Communication Studies

CM 6000X. Continuous Graduate Enrollment. 0 Semester Hours.

CM 7196. Communication Internship. 1 Semester Hour.

CM 7301. Visual Communication Design. 3 Semester Hours.

This course will help students learn principles and practical tools for visual communication design. Borrowing from broader Communication Studies practices such as marketing and graphic design, this course will help students learn to communicate with specific audiences to achieve a specific goal.

CM 7302. Applied Digital Communication. 3 Semester Hours.

This course looks broadly at applied topics in digital communication. Topics might include web design, social media, audio/visual design, digital writing, digital humanities, databases, and other relevant topics.

CM 7303. Digital Communication Analysis. 3 Semester Hours.

This course examines digital communication analysis and application and the role of communication professional as content creator and manager. Helps students to create web analyses, hone writing skills, consider stakeholders, and determine how to make quality products.

CM 7305. Photojournalism. 3 Semester Hours.

The course will examine a wide range of photo communication and pictorial forms in print and digital media, as well as the design and techniques used to construct visual messages. Topic areas include a history of photojournalism and documentary photography, photo communication research, photographic styles, subliminal messages in visuals, journalistic ethics including the art of lying through photo manipulation. The class will utilize traditional and digital photographic tools.

CM 7311. Media Script Writing. 3 Semester Hours.

Explores various approaches and conventions of film, television, game, digital media, and audio visual script writing, with special emphasis on narrative and/or documentary production.

CM 7313. Video Design and Production. 3 Semester Hours.

The course will give participants an opportunity to explore the techniques employed in lighting, camera work, and audio manipulation for a full range of video production.

CM 7332. Public Relations Writing and Campaigns. 3 Semester Hours.

The study, analysis, and application of principles of and formats used in public relations communication to communicate with news media, professional audiences, and consumers. Participants learn how to collect, prepare and distribute information through print, digital, and other forms of public information campaigns that are used both internally and externally within an organization. Additionally, the course offers experience in the preparation and execution of campaign strategies, presentation of position papers, and scenarios to work out realistic and efficient solutions to communication and public relations problems.

CM 7334. Grant Proposal Writing. 3 Semester Hours.

This course is designed to teach the fundamental process of grant development for the beginning grant writer. Participants will be expected to develop a complete grant proposal suitable for submission to a funding agency. Those registering for the course should have conducted preliminary, independent research about a potential grant development project suitable for a major grant submission. Projects may be related to education, public works, museum programs, art, research, or similar areas. Specific projects are normally developed during the first two weeks of the course.

CM 7341. Interpersonal Communication. 3 Semester Hours.

Explores the theory and research pertaining to interpersonal communication skills in dyadic, group, and organizational contexts with emphasis on developing the skills necessary for effective personal and professional relationship building and maintenance, listening, problem solving, and conflict management. Other topics include the dynamics of culture and power in communicative interactions, the ethics of interpersonal communication, and differences in communicative styles.

CM 7343. Business Communication. 3 Semester Hours.

A study of style, organization, and formats used in business communication--both corporate and non-corporate--including interoffice communications, major letter formats, and business report writing. Emphasizes critical thinking, problem solving, and maturity in handling tone and style.

CM 7345. Applied Persuasion. 3 Semester Hours.

Explores the theory, practice, and research methodology of persuasion with the dual purpose of providing a scholarly understanding of persuasion and practical knowledge of the principles and tools of persuasion.

CM 7347. Technical Writing. 3 Semester Hours.

A study of the methods and processes organizations require to produce and use technical information through planning, drafting, and revising. Emphasis on the organization and presentation of written information.

CM 7350. News Media in the Digital Age. 3 Semester Hours.

Examines the theory, practice, and role of news and news products in shaping the public dialog. Includes consideration of the news as input in politics and policy making, and practica in the uses of news to shape and articulate public issues.

CM 7390. Quantitative Research Methods. 3 Semester Hours.

A survey of quantitative methods used to advance communication research. Includes an overview of statistical techniques employed to analyze, organize, interpret, and summarize information, as well as basic probability concepts, sampling techniques, and survey methods. Introduction to statistics recommended, but not required as a prerequisite.

CM 7396. Communication Internship. 3 Semester Hours.

Provides practical experience in selected communication fields under the guidance of practicing specialists. Supervised by a graduate faculty member. Prerequisite: 24 hours graduate work and approval of the graduate program director.

CM 7696. Communication Internship. 6 Semester Hours.

CM 8300. Qualitative Research Methods. 3 Semester Hours.

A survey of qualitative methods used in communication research. Provides students with hands-on application of qualitative approaches to research. Includes an overview of qualitative techniques employed to analyze, organize, interpret, and summarize information, as well as sampling techniques, and survey methods.

CM 9300. Foundations in Communication Theory. 3 Semester Hours.

This course introduces students to seminal and current literature on the various approaches to communication theory. Its primary purpose is to give participants an overview of the scholarship in the area. Students should leave the course with an understanding of their personal orientation among communication scholars and within an intellectual tradition or approach.

CM 9311. Rhetorical Theory. 3 Semester Hours.

This course traces the evolution of rhetorical theory through its major eras and configurations. Starting with the Sophists and pre-Socratics, participants will trace the intellectual path of rhetorical theory through the ancient period into medieval times, from the church fathers to fathers of the Renaissance, from the modern era into the post-modern world. Thus, participants should expect to leave the course with a strong understanding of the relationship among power, knowledge, and rhetorical theory throughout history.

CM 9321. Film Theory and Criticism. 3 Semester Hours.

The course provides an opportunity for participants to conduct a survey and engage in a critique of the theories offered by the various approaches to cinema, such as formalism, structuralism, semiotics, narratology, phenomenology, Marxism, psychoanalysis, and feminism. Participants will also have the opportunity to develop an overview of questions and concerns raised by film theorists. The course also provides a broad overview of the methods and practice of film criticism.

CM 9324. Communications Law and Ethics. 3 Semester Hours.

A study of the historical development of the First Amendment and how this history affects current communication practices. Participants will pay special attention to areas of law essential for mass communication practitioners, such as libel, invasion of privacy, copyright, and information access. The course also includes a discussion of the current patterns of regulation and deregulation in print and digital media.

CM 9343. Gender, Race, and Class in Communication Studies. 3 Semester Hours.

This course will address a range of issues relating to gender, race, and class within communication studies. Its primary aim, however, will be to describe, analyze, and discuss the issues that inform historic and current communication theories and practices in the interrelated fields of communication studies, feminist and gender studies, literary studies, cultural studies, new histories, as well as studies in race and post-colonialism.

CM 9344. Special Topics in Communication Study. 3 Semester Hours.

Directed focus on a specific topic within Communication Studies. Topics may focus on a specific application, structure, theory, criticism, etc. within the field of Communication Studies.

CM 9396. Capstone in Communication Studies. 3 Semester Hours.

Requires students to develop a capstone project or thesis in some area of communication. The course may be repeated for a total of 6 hours.