COMM 1300 Media Literacy

Media literacy is defined as the ability to read, analyze, and evaluate communication messages in a variety of communication mediums such as newspapers, TV, radio, on-line, podcasts, and blogging. This course discusses the globalization of mass media, intersection of media and government, and the nature of journalism and the issue of media bias. Students will also explore the social and political implications of various media: how media can shape notions of reality, perpetuate or alter stereotypes, and reinforce or undermine cultural barriers.

COMM 1311 Fundamentals of Comm

The course acquaints students with theories of communication and applications thereof in various social, professional, and educational settings. Students study the core contexts within the discipline including but not limited to: intrapersonal, interpersonal, small group, organizational, public speaking, mass media, and digital media.

TCCN: SPCH 1311

COMM 1315 Public Speaking

The course acquaints students with public speaking applications thereof in various social, professional, and educational settings.

TCCN: SPCH 1315

COMM 1326 Journalistic Writing

An introduction to basic journalistic techniques, integrating the practices of news gathering, writing and editing through individual and class projects. In addition, this course will explore many of the common critiques made of news reporting. (Formerly COMM 3326)

COMM 1370 Fundamentals of Comm Design

A studio course concerning the fundamentals of visual communication with an emphasis on art and two-dimensional concepts. This course introduces practical and theoretical content in disciplinary and interdisciplinary art, design, and communication practices.

COMM 2235 Debate and Argumentation

Theories and practice in argumentation and debate including analysis, reasoning, organization, evidence, and refutation. This course introduces the students to various argumentation techniques. The student will learn basic research skills and methods of cataloging evidence. The student will learn to organize and present ideas in effective communication paradigms. Individual debate and team formats will be demonstrated. College level development of sound arguments and reasoning including the effective incorporation of evidence for the purpose of debate.

TCCN: SPCH 2335

COMM 2305 Rhetoric of Popular Culture

The course explores the intersection of rhetorical theory and media imagery. Examines the rhetorical significance of multiple popular mediums of cultural exchange including: television programming, music, film, advertisement, and social media.

COMM 2318 Interpersonal Communication

The course examines the fundamental role of communication in establishing and maintaining personal relationships. By surveying the leading research and theories in interpersonal communication, students explore theoretical perspectives on how individuals enter into, maintain, and terminate relationships. Conceptual perspectives examined will include communicative competence, relational development, interaction process, codes, and context.

TCCN: SPCH 1318

COMM 2324 Practicum in Electronic Media

A studio course for understanding and using communication media technologies. Students will clarify communicative purposes, use appropriate software, as well as plan, produce, edit, and critique compositions. Classes may stress one or more genres, formats, or themes. May be repeated when topic changes with departmental approval.

COMM 2331 Photo I: Intro to Visual Comm

A foundation class in basic photographic tools and techniques used for visual communication. The course examines methods for effective communication using photography. Student work is reviewed and critiqued as to composition, technique, and the ability to communicate the content of the original subject to the reviewer. The 35 mm format and black and white darkroom techniques are required.

COMM 2366 Film Appreciation-WIN

Emphasis on the analysis of the visual and aural aspects of selected motion pictures, dramatic aspects of narrative films, and historical growth and sociological effect of film as an art. Interchangeable with THAR 2366.

COMM 3102 Digital Filmmaking I Lab

Laboratory course to accompany COMM 3202.

Corequisites: COMM 3202.

COMM 3123 Video Editing&Post Prod I Lab

Laboratory course to accompany COMM 3223. Must be taken concurrently with COMM 3223.

COMM 3132 Digital Filmmaking II Lab

Laboratory course to accompany COMM 3232.

Corequisites: COMM 3232.

COMM 3133 Video Editing&Post Prod II Lab

Laboratory course to accompany COMM 3233. Must be taken concurrently with COMM 3233.

COMM 3202 Digital Filmmaking I

Through class and instructor analysis of each student's idea for a short video, the class will cover pre-production details: initial concepts, synopsis, treatment, script, storyboards, shot list, scheduling, location scouting, and cost. Using screenings and analysis of classic scenes, the choices available to the video maker are discussed in depth with focus on subsequent application. Students will work on individual video projects, and on one 6-10 minute final group project. May be repeated once for credit when topic changes.

