Courses

The Department of Communication Studies offers courses that explore the major media, practices, and problems of a communication-intensive society. Topics include—but are not limited to—bargaining and negotiation, collective decision making, organizational innovation, human-computer interaction, Internet use, popular culture, social movements, and the history of political discourse in the United States. Students work with scholarship from the humanities and the social sciences, and coursework emphasizes the analytical and ethical requirements of responsible scholarship.

Featured Courses

Media & Publics Across Cultures (COMM_ST 221-0)

This course examines communication and culture in an increasingly digital and globalized present, using a combination of theoretical texts and case studies to understand the complex relationship between media and publics around the world.

Communication & Technology (COMM_ST 227-0)

Examines factors informing and shaping the design of everyday objects and our virtual world; psychological aspects of computer-mediated communication and virtual collaboration, including impression formation, group dynamics, and social networks; social and institutional structures in which human communication is situated.

Intro to Health Communication (COMM_ST 246-0)

Introduction to health communication. Key areas of the field, with focus on providers, patients and their families, hospital networks, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies.

Power in Entertainment (COMM_ST 274-0)

How power is created, sustained, and challenged in entertainment media; how and why individuals, groups, and corporations achieve and maintain dominance in art, film, television, gaming, and digital and social media.

Communication and Misinformation (COMM_ST 303-0)

This course will explore the factors that make people vulnerable to misinformation and the reasons that corrections so often fail to change their minds. We will also analyze how those tendencies are enhanced by media technologies and exploited by various stakeholders. In addition, we will consider possible remedies that could be employed to combat misperceptions. Finally, students will put knowledge into practice, by producing an original podcast episode in small groups.

Voice, Violence, and Democracy (COMM_ST 317-0)

Understanding how and why "democracy" has come to be regarded today as the only "legitimate" form of government; explored by examining alternative roads to modernity and democratic polity taken by different countries through the dialectic of voice (rhetoric) and violence in contemporary democracies.

Organizational Leadership (COMM_ST 350-0)

This course enables students to think critically about leadership in organizations by understanding five facets of leadership. The five facets are areas of theorizing that explain what makes leadership effective: features, functions, form, fit, and focus. We will learn to answer questions about who is influential, what makes for good leadership, when (under what conditions?), and why (through what mechanisms?) is leadership successful. We explore leadership concepts using a set of illustrative case studies of interesting people who have led interesting lives of impact.

Social Network Analysis (COMM_ST 352-0)

Use of social network analysis to understand the growing connectivity and complexity in the world around us on different scales, ranging from small groups to the web. How we create social, economic, and technological networks; how these networks enable and constrain our attitudes and behavior.

Interactive Museum Exhibit Design (COMM_ST 374-0)

This course is for undergraduate students interested in the design of interactive museum exhibits. Students will engage with readings about the role museums play in public education and communication, how to design museum exhibits, the role technology can play in making museums interactive, and methods for evaluating learning and engagement at museum exhibits. Individual assignments will include analyzing and presenting on an existing museum exhibit and creating a design pitch for a novel museum exhibit. Students will work in groups towards the end of the quarter to develop an in-depth design and evaluation plan for a novel museum exhibit and, as the final project, create a paper prototype of the exhibit. No previous design or technology experience is needed for students to enroll in this course.

Digital Propaganda and Repression (COMM_ST 379-0)

Digital media and technologies, often considered liberation technology, have increasingly been employed by governments and non-political entities for political propaganda and repression. This course will examine the practices and implications of propaganda and repression within the digital media landscape. We will explore the role of digital media and technologies in authoritarian regimes, the common strategies and applications of digital propaganda and repression, and consider how various actors implement these tactics, along with their consequences and global impacts. Through course readings, in-class discussions, and student-led projects, students will develop a critical understanding of the interplay between digital media, politics, and civil society.