 3 s.h. | | Introduction to theoretical issues raised by social media for communication, with particular emphasis on cultural and political implications; how social media is understood, forms of digital communication, individual and collective identity formations via social media, online communities, and the intersection of social media and existing culture and politics. AREA: Theory. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:174 Communication, Technology, and National Security | 3 s.h. | | Relationship between communication technologies and national security via three main themes: the use of the communications infrastructure in previous and future wars for the purpose of securing and maintaining U.S. leadership in the world-system, the uses of propaganda for both domestic and foreign consumption, and the representation of national security issues in popular media; historical and contemporary components. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Context. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:176 Advanced Relational Theory | 3 s.h. | | Relationships and how they significantly shape our experiences of the world, our sense of identity, our outlook on life, and the way in which we think about experiences and life in general; the premise that relationships are more than emotional attachments or bonds; relationships as happy, emotionally satisfying elements of life; demonstrations of a variety of communicative situations that establish, reconstitute, and demonstrate the importance of membership of communities and relationships. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Theory. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
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036:181 Legal Communication and Culture | 3 s.h. | | Law and the legal system as communicative networks of meaning-making; in contrast with legal courses concerned with learning blackletter law, the law viewed as a symbolic system from courtroom arguments to judicial opinions to legal reporting to the circulation of law in everyday life; law from a rhetorical perspective that allows us to think in new and different ways about the cultural implications of legal argument. Communication studies majors may apply this course to the following area requirement. AREA: Theory. Prerequisites: 036:001, 036:005, 036:012 or 036:070, 036:017 or 036:030, and 036:074. Requirements: g.p.a. of at least 2.50, completion of Foundations of Communication requirement, and 6 s.h. of intermediate-level course work. | | |
Back To TopFor Graduate Students
Graduate students also may take 100-level courses for credit, with approval of their committee.
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036:200 Introduction to Research and Teaching | 3 s.h. | | Introduction to communication studies as a field of scholarship; selection of research problems, major lines of research represented in the department, bibliographical tools for scholarship in the field; issues, practical tasks, and concerns relevant to effective college or university classroom teaching. | | |
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036:210 Introduction to Rhetorics of Inquiry | 2-4 s.h. | | How connections between discourses that don't seem connected suggest innovative arguments and ways of crossing boundaries between disciplines. Same as 160:200. | | |
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036:220 Rhetorical Criticism | 3 s.h. | | Approaches to rhetorical analysis of communicative artifacts, acts, events; rhetorical-critical essay writing. Same as 010:230. | | |
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036:222 Feminist Cultural Studies | 3 s.h. | | Same as 008:243, 010:243, 131:243, 160:243. | | |
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036:223 Deliberation, Advocacy, and Civic Engagement | 3 s.h. | | Practices of public deliberation in governance and civil society; counterpublic sphere discourses. Same as 160:223. | | |
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036:224 Movements and Media | 3 s.h. | | | |
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036:225 Seminar: Social Movements | 3 s.h. | | | |
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036:241 Theories of Mass Communication | 3 s.h. | | Major concepts, theories, schools of thought in media studies, mass communication. | | |
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036:250 Introduction to Rhetoric of Science | 3 s.h. | | How science is related to social and political practices, examined by placing philosophical and pedagogical controversies about scientific method into their historical and rhetorical contexts. Same as 160:250. | | |
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036:270 Health Communication | 3 s.h. | | Theories, concepts, research associated with health communication; interpersonal and mass communication approaches. Offered summer sessions. Same as 172:240. | | |
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036:299 Graduate Independent Study | arr. | | | |
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036:310 Classical Rhetoric | 3 s.h. | | Discourse in the ancient world. Same as 20E:230. | | |
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036:311 Modern Rhetoric | 2-4 s.h. | | History of modernist rhetorical theory in the 20th century; relationships with philosophy, social and physical sciences, cultural change. Same as 160:311. | | |
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036:312 Rhetoric and Philosophy | 2-4 s.h. | | Contemporary philosophical approaches to the study of rhetoric. | | |
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036:313 Rhetoric and Argument Theory | 2-4 s.h. | | Approaches to study of argumentation, key issues at dispute in contemporary conceptualizations of argument. | | |
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036:317 Current Issues in Rhetoric | 3 s.h. | | Ethical, social, or cultural issues; rhetoric's role in their contemporary significance; traditional aspects of rhetoric, their pertinence to present concerns. Same as 010:340, 160:340. | | |
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036:319 Practical Criticism | 3 s.h. | | Basics of rhetorical criticism; rhetoric as practice or technique; how to read rhetorically; fundamentals (i.e., figuration and tropes, form and genre, voice, style, topoi) and art of rhetorical critique. | | |
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036:330 Reading Group | 1-2 s.h. | | Analysis and discussion of important texts. | | |
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036:335 Proseminar: Contemporary Rhetorical Studies | 2-4 s.h. | | Problems in contemporary rhetorical studies; may include works of Kenneth Burke, Wayne Booth, deconstructionists, feminist theorists and critics, critics of communication technologies. Same as 160:335. | | |
