Communication (COMM)

COMM 500     Narrative and Identity     3 Credit Hours

This class explores the role that communication and storytelling play in the creation and management of the identities people inhabit at various levels of society. We examine the ways in which personal, family, subcultural, organizational, mass mediated, and intercultural and transnational narratives can affect the shaping and reshaping of individual and group identities. This includes the study of multiple identities as members of families, communities, civil societies, and businesses, and those that involve different social locations like gender, race, and ethnicity. Students will learn theoretical tools and examine case studies to better understand the communicative aspects of identity creation and recreation. (YR).

Restriction(s):
Can enroll if Class is Graduate

COMM 520     Critical Media Studies     3 Credit Hours

Course presents various critical approaches to the study of the media. Perspectives include political economy, cultural studies, critical theory of the Frankfurt school and feminism. Through readings and first hand analysis of the media students will delve deeply into the institutional underpinnings, content, use and reception of media. There will be special emphasis on how broader economic, cultural and technological changes influence our experience of media in everyday life as creators, citizens, audiences and consumers.

Restriction(s):
Can enroll if Class is Graduate

COMM 530     International Communication     3 Credit Hours

Course examines the relationship between globalization and communication from various vantage points such as cultural imperialism, global media flows, and hybridity theory. Students use these theoretical approaches to understand how people in particular locations experience, adapt, resist and modify globally circulating aspects of media, popular culture, news and information. Through critical responses to readings, class exercises, individual and team projects, students also explore how global pressures and changes influence the way people understand and project their identities, buy and sell communication as a commodity, negotiate borders, and create social change. (W).

Restriction(s):
Can enroll if Class is Graduate

COMM 550     Prin of Organizational Comm     3 Credit Hours

Course examines how communication networks function in organizations. Purpose: to provide an organizational context and conceptual framework for the practice of professional writing and speaking skills. Writing projects include a research report, a case study, and shorter papers (practical and analytical) on assigned topics. Areas of focus include persuasion, decision-making, conflict resolution, problem solving, and the role of communication in leadership, motivation, small group activity, organizational change, and job satisfaction. (AY)

Prerequisite(s): COMM 340 or COMM 440

Restriction(s):
Can enroll if Class is Graduate

COMM 555     Gender and Media Studies     3 Credit Hours

The course will focus on several feminist approaches used in understanding the media and attempting to create social change through the media. The role of media in the definition and reproduction of gender-based hierarchies and in the renegotiation of gender boundaries will both be explored. To this end, both mainstream and women's media will be examined. The course will take a multicultural and international perspective, incorporating concerns of class, race, ethnicity and nation as these intersect with the study of gender and media. Mainstream and alternative media will be analyzed through readings, films, case studies, in-class collaborative exercises and longer term projects. News, entertainment and advertising genres will be examined in a variety of media such as the printed press, television, video film and the Internet. (W).

Prerequisite(s): WGST 275 or WGST 303

Restriction(s):
Can enroll if Class is Graduate

COMM 564     Contemporary Rhetorical Theory     3 Credit Hours

An examination of contemporary rhetorical theories through study of representative practitioners and related developments in linguistics, philosophy, psychology, communication, and composition and rhetoric. Additional work will distinguish this course from its undergraduate version. Students may not receive credit for both COMP 464 and COMP 564.

Prerequisite(s): COMP 106 or COMP 220 or COMP 270 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 40 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 107 or COMP 280

Restriction(s):
Cannot enroll if Class is

COMM 570     Adv Technical and Prof Comm     3 Credit Hours

Review and practice of advanced professional communication skills, especially audience analysis, assessment of organizational contexts and field-specific conventions, document design, varieties of formal and informal report writing, proposal writing, abstracting, editing, and documentation. Students will study specialized formats and communication issues specific to their professional needs, and will develop their abilities to present technical and complex information to a variety of audiences, both general and specialized, in a variety of professional contexts. Appropriate for graduate students in professional degree programs, such as engineering, management, public administration, and education. Undergraduates must have permission of instructor.

COMM 581     Gender and Globalization     3 Credit Hours

Mass media, politics, and academia are full of references to globalization, and a future "world without borders." This interdisciplinary course considers the implication of globalization for women's lives, gender relations, and feminism. Topics covered include the global factory, cross- cultural consumption, human rights, global communications, economic restructuring, nationalism, and environmental challenges. Rather than survey international women's movements, this course explores how globalization reformulates identities and locations and the political possibilities they create. Students cannot receive credit for both COMM 481 and COMM 581. (AY).

Restriction(s):
Can enroll if Class is Graduate
Can enroll if College is Arts, Sciences, and Letters

COMM 590     Topics in Communication     1 to 3 Credit Hours

Examination of problems and issues in selected areas of Communications. Titles listed in the Schedule of Classes will change according to content. Course may be repeated for credit when specific topic differs. Only offered for graduate credit. (OC)