The department is offering nine courses for the 2009-2010 school year.  The required quantitative methods course (Comm 501) is slated for the fall, and another core class, communication theory (Comm 510), is set for the spring.  Students should register for those courses as well as the required advanced rhetoric course (Comm 682; Contemporary Rhetorical Theory) scheduled for Spring 2010.

A number of new courses, and departmental professors, make their graduate debut this year.  Dr. Leigh Moscowitz will teach a special topics course (580) in Race, Gender and Class in the Media in the fall, while Dr. Michael Lee teaches Political Communication (Comm 580) in the spring.  Dr. Vince Benigni will teach a Summer 2010 course (580) in Entertainment, Sports, and Pop Culture.

As always, students can complete coursework using individual learning or research projects.

All courses and professors are listed below:

COMM 501 Quantitative Research Methods (Dr. Ferguson)
Quantitative methods employed in communication research, including experiments and surveys. Students will design quantitative research projects, learn to analyze data, and write research reports.

COMM 521 Seminar in Small Group Communication: Events in Organizations (Dr. D. McGee)
Event Planning courses are largely taught using a nuts-and-bolts approach that focuses on the activities that need to be accomplished, without providing a theoretical framework that explains event planning both from the planners’ and the attendees’ perspectives. This course attempts to remedy that situation by incorporating dramatism, especially the work of Erving Goffman, to the planning of communication events typically “produced” in and by organizations. As dramatistic theorists view communication events as performances and use a theatre metaphor to explore social interaction, they are particularly appropriate for informing the creation of organizational events such as press conferences, galas, employee meetings, and fund-raising activities. Prerequisite: COMM 510 or consent of instructor.

COMM 525 Executive Communication (Dr. Davis)
A study of the communication competencies required for successful organizational leadership, including individual and group presentations, meeting management, and utilization of communication technologies.

COMM 580 Seminar in Organizational Communication: Race, Class, and Gender in Mass Media (Dr. L. Moscowitz)
From the moment we enter the social world, we are assigned a biological sex. We then begin the complicated life-long process of learning what it means to be “female” or “male,” “feminine” or “masculine,” “gay” or “straight.” In this course, we will focus on the ways in which media culture is central to the creation, maintenance and subversion of gender divisions. We will also consider how our gendered identities intersect with other social categories such as race, class, sexuality and nationality. Highlighting a cultural studies approach to media, we will consider how gender, race and class are organized across various media texts (including advertisements/consumer culture, film, television, news media and web-based media), how these representations are shaped by issues of media production, and the various ways diverse audiences interpret media messages. Course materials will provide students with models for thinking, conducting research and writing on media content for their final projects. Prerequisite: COMM 510 or consent of instructor.

SPRING 2010

COMM 510 Communication Theory (Dr. Ferrara)
"There is nothing so practical as a good theory," wrote Kurt Lewin, one of the founders of modern communication studies. In this course we will take a close, critical look at some of the most important contemporary theories of human communication, emphasizing their practical implications for society and our everyday lives. We begin the course with general issues concerning the nature of theory, the relationship between theory and practice. Then we will consider the ways in which theories are constructed and have been broadly applied to human communication. These general themes will help us to take an analytical perspective on the theories we study throughout the course. In the time remaining we will explore a series of theories regarding message formation and exchange between and among people, how the communication process produces information and meaning, selfhood, interpersonal relationships, social influence, media, gender, politics, health and culture. Do not fret that there is a lot to read: be satisfied with an acquisition of three things: 1) a broad atlas of kinds of theory. (Do not even try to believe that you will know all these theories by the end of this course.) 2) a general compass of questions and issues to guide you through the theoretical landscape 3) a depth of knowledge in a few communication theories relevant to your program of study and career interests.

COMM 535 Public Relations Campaigns (Dr. Ruth-McSwain)
Public relations campaigns will provide the opportunity to explore professional practices in public relations through a case study approach. The course emphasis will be on gaining a critical understanding of ethical foundations and professional practices in public relations to advance public relations campaign efforts and public policies. In-depth examination of several exemplar cases will involve public relations in PR firms, corporate communications departments, government agencies, political organizations and non-profit environments. These various public relations cases will serve as a model for students in enhancing theory and exemplifying the constraints involved in conducting research, setting objectives, designing and executing a program and evaluating efforts. The cases investigated will illustrate public relations principles and management and test theoretical applications in real situations. The course will culminate with the development of a case study on a local public relations situation.

COMM 580 Seminar in Organizational Communication: Political Communication (Dr. Lee)
Prerequisite: COMM 510 or consent of instructor.
This seminar asks two basic questions: (1) What makes political language distinctive? (2) How does language affect political outcomes? We will ask these questions in a variety of ways: How does political language vary across communities? How has American political language changed over the years? Did Obama win the presidency in 2008 because his words were better than McCain’s? Rather than posit a final answer to each question, our chief aim will be to outline several methods that scholars have used to answer these questions. As such, we will read widely in the area of political style including historical case studies in the development of liberalism and conservatism as well as theoretical commentary from communication, political science, anthropology, and history. Throughout our readings we will consider the relationship between language and politics, an inseparable duo that allows significant ethical breaches and incites the fiercest passions.

COMM 682 Modern and Contemporary Rhetorical Theory (Dr. B. McGee)
The study of Western rhetorical theory from the seventeenth century to the present. This course will survey the insights of rhetorical theory with respect to messages delivered in interpersonal, group, organizational, and public communication contexts. Prerequisite: COMM 510 or consent of instructor.

COMM 580 Seminar in Communication: Entertainment, Sports and Pop Culture (Dr. Benigni)
The allure of “infotainment” has never been higher in American society. We now have communication avenues to interact and not just follow, as a new cultural road map emerges. How has the shifting landscape affected our leisure-based consumption? Entertainment, diversion, withdrawal, catharsis…all stem from common uses and gratification tenets that define our needs and behaviors. Scholarship has focused on our need for heroes, the notion of ego satisfaction, and the hegemonic nature of vicarious pursuits. This course will examine the history of entertainment, sports and pop culture, and offers the chance for students to ponder and predict -- through a theoretical prism – a direction for future discourse.

Note: COMM 501, 502 and 510 usually rotate through each Fall/Spring semester every year and a half; COMM 681 and 682 usually rotate each Spring.

Summer courses usually are offered at least once per year.