Communication, Minor

Communication scholarship seeks to understand the ways human beings use constructions such as texts, technology, relationships, and institutions to create meaning, share knowledge, develop power dynamics, and forge our understandings of reality. Our approach is to develop analytical, critical, and creative abilities in students within the context of the larger social, historical, and cultural dynamics that shape and influence collective human norms, values, and practices.

The minor emphasizes communication theory and criticism. While a few courses do deal with communication skills, for the most part communication is not a skills-based discipline, but a discipline that focuses on the study of how human beings use symbols of various types (language, sounds, images, etc.) to create and share meaning in the process of the social construction of reality. Therefore, the communication minor focuses on theoretical, critical, and cultural studies of human symbolic practices in various contexts such as rhetorical studies, media and film studies, intercultural communication, and gender studies. Students pursuing a minor in communication will acquire a broad and deep understanding of communication theory, the ability to engage in informed criticism and analysis of communication acts and artifacts, develop critical thinking skills, and learn to practice effective communication. Students will study communication in multiple contexts and become effective evaluators of oral, written, and mediated texts.

Minor Program. The department offers an 18 hour minor designed to supplement a variety of major fields of study across the liberal arts.

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completing this program, a student will:

1. appreciate differences of communicative norms, performances, and expectations in a variety of cultural situations & texts.
2. be confident in their public speaking ability.
3. understand symbol creation, meaning, and use in the process of the social construction of reality and cultural practices and dynamics.
4. learn how to successfully engage in the scholarship of the communication discipline at a scholarly level.
5. be able use a theoretical lens to critically analyze an issue, process, or text in communication.