Corequisites: COMM 3102.

COMM 3223 Video Editing and Post Prod I

The course emphasizes the theoretical bases of digital production, trends in publicly distributed media, and the use of computers in digital video production. Included are video standards, video editing applications, and an introduction to post-production use of transitions and special effects. Students will write project proposals and shoot their own video to edit. To be taken concurrently with COMM 3123. Course may be repeated once for credit when topic changes.

COMM 3232 Digital Filmmaking II

Through exercises and demonstrations, this course will emphasize the craft, aesthetics and content of production as practiced in emerging and traditional formats. Students will continues to explore the classical narrative style as well as take command of experimental and documentary approaches. Specific topics may include the invisible line of action as it applies to three or more players, disrupting continuity, the music video, avant-garde techniques, recording behavior, and re-creating past events. Screenings and individual projects will be an integral part of this course. May be repeated once for credit.

Prerequisites: COMM 3202 or consent of instructor.

Corequisites: COMM 3132.

COMM 3233 Video Editing and Post-Prod II

Focuses on efficiency in process, output choices, and developing an effects library. Topics may include managing the digital post, preparing final scripts, transitions, segmenting, composing, titles, and special effects. Also included are sound design elements, mixing, overdub and foley. Students will propose, shoot, and edit several video projects. May be repeated once for credit. To be taken concurrently with Lab COMM 3133.

Prerequisites: COMM 3223 and COMM 3123 or consent of instructor.

COMM 3300 Intro to Theo Prin of Comm

Beginning study of the nature, problems, and theories of human communication. Examines issues of meaning, relationship, and community within interpersonal, group, and media contexts. Surveys rhetorical, pragmatic, and interpretive perspectives on the communication process.

COMM 3305 Advanced Interpersonal Comm

The course will provide an advanced understanding of interpersonal communication by focusing on theories and research used to analyze personal and professional relationships. Students will learn to assess interpersonal theories with an emphasis on conflict management, identity development and management, difference, power and influence.

COMM 3307 Health Communication

In depth study of the central issues, topics, theories, and perspectives relating to health studies, health education, and communication. Surveys rhetorical, pragmatic, and interpretative, and contextual perspectives of communications processes that influence health care practices.

COMM 3308 Intercultural Communication

This course provides students with an introductory knowledge base for examining constructions of culture. Course discussions will focus upon intercultural interactions, intercultural barriers, cultural perspectives, cultural adaptions, identity constructions and the greater social, political, philosophical, relational, and economic contexts that shape these concepts.

COMM 3309 Special Topics in Comm

Examines different communications topics including research underpinnings and everyday applications. May be repeated for credit when topic changes.

COMM 3310 Methods of Inquiry:Quant Rsch

This course will provide an introduction to formulating and answering questions in the field of communication using social science research methods. Course topics will range from developing social scientific research questions and hypotheses to analyses of data.

COMM 3311 Advanced Public Speaking

The course serves to extend and develop presentational skills. It compares forms of reasoning and methods of message rehearsal. Students will write about and discuss their experiences as speakers and audience members.

COMM 3312 Methods of Inquiry:Qual Rsch

This course introduces students to qualitative research and prepares them in the approaches, skills, and techniques necessary to conduct research using this methodology.

COMM 3320 Teamwork and Communication

Development of communication skills in the context of teams in organizational and professional settings. Students study the nature of effective teamwork, group process, problem solving, and leadership.

COMM 3321 Political Communication

This course will provide an introduction to understanding and answering questions in the field of political communication. This course will investigate how political communication is structured by the media and used by people. The course also will explore how news media functions in a democratic system. Special emphasis will be placed on investigating how the media shapes, and is shaped by, public opinion. Theoretical and empirical research from political science, social psychology, and mass communication will be discussed.

COMM 3322 Public Relations

An introduction to communication between corporations, smaller businesses, non-profit organizations and government and human service agencies and their internal and external publics with particular attention to the uses of media. The course simulates public relations and management situations using case studies.

