Communication Studies (COM) Course Offerings
COM-101 Public Speaking (formerly COM-20)
Study of the fundamental principles and strategies of informative, persuasive, and ceremonial speaking. Emphasis on how to research, organize, and deliver speech. The ethical, political, and social character of public speaking is also examined. Students perform a variety of speeches and oral exercises and serve as speech critics and interlocutors. 4 credits.
COM-111 Argumentation (formerly COM-22)
Study of precepts, theories, strategies, and ethics of argument. Students critically analyze arguments found in speeches, public debates and controversies, newspaper articles and editorials, television news programs, and scholarly texts. Students write argumentative essays, present argumentative speeches, and engage in class debates. 4 credits.
COM-121 Digital CommunicationGER:VP (Visual Performance)The use of digital, electronic media in the cultivation of democratic society. Students will gather information and learn to transmit that information through logs, podcasts, video, and other digital media. 4 credits.
COM-131 Broadcast Communication (formerly COM-29)
Study of the journalistic, technical, and aesthetic aspects of television production. Critical analysis of electronic news texts and to research, write, videotape, and edit news stories. 4 credits.
COM-133 Video DocumentaryExamines the research, theory, aesthetics and production techniques of the video documentary. Students will work together to produce a 15-to-20-minute long documentary. They will conduct research, shoot video, and edit the final documentary. May Experience ONLY. 2 credits.
COM-141 Small Group CommunicationInvestigation and application of theories of small group communication. A systematic view of small groups focusing on the communication competencies and communication processes involved in successful small group leadership and decision making. 4 credits.
COM-201 Introduction to Rhetoric (formerly COM-30)
Topical survey of the major questions and controversies in rhetorical theory, criticism, and practice. Topics include: classical canons of rhetoric, rhetoric’s role in civic life, and rhetoric’s relation to power, politics, law, education, and ethics. Readings may include selections from Isocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, Nietzsche, Burke, Toulmin, Perelmen, Habermas, Foucalt, White, Allen, and others. 4 credits.
COM-221 Introduction to Mass Communication (formerly COM-40)
The nature and history of mass communication. Beginning with oral communication and the literacy revolution and moving to print, electronic, and digital forms of communication. Examining the social, economic, political, legal, and cultural aspects of mass communication, as well as the role of technology in the development of mass media. 4 credits.
COM-301 Rhetorical Criticism (formerly COM-32)
GER: TA(Critical, Analytical Interpretation of Texts)Survey of the major methods of rhetorical criticism, including neo-Aristotelianism, dramatism, social movement rhetoric, close textual analysis, and others. Topics include: the theoretical underpinnings of these methods, examining the nature of rhetorical texts, analyzing scholarly essays that employ these methods, and writing and presenting essays based on critical analysis of rhetorical texts. 4 credits.
COM-311 Rhetoric in the Ancient World GER: TA (Critical, Analytical Interpretation of Texts)The history of rhetorical theory and practice from 500 BCE to 500 CE. Focus on Greek and Roman rhetorics’ relation to politics, law, religion, philosophy, liberal education and culture along with an examination of ancient rhetorics’ influence on medieval rhetoric. Readings include selections from the sophists, Isocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, Tacitus, and Augustine. 4credits.
COM-312 Rhetoric in the Modern WorldGER: TA (Critical, Analytical Interpretation of Texts)The history of rhetorical theory and practice from the Renaissance to the present. Focus on the European tradition with special attention given to rhetoric’s relation to liberal education, politics, law, ethics, religion, myth, and ritual. Readings are from primary texts in the rhetorical tradition and may include selections from Petrarch, Salutati, Valla, Bracciolini, Cavalcanti, Ramus, Erasmus, Bacon, Hobbes, Lamy, Fenelon, Mackenzie, Locke, Vico, Monboddo, Blair, Campbell, Whately, Theremin, Nietzsche, Richards, Weaver, Burke, Perelman, Toulmin, Foucalt, Habermas, and others. 4 credits.
COM-315 U.S. Public Address I: 1630-1865GER: TA (Critical, Analytical Interpretation of Texts)History and criticism of major U.S. speeches and rhetorical texts. Examination of a broad range of historical and rhetorical factors that influenced the construction and reception of speeches from the colonial period through the end of the Civil War. Focus on the political, religious, legal, and social exigencies to which the speeches responded, as well as the place of these rhetorical texts in U.S. public controversies. 4 credits.
COM-315 U.S. Public Address II: 1866-PresentGER: TA (Critical, Analytical Interpretation of Texts)History and criticism of major U.S. speeches and rhetorical texts. Examination of a broad range of historical and rhetorical factors that influenced the construction and reception of speeches from the end of the civil war to the present. Focus on the political, religious, legal, and social exigencies to which the speeches responded, as well as the place of these rhetorical texts in U.S. public controversies. 4 credits.
COM-321 Media Criticism (formerly COM-44)
Critical methods used to analyze the mass media and popular cultural texts. The theoretical basis of such critical methods as semiotics, psychoanalysis, narrative and ideological theory, and cultural studies, and how to use these methods to analyze media texts such as television, movies, and magazine advertisements. 4 credits.
COM-331 Media HistoryGER: HA (Historical Analysis of Human Interactions)Examining the changing nature, structure, and function of mass media institutions in the United States and their historical relationships to society and culture from the founding of the republic to the end of the 20
th century. 4credits.
COM-335 Political Economy of Mass Media Examining the structure, regulation, economics, ownership, and technology of mass media, as well as the influence of these factors on global media content. 4 credits.
