Info for Students
UnderGRADuate /
Communication requirements
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For students accepted into the undergraduate program prior to Fall 2006, please click here.
For the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences College Distribution Requirements, please click here.
Core Courses (required) 21 credit hours |
Students complete these courses during their first two years: Comm 101 Cases in Communication (F) Focus Area Introductory Courses: Students complete two of four courses, one of which must be in the student's chosen focus area. Comm 220 Contemporary Mass Communication(F, SS) |
Advanced Writing and Presentation Courses 3 credit hours |
Students are encouraged to choose a course to complement their particular focus area and career interests. Advanced writing and presentation courses cannot count as electives. Comm 203 Argumentation and Debate (F, S, SS) |
Communication Electives 9 credit hours |
Students must complete 9 additional credit hours at the 300+ level. (A student may elect to fulfill 3 of these credit hours by taking a third focus area introductory course.) Electives can come from any of the focus areas or other advanced department offerings except the advanced writing and presentation courses or any of the following: 303, 353, 405, 496, or 498. |
Outside Concentration 12 credit hours |
In consultation with advisors, students will develop a conentration of related courses outside of the Department of Communication. The concentration may include courses from more than one major or college as long as it maintains thematic or disciplinary consistency. A formal minor or double major satisfies the outside concentration |
Focus Area 6 credit hours |
By the end of their sophomore year, students formally choose one of the following four focus areas, after successfully completing the chosen focus area's introductory course with a grade of B- or higher. |
| Communication inthe Life Sciences (CILS) |
Students focusing in CILS will investigate how communication influences public understanding of science, environmental, and risk-related issues. While exploring conceptual and theoretical issues, students will learn specific skills for communicating science, environmental, and risk information to a variety of audiences. Possible career paths include public information officer, science writer, environmental educator/outreach specialist, environmental or health-risk communicator, and business, legal and other graduate study. Comm 421 Communication and the Environment |
| Communication Media Studies (CMS) | Students focusing in CMS will investigate the forces that shape media in contemporary society, investigating how what we see and hear comes to be. They will also analyze and understand the psychological, social, and cultural processes that are in turn affected by media, from politics to entertainment to news to the very question of what we understand as real about ourselves and true about the world around us. Students may pursue careers in the media industries, in designing the laws and policies regarding media, in business, legal or other graduate study, or in the service of making media better; most of all, they will be more informed and astute citizens in a highly mediated world. Comm 320 New Media and Society (S) |
| Communication and Information Technology (CIT) | Students focusing in CIT will explore the social and psychological dimensions of the design, use, and evaluation of communication and information technologies, how people form and manage impressions and relate to each other in cyberspace, the uses of language in online interaction, and how people coordinate work in virtual teams, as well as people’s interface and information needs. Possible career paths include information systems designer, research analyst, user interface designers, software designers, usability specialist, technology writer, and business, legal and other graduate study. Comm 345 Human Computer Interaction Design (S) |
| Communication and Social Influence (CSI) |
Students focusing in CSI will use communication principles to analyze issues and situations involving groups, organizations and selected audiences to design, implement, and evaluate appropriate communication programs. Courses stress the positive, ethical, and effective uses of communication in human affairs. This focus area would be appropriate for students interested in using communication to bring about change at the individual and societal level. Possible career paths include public relations, marketing communications, polling, human resources, governmental affairs, and business, legal and other graduate study. Comm 310 Communication and Decision Making in Groups (S) |