COMM 3323 Public Relations Campaigns

This course offers practical application of public relations in solving a variety of organizational communication challenges and opportunities. It will integrate theory, techniques and research methods in the planning and execution of public relations projects, programs and/or campaigns for one or more specific organizations. The objectives, planning, staffing, budgeting, implementation, and evaluation of public relations programs will be emphasized.

COMM 3324 Film Studies

This course explores how meaning is structured and perceived in the moving images, film and video. Drawing heavily on a wide array of historical and contemporary examples this course examines the many expressive strategies potentially usable in the creation of moving image art forms: iconography, editing, composition, sound, narrative, discourse, and performance. Topics may include: three visionary filmmakers, three genres, significant film movements, and international cinema. Screening lab required. Course may be repeated for credit when topics vary. This course is open to all students for credit.

COMM 3325 Mass Communication

A comprehensive survey of the contemporary media of mass communication and an investigation of their influence on social, political, and economic change. This course will also offer material on the origins and historical development of print and broadcast media.

COMM 3326 Film History

Students will study the major industrial, technological, aesthetic, and cultural developments in motion picture history. Topics may include the invention of motion pictures, the establishment of a film industry and audience, the narrativization of film, developments in the use of cinematic technique, the establishment of national cinemas, the idea of film as art, and technological innovation.

COMM 3327 Media Writing

This course introduces students to some of the different writing techniques and styles used by print, broadcast and other forms of mass media. Students will develop a multiple range of skills including but not limited to skills in information gathering, interviewing, and organizing data. Course instruction allows for multiple focal points of discussion including but not limited to: News Writing, Broadcast Writing, Print Writing, Copy Writing and Script Writing. May be taken up to three times.

COMM 3328 Adv Journalistic Writing

A continuation of journalistic techniques, integrating the practices of news gathering, writing, editing, and revising through individual projects. Students will be required to produce publishable work of considerable depth and sophistication. Stories, features, and opinion pieces can be based on students' areas of interest and/or major fields. May be taken up to two times.

Prerequisites: COMM 1326 or approval of instructor.

COMM 3329 Fundamentals of Advertising

This course explores the fundamentals of advertising and the basic theories and principles used in developing advertising. Learn how advertisers and agencies develop an advertisement or ad campaign, the visuals and messages to include in the ad, where and when the ad or campaign should run, and why. Topics include typical jobs in advertising and the basic duties associated with each job, advertising history, and ethical considerations. This course will also focus on advertising strategies for Hispanic markets.

COMM 3330 Nonverbal Communication

An introduction to the dynamics of nonverbal behavior through exploration of scholarly research, application of practical theory, and analysis of sociocultural variables to foster a deeper appreciation and greater understanding of nonverbal messages across social contexts.

COMM 3331 Photo II: Photojournalism

Introduction to the photographic techniques, tools and content issues in visual communication for publications. The emphasis will be on using the photographic medium to communicate ideas, information, and emotions. Color and digital technology will be introduced, as well as an examination of sequential imaging as used in the photographic narrative form of the picture story. Course may be repeated for credit when topics vary. Students must have their own digital single-lens-reflex or modern mirrorless camera system with interchangeable lenses.

COMM 3332 Multimedia Production I

This course introduces the foundations of broadcasting production, including the production process, the role of crew members, the use of production equipment and facilities, and the production techniques that are used in the creation of television and radio programs. This introductory course requires an in-depth understanding of broadcasting production skills, including pitching, scripting, casting, directing, lighting, staging, and editing.

COMM 3333 Multimedia Production II

This course requires the application of broadcasting production skills to create quality media projects. This advanced hands-on production course emphasizes the aesthetic creativity, technical proficiency, and the communication competency required to become a broadcasting producer, director, or editor. Course exercises are designed for students to create talk shows, news programming, commercials, and narrative dramas in a multi-camera television studio and on-location settings, and to solve various problems in the production process.

Prerequisites: COMM 3332

COMM 3334 Visual Communication

An exploration of the visual dimensions of communication, including elements of graphic design, the visual representation of data, and emerging literacies associated with television and computer interfaces. May include individual and class projects in digital magazine and newspaper layout. Web page design, and presentation graphics.