COM-341 Interpersonal Communication (formerly COM-52)
Theoretical overview of the oral and nonverbal strategies individuals use when negotiating perspective on the self and others. Areas of focus include the communicative dynamics involved in friendship, marriage, family, student-teacher, and work relationships. 4 credits.
COM-343 Organizational Communication (formerly COM-50)
Study of the communication within organizations and between organizations and the public. Using theoretical essays and case studies, topics include: hierarchical and participatory decision-making systems, the communicative relationships between and among employers, employees, and the public, and communication-based methods of analyzing corporate culture and resolving ethical dilemmas in the workplace. 4 credits.
COM-351 Advocacy (formerly COM-26)
Study of history, theories, principles, and strategies of public advocacy in the process of social, political, economic, and legal change. Students examine case studies of advocacy campaigns, consider ethical and ideological implications of such campaigns, and may engage in service learning projects associated with a local integrated advocacy campaign. 4 credits.
COM-353 Political Communication (formerly COM-38)
Historical and theoretical study of political communication in modern public life. Focus on how transformations of political ideals, social and economic institutions, and the media have changed the character of political discourse. Examination of how the changing relationships among state governments, political parties, special interest groups, and social movements affect political discourse. 4credits.
COM-355 Propaganda History, theory, and critique of propaganda. Case studies of propaganda relating to a variety of discursive and social practices including speeches, public spectacles, media events, art, and film. Examining forms of state and non-governmental propaganda. Topics include: American propaganda during WWI, Nazi and Fascist propaganda, and the communist propaganda programs of the Soviet Union and China. 4 credits.
COM-401 Studies in Rhetoric (formerly COM-36)
Concentrated study in one area, controversy, or theorist of rhetoric. Course topics change with each offering. Possible topics include the rhetoric of law, the rhetoric of social movements, Native American rhetoric, Cicero, or Kenneth Burke. May be repeated for credit with change of topic. 4 credits.
COM-411 African American RhetoricGER: TA (Critical, Analytical Interpretation of Texts)The persuasive efforts, primarily oratorical, by African Americans attempting to gain freedom, establish citizenship, and acquire equal rights. Emphasis on discursive and nondiscursive rhetorical strategies of black identity, power, and community. Consideration of the rhetorical construction of ideologies of struggle, the external and internal debates characteristic of black social movements, and the rhetorical cultivation of black consciousness. 4 credits.
COM-412 International Women’s RhetoricGER: WC (World Cultures)Analysis of speeches given by women in the international community about their conditions and their circumstances. Exploring the historical, socio-political, and cultural contexts of speeches by women to understand the rhetorical strategies and effects of their messages. 4 credits.
COM-414 Rhetoric of Emerging DemocraciesGER: WC (World Cultures)The rhetoric of non-U.S. democratic movements. Focus on nonviolent movements and the rhetorical aspects of mixed violent and nonviolent movements of the twentieth and early twenty-first-century. Primary emphasis is on the speeches and other persuasive appeals by reformers, including the justifications for democratic reform, forms of protest, strategies of dissent, and confluence of democratic, anti-colonial, and nationalist themes. Also includes consideration of the African, Asian, Latin American, Near Eastern, and Eastern European cultural contexts out of which these rhetorical concerns and movements arise. 4 credits.
COM-421 Studies in Mass Media Concentrated study in one area or theorist of mass communication. Course topics will change with each offering. Potential topics include the global media integration, the internet as a public sphere, public journalism, the theories of Marshall McLuhan, Hollywood film genres, or Italian film. 4 credits.
COM-435 Race, Class, and Gender in Mass MediaExamining how social perceptions of race, gender, and class are influenced by the mass media. The social connections between and among representations in print, film, electronic, digital media, institutional practices, and our experience of race, gender and class. 4 credits.
COM-460 Communication EthicsGER: UQ (Ultimate Questions) The ethical questions raised by the practice of human communication. The sources of ethical standards, methods of ethical criticism, and perspectives on the ethics of persuasion. 4 credits.
COM-461 Communication Law (formerly COM-46)
Issues confronting public speakers, journalists, advocates, debaters, and film and television producers when they seek to speak freely and responsibly. Topics include: seditious speech, symbolic conduct, fighting words, offensive speech, obscenity, defamation, commercial speech, free press v. fair trial, media regulation, advertising codes, and the theoretical justifications for free expression. 4 credits.
COM-470 Seminar in Rhetoric Intensive treatment of a major question, theme, or issue in the field of rhetoric. 4 credits.
COM-475 Seminar in Mass CommunicationsIntensive treatment of a major question, theme, or issue in the field of mass communication. 4 credits.
COM-501 Independent Study (formerly COM-80)
Qualified students study in a specific subject or theory of communication under the supervision of a faculty member. Students are required to do intensive reading and research in their subject, meet with their faculty supervisor on a regular basis, write an extensive paper, and give an oral presentation on their work. This course may be taken more than once but may not be counted toward the major more than once. It may not be taken pass/fail. Variable credit.
COM-502 Directed Research Variable credit.
COM-503 Individualized Internship Variable credit.
COM-505 Structured Internship(formerly COM-83)
Directed individualized internship in the field of communication. Studying the communicative practices employed in such settings as a courtroom, television or radio station, newspaper, magazine, advocacy group, mediation center, or arts organization. Students are required to work approximately 210 hours at their internship site, meet regularly with their workplace and faculty advisors, and submit a log, portfolio, and academic paper relating to their internship work. This course may be taken only once and may not be taken pass/fail. Variable credit.
COM-509 Forensics The research, analysis, organization, and practice of debates and speeches for on-campus and intercollegiate debating and speaking competitions. Applying theories of argumentation to develop cases for and against public issues. 0 credits.