The Communication Major with a Media Studies concentration helps students engage and contribute to the media environment—the world of symbols and meanings, texts and contexts, form and content—from a critical and cultural perspective. Coursework is divided between theory and practice, with an emphasis on how theory informs and shapes practice and on how medium shapes message.

Requirements for the major are 32 hours: 14 hours in the Communication Core, 16 hours in a Concentration, and 2 elective hours of any Communication course. The Core consists of 4 courses in performance, theory, research, and a senior capstone (in which each student submits a portfolio and has a senior assessment interview). These four core courses should be completed in sequence.

To complement core courses, students select a concentration in Interpersonal Communication, Media Studies, Rhetoric and Culture, or Theater. Within each concentration, there are requirements and electives with course work progressing from introductory to advanced levels of study.

General Education Requirement. The following courses fulfill the oral communication competency requirement:

COMM 101Public Speaking2
COMM 201Fundamentals of Oral Communication (Communication majors and minors only)4
COMM 252Argumentation and Debate4

This requirement should be completed by the end of the sophomore year.

Communication Core14
COMM 201Fundamentals of Oral Communication4
COMM 301Communication Theory 14
COMM 312Communication Criticism 24
COMM 494Senior Seminar2
Concentration Courses (Required and Elective)16
Required Concentration Courses
COMM 241Media Studies4
COMM 246Media Production (ARTS 241 may be taken as substitution. )4
Elective Concentration Courses
Select 8 credits of the following: 38
Journalism
Digital Society
Strategic Communication
Screenwriting
Visual Symbolism: Icons, Brands, Logos
Narrative Media
Media, Religion, and Culture
Special Topics in Media and Culture
Media Constructions
Internship
AIS: Propaganda and Image in Everyday Life 4
Communication Elective
Select two or more credits of any offered COMM course2
Total Credits32
1

COMM 302 Rhetorical Theory is an acceptable substitution.

2

COMM 311 Human Communication Research is an acceptable substitution.

3

At least one of the elective courses must be upper-division.

4

College policy states that students shall not be allowed to take more than one AIS course.