COMM 3335 Social Media and Communication

This course will introduce students to various forms of social media and how to use them for communication strategies

COMM 3337 Storytelling for Video Games

Storytelling for Video Games is an introductory course that examines the key storytelling aspects for narrative game design: introduction and history of games, worldbuilding, character development, Storytelling & Mythic Structure, and Interactive Dialogue. The focus for the final project is on learning how to write branching story arcs in interactive storytelling design. Students will purchase a computer game, complete with a game engine, and create a computer game adventure with characters of their own design. The game level will include interactive narrative written by the students.

COMM 3338 Travel Photography

This course focuses on the practical application of visual communication skills used for storytelling and documentary purposes as utilized by travel books, magazines, websites, and related publications. The course examines methods for effective communication using photography as it relates to documenting other cultures: people, cuisine, scenery, architecture, wildlife, etc. Student work is reviewed and critiqued as to composition, technique, and the ability to communicate the content of the original subject to the reviewer. Students will need to bring their own 35 mm format digital SLR camera. Laptops installed with Adobe Photoshop or other photographic editing software will also be necessary. Students will utilize social media, such as Instagram, Facebook, and Flickr, to display images during the trip and collectively create a travel photography book following the trip. This course is only offered during a Study Abroad Program and includes a look at the history of photography and famous photographers from the destination. The experience will be completely different each time, since we’re possibly going to different countries each time. May be repeated when topic changes.

COMM 3370 Communication Design

This studio course introduces the field of communication design media including terminology, creative visual thinking/problem solving, layout design, tools, and materials.

COMM 3390 Special Topics in Film Studies

Examines different film studies topics including research underpinnings, everyday applications, genres, auteurs, and trends in cinema. May be repeated twice for credit when topic changes.

COMM 4311 Media and Behavior

This class will examine the ways in which individual consumers, society, and various forms of media interact. Outcomes related to advertising effects, criminal behavior, sexuality, and racial prejudice will be covered. Interchangeable with PSCY 4311 and CRIJ 4324.

COMM 4312 Media and Identity

This course examines the role of media as a cultural site where media professionals construct and/or are constructed by differences in social divisions of class, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, and sexuality in society. We will study media representation as a symbolic system of making boundaries among social groups and (re)producing the meaning of othering, exclusion, and marginalization. We will also consider media as a battlefield where media professionals tackle and transform current systems of power and hierarchy. By analyzing media texts, students will configure the cultural dynamics, aesthetic expressions, and social inequalities represented in U.S. media.

COMM 4320 Trends in International Comm

This course is an intensive study of the interdependent relationship between mass and digital communication and culture in an international context. Students will examine conceptual and experiential problems that affect media communication across physical and cultural boundaries including problems of interpreting and evaluating different cultural values, world views, international media conglomerates, cultural imperialism, nationalism, information flow, and the effects of globalization.

COMM 4323 Communication Law

An overview and analysis of common legal issues in public communication. May include considerations relevant to print journalism, namely libel, invasion of privacy, censorship, questionable news gathering techniques and other First Amendment topics, as well as current legal problems in the television and radio broadcast industries.

COMM 4324 Comparative Journalism

Students will be engaged in a comprehensive study of the state of Latin American journalism practices, mainstream American journalism practices and ethnic Hispanic-oriented media in the United States. The focus is on traditional/ new media outlets and news wires during election periods as well as journalistic freedoms and censorship, presidential elections, political news and advertisements, and international news reporting. This course is writing and research intensive and will primarily be taught in English though students will be reading media examples written in Spanish. Prerequisite SPAN 3300 or permission of the instructor.

COMM 4325 Organizational Communication

Overview of research and theory in organizational communication. Examines internal processes of socialization, group decision-making and influence as well as external communication such as public relations, issue management and corporate advocacy. Emphasis on analysis or organizational communication problems.

COMM 4326 Conflict Management

This course introduces students to the study of conflict by examining the nature of conflict, conflict management, and applying conflict management skills in interpersonal, group, and organizational settings. Skill development is conducted by creating action plans and executing them through role-playing. Students focus on learning conflict management techniques used for interpersonal management, negotiation, mediation, and arbitration.

