Communication

The department of Communication and Journalism offers three different BA degrees. These degrees are in: Communication, Mass Communication and Journalism. The department also offers minors in Communication and in Public Relations. Humans possess a “mighty genius of construction” (Nietzsche) for using communication to produce cultures, institutions, and even our sense of self. The study of communication asks how we do this, how our basic ability to communicate allows us to weave a powerful web between and within individuals, cultures and organizations. Students pursue such questions as these: How do we use the power of language within personal relationships? How do the stories we tell in conversation provide meaning and significance to the identities we fashion for ourselves, or cultures? What communication practices do we engage in to maintain and build organizations? What rhetorical strategies do we employ to spin new social webs or tear down old ones? How do technologies extend and alter our abilities and practices? By engaging these questions students understand and critically evaluate human communication in their lives and in their careers.

Majors in Communication must complete a minimum of thirty six (36) credits in Communication courses and a total of nine credits in the areas of Statistics and Computer Science, Writing, or Language and Critical Thinking (list of acceptable courses available in 420 Dunn). The nine credits must come from two of the three areas with at least three credits in each of the two as are elected. Students taking department courses to satisfy requirements within the Communication major must have a C- or better in each course.