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036:336 Seminar in Rhetorical Theory | 1-4 s.h. | | Topics in history and development of rhetorical theory; theory construction and application to critical practice. Same as 160:336. | | |
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036:339 Seminar: Rhetoric and Culture | 1-4 s.h. | | Cultural theories, their utility in accounting for communication practices. | | |
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036:340 Media and Modernity | 3 s.h. | | Survey of classic and contemporary theoretical texts on cultural, social, political, and human consequences of 19th- and 20th-century media. | | |
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036:341 Topics in Mass Communication Scholarship | 1-3 s.h. | | Theory and research on problems in mass communication. | | |
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036:342 Critical Television Studies | 3 s.h. | | Introduction to canonical and contemporary readings in critical television studies; primary questions and theories associated with textual, industrial, ethnographic, and integrated approaches to studying television; how technological, economic, and cultural changes have altered television and how it is studied. | | |
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036:346 The Public Sphere | 3 s.h. | | Theories, intellectual history, critics, contemporary issues of the public sphere. | | |
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036:347 Nationalism as a Communication Process | 3 s.h. | | Nation building and construction of national identity as a problem in communication history and theory; the nation as a community constructed through discourse, role of the state and other social forces in creating and deploying nationalist discourse. | | |
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036:349 Visual Advocacy | 3 s.h. | | | |
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036:350 Seminar: Mass Communication | 1-4 s.h. | | Topics vary. | | |
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036:351 Global Media Seminar | 3 s.h. | | Theories and processes of globalization and the cultural implications of media globalization; local responses to globalizing processes with reference to questions of modernity and national/transnational identity. | | |
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036:352 Seminar: Media Theory | 3 s.h. | | Topics vary. | | |
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036:353 Seminar: Intellectual Property | 3 s.h. | | Areas of cultural production that have been affected by intellectual property law; notions of authorship and ownership that lie at the heart of intellectual property law, how they affect varied areas of cultural production. Same as 160:353. | | |
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036:370 Quantitative Research Methods | 3 s.h. | | Primary methods for conducting quantitative research on interpersonal and group communication. | | |
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036:371 Communication Theory | 3 s.h. | | Survey of primary theories of interpersonal, cultural, group, and organizational communication. | | |
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036:372 Ethnographic Methods | 3 s.h. | | Qualitative methods used by ethnographers and interpretive researchers, including participant observation, field interviewing. | | |
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036:373 Persuasion Theory and Research | 3 s.h. | | Traditional social scientific approaches to research and theory; development of a cultural perspective on persuasion. | | |
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036:374 Relational Communication Theory and Research | 3 s.h. | | Communication in initiation, development, maintenance, breakdown, and repair of social and personal relationships. | | |
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036:375 Ethnography of Communication | 3 s.h. | | Research and theory on face-to-face communication, from ethnography of communication perspective. | | |
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036:376 Family Communication | 3 s.h. | | Theory and research on communication among and between family members (parents, children, marital partners, siblings); quantitative and qualitative research. | | |
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036:377 The Dark Side of Interpersonal Communication | 3 s.h. | | Communication in dysfunctional, dissatisfying, and otherwise unpleasant aspects of familial, personal, and social relationships; jealousy, deception, infidelity, nagging and complaining, verbal and physical abuse; relational communication's dark side, in which behavior viewed as dysfunctional may actually be functional, and behavior viewed as functional may be dysfunctional. | | |
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036:378 Critical Ethnography | 3 s.h. | | How power relations constitute the work of ethnographic research; ethnography as a rhetorical form--how ethnographic inscription renders self, other, culture, and the world intelligible in ways that reinscribe and/or challenge dominant social relations; axes of power such as race, class, gender, sexuality, and nation within postcolonial, feminist, and antiracist approaches to ethnographic/autoethnographic theory and praxis; negotiating researcher privilege and epistemic violence; crisis of representation. Same as 010:332, 131:332, 160:332. | | |
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036:379 Health Communication Campaigns | 3 s.h. | | Design and analysis of health campaigns; theory, practice, methods; mass media, community, organization, and interpersonal approaches. Offered spring semesters. Same as 172:246. | | |
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036:380 Seminar: Dialogic Communication | 3 s.h. | | Dialogic approaches to communication, including Bakhtin and Buber. | | |
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036:381 Seminar: Topics in Communication Research | 3 s.h. | | | |
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036:383 Seminar: Constructs, Communication, and Identity | 3 s.h. | | Concepts of identity and sociality in George Kelly's Personal Construct Theory; their connection to theories of rhetoric, especially Burke, and social community, especially Mead. | | |
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036:387 Communication, Cognition, and Emotion | 3 s.h. | | Theoretical and empirical work that integrates communication, cognition, emotion; role of social cognition in communication, theories of emotion, types of emotional experiences; approaches to understanding emotion from perspectives in psychology, social cognition, communication; emotion-related issues such as influence of gender, effects of mood. | | |
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036:395 Research Practicum | arr. | | Individual projects. | | |
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036:399 Ph.D. Dissertation | arr. | | | |
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