COMM 4328 Digital Publication Design

This course examines the design of magazines, newspapers, ’zines, and other serial forms of publication as a communication media.

COMM 4329 Digital Advertising Comm

This course introduces students to the skills, techniques, and development of digital communication design concepts in advertising.

COMM 4330 Special Issues in Comm

Course provides intensive study of diverse and relevant specialized subjects and topics in communication. Subjects may focus on various trends, methodologies, research, measurements, and analysis within the field. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.

COMM 4331 Broadcast Journalism

This course requires the application of journalistic principles and production skills to produce broadcast and digital news stories. This advanced hands-on production course emphasizes practical skills, including newsgathering, journalistic writing, interviewing, directing, and hands-on camera operating and editing. Course exercises are designed for students to create news programming in a multi-camera television studio and on-location settings and to deal with ethical and technical challenges in the production process.

Prerequisites: COMM 3202 or COMM 3232 or COMM 3327 or COMM 3328 or COMM 3332 or COMM 3333 or Permission of Instructor

COMM 4340 Communication Ethics

The course asks how we make ethical judgements about communication practices: How do we recognize lies and decide when lying might be ethical? What other breaches of civility do we shun in the ways people speak and listen? What would be a reasonable ethic for professional and personal communication? How can we ethically communicate with people of other cultures?

COMM 4345 Advanced UG Research

This class is designed to offer students with a specific interest in developing social scientific and humanistic research skills in communication studies the opportunity to work with one or more Communication faculty members on directed research projects. The primary instructional activity in this course will be individualized research opportunities provided by faculty members. Every student will work with a single faculty mentor to help gain exposure to research methods through active involvement in ongoing research projects.

Prerequisites: COMM 3310 or 3312, and Junior or Senior Standing.

COMM 4350 Internship

Application of concepts through participation in communities, institutions, agencies, schools, or businesses. Supervision by faculty and sponsoring organizations. Includes interpretive journal, summary paper and presentation. Those students enrolled in the Communication/Spanish degree will intern at Spanish-speaking organizations. May be repeated twice for credit.

COMM 4360 Comm Theory&Practice

Synthesis and integration of theory with communication practices and problems that students have encountered through work and life experiences. Students will learn how theory applies to our everyday life and helps us become more competent communicators. Culmination of this course is a senior thesis paper for senior portfolio.

Prerequisites: Senior Standing or consent of instructor

COMM 4370 Communication Media Portfolio

Students will be given the guidance and studio time needed to polish their communication media portfolios prior to graduation. Portfolios should be dynamic, developmental representations of the personal and professional identities of each student. Lectures will focus on best practices for professionals in media and communication design fields, and/or continuing education. Capstone elective recommended for students interested in pursing a career in a communications industry.

Prerequisites: Senior standing, and concurrent or previous enrollment in one of the following: COMM 3331, COMM 3232 and COMM 3123, COMM 3233 and COMM 3133, COMM 3327, COMM 3333, COMM 4328, COMM 4329, COMM 4331, or approval of instructor

COMM 4390 Spec Issues in Media Studies

The course provides intensive study of diverse and relevant specialized subjects and topics in media studies. Subjects may focus on various trends, methodologies, research, measurements, and analysis within the field. May be repeated for credit when topic changes.

COMM 5199 Thesis II

This course is designed to be the final step towards the successful completion of the Communication thesis. Students schedule the coursework in consultation with their major professor. Evaluation of performance is CR/NC. Students will receive credit for the class when they have successfully written and defended their thesis to their thesis committee. If the grade of IP is received, the student must enroll again for credit.

Prerequisites: Graduate standing, COMM 5398: Thesis I, and permission of major instructor/advisor.

COMM 5301 Communication Theories

The course provides a survey and critical examination of the main theoretical approaches in the fields of mass, international and organizational communication. The course is intended to acquaint students with the conceptual foundations and epistemological bases of the three basic areas available in the graduate program in communication.

COMM 5302 Quant Research Methods in Comm

This course introduces the sociological and behavioristic approaches to communication research It will examine the fundamental epistemologies, design, methods, and data analysis in quantitative communication research. Students will learn, demonstrate and apply course concepts by analyzing texts and conducting research.

COMM 5303 Qual Research Methods in Comm

This course introduces the humanistic approaches to communication research. It will examine the fundamental epistemologies, design, methods, and data analysis in communication research. The goal is for students to learn and apply course concepts by analyzing texts and conducting research projects.

Prerequisites: Graduate standing.

COMM 5310 Media, Cult&Ident US-MX Border

This course critically examines the relationship between mass media, culture, and society in the context of the Mexican and United States border. It looks at the impact of the border culture on media, particularly focusing on the historical and political economic influences on media organizations. It will also study the impact of media on border society and media's role in the reinforcement and transformation of a border cultural identity.

COMM 5311 Border Journalism

The course focuses on the main theoretical, social and technical aspects of news production and reporting in the border region between Mexico and the United States. It discusses and analyzes the peculiarities and challenges the geographical, political and cultural context impose on the topics, processed, values and routines of newsgathering and in the patterns of news consumption by residents on both sides of the border.

COMM 5312 Mexican & Latino Cinema

Course offers a critical examination of cinema from Mexico and throughout Latin America relating to Latino cultural experiences. Emphasis will be on those films that educate viewers about Latino encounters with majority and minority cultures within Latin America. The goal of the course is to analyze these films as works of art as relevant films that stand on their own in film history and contemporary cinema and to discuss these films as cultural, historical, political, and economic products that characterize and reveal aspects, sensibilities and points of view from the represented nations and regions.

COMM 5313 Ethno & Doc Prod in Border Rgn

This course will develop students’ critical skills of film analysis through the practical application and experience of creating a film and manipulating digital media and equipment. The course will introduce and prepare students to use digital media as a tool in research, and as a method of presenting research outcomes. While the aims are primarily to enable students to acquire and apply practical skills, by doing so this course contributes to their formation as ethnographers in the Border region. It demystifies the process of digital filmmaking, and opens new ways of reading and understanding visual ethnographies (particularly documentary and ethnographic film).

Prerequisites: Graduate Standing.

COMM 5314 Latina/o Communication Studies

This course is focused on the study of the people that comprise the category of Latinxs in the United States and the communication processes surrounding them. We will approach our study from a critical perspective. This means utilizing the term Latina/o/x as a jumping off point to our discussions, rather than a fixed essential racial category in a multi-cultural society. We will use Latina/o/x communication studies as a means to understand contemporary racial formation and the practices of communication & media which sustain it with a special focus on the U.S./Mexico border. Throughout the course we will discuss various aspects of how Latina/o/x populations communicate and are communicated about. These issues include politics, food, health, education, and immigration.

COMM 5320 Media Flows & Audiences

The course explores the exchange of audiovisual media flows and the patterns of consumption and appropriation of foreign and national media contents in the American continent. It discusses the impact of international treaties and historical, political and economic relationships between countries in the Americas have had in the Inter-American supply and consumption of media products.

COMM 5321 Political Communication

The course analyzes the relevance of political communication in an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world, discussing the impact of media on elections, government, and citizen engagement. Classic political communication theories are evaluated in light of the Internet and other media changes. Focused topics may include misinformation, elections, politics and entertainment, or other areas of focus.

COMM 5329 Topics in Communication

This course provides intensive study of diverse and relevant specialized subjects and topics within the study of Communication. Perspectives from adjacent fields such as Media Studies, Cinema Studies, Technology studies, and Human Communication may also be included. May be repeated for credit when topic changes.

COMM 5330 Organizational Communication

This course introduces and applies theoretical and research-based literature in organizational communication. The goal is for students to learn and apply the underpinnings of organizational communication literature to organizational situations by critically reading and analyzing texts and developing research projects.

Prerequisites: Graduate standing.

COMM 5331 Comm Training and Development

This course teaches students how to develop practical skills and methods for developing and presenting communication training programs. Major topics include identifying training and development needs through needs assessments and developing, facilitating, and assessing training sessions.

COMM 5332 Managing Org Conflict

This course examines conflict by recognizing that it is a reoccurring part of life in business, government, and nonprofit organizations. It is a product of human existence and diversity in an interrelated society. The costs associated with these conflicts are well documented. Organizations are increasingly recognizing that conflict does not have to carry costly financial and interpersonal burdens and can, in fact, serve as a productive change agent. Students in this course explore the nature and sources of organizational conflict and facilitate development of practical skills to recognize and manage workplace conflict using case studies, interactive lectures, simulations, and field research. Students are introduced to the concept of conflict coaching. This course is well-suited for managers and leaders in any profession who want to increase their interpersonal capability and enhance their value in organizations.

COMM 5333 Org. Culture, Climate & Comm

This course examines the relationship between organizational culture and communication and discusses the components of a supportive communication climate. It will also examine case studies and academic research to undertake issues and complications relevant to sustaining and enriching supportive communication practices. The goal is for students to learn, demonstrate, and apply course concepts by analyzing academic literature and conducting research projects.

COMM 5336 Ethical Issues in Org

The course examines ethical questions that directly affect how organizations communicate and what they choose to relay and omit to their various audiences. Organizational women and men are compelled to make ethical decisions when they communicate. Proponents of strategic ambiguity in and for organizations have been confronted and countered by other theorists who reject ambiguity as a euphemism for lying. Analyzes cases and academic studies that reflect how ethical and unethical communication affected the fortunes of organizations. Analyzes and evaluates the practical values of ethical yardsticks.

COMM 5337 Leadership Communication

The course will use a variety of learning methods. In the threaded discussion area, course concepts will be discussed and students will be invited to offer their own experiences, personal and professional backgrounds, and points of view. Since leadership is enacted through communication, the focus on concepts such as persuasion and charisma will be highlighted. Critical thinking will be developed through class discussion and assignments that require "out of the box" thinking. Logical thinking and critical analysis are essential, this course attempts to develop these skills through the examination and application of organizational, persuasion, interpersonal and mass communication theories. The scientific method will be addressed through testing and retesting of theoretical models to assess validity and reliability.

COMM 5338 Advanced Research Methods

This course provides an advanced study of quantitative and qualitative methods used in Communication research. Students will design research projects, collect and analyze data, and write research findings. Practical activities will provide students with hands-on opportunities to practice the research techniques of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting qualitative and quantitative data.

Prerequisites: COMM 5302 and COMM 5303

COMM 5339 International Communication

The course will introduce graduate students to contemporary and pressing topics within the study of international communication, including trends, methodologies, and research methods. Students will be expected to critically read and analyze texts related to the subject area as well as develop original research projects.

COMM 5398 Thesis I

This course is designed to be the first step towards the successful completion of the Communication thesis. Students schedule the coursework in consultation with their major professor. Evaluation of performance is CR/NC. Students will receive credit for the class when they have a proposal approved by their thesis committee and the required evidence of progress on a draft. If the grade of IP is received, the student must enroll again for credit.

Prerequisites: Graduate standing, successful completion of 24 SCH, and permission of major instructor/advisor.

COMM 5399 Thesis II

This course is designed to be the final step towards the successful completion of the Communication thesis. Students schedule the coursework in consultation with their major professor. Evaluation of performance is CR/NC. Students will receive credit for the class when they have successfully written and defended their thesis to their thesis committee. If the grade of IP is received, the student must enroll again for credit.

Prerequisites: Graduate standing, COMM 5398: Thesis I, and permission of major instructor/advisor.

COMM 5699 Thesis II

This course is designed to be the final step towards the successful completion of the Communication thesis. Students schedule the coursework in consultation with their major professor. Evaluation of performance is CR/NC. Students will receive credit for the class when they have successfully written and defended their thesis to their thesis committee. If the grade of IP is received, the student must enroll again for credit.

Prerequisites: Graduate standing, COMM 5398: Thesis I, and permission of major instructor/advisor.

COMM 5999 Thesis II

This course is designed to be the final step towards the successful completion of the Communication thesis. Students schedule the coursework in consultation with their major professor. Evaluation of performance is CR/NC. Students will receive credit for the class when they have successfully written and defended their thesis to their thesis committee. If the grade of IP is received, the student must enroll again for credit.

Prerequisites: Graduate standing, COMM 5398: Thesis I, and permission of major instructor/advisor.