Graduate Catalog 2010-12

Communication

Note: Additional work will be required for graduate credit in 400-level courses.

COMM 450     Communication Skills for Training and Development                            3
Prereq.:  Junior standing or above. For graduate students, COMM 500 (may be taken concurrently). Application of communication strategies for training and development in public and private corporate and institutional settings. Additional written work will be required for graduate students. Irregular. 

COMM 451     Environmental Communication                                                                3
Prereq.:  Junior standing or above. Knowledge, attitude, and behavior-change strategies related to environmental and natural resource conservation issues. Coercive, incentive based, and communication-based change strategies will be contrasted. Additional written work will be required for graduate students. On demand. 

COMM 454     Communication and Social Change                                                           3
Prereq.:  Junior standing or above. For graduate students, COMM 500 (may be taken concurrently).  Study of the relationship between communication and social change and the impact of socio-political and communication strategies on the achievement of effective community development and social change objectives. Additional written work will be required for graduate students. Fall. 

COMM 500     Introduction to Graduate Studies in Communication                             3
Introduction to the theoretical, mythological, and philosophical perspectives that constitute the study of organizational communication and public relations. Fall.

COMM 501     Theories of Human Communication within an Organizational Context 3
Prereq.:  COMM 500. Critical review of theoretical traditions in communication and information sciences with emphasis on major causal, systems, and rules approaches to the study of organizational and managerial communication. An examination of human communication from the perspective of the social and behavioral sciences, the natural sciences, and the humanistic traditions. Spring.

COMM 503     Research Methods in Communication                                                      3
Prereq.:  Completion of 18 credits in COMM graduate courses. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies including survey, experimental, focus group, ethnographic, and contents analysis. Students develop a research proposal including a literature review and research questions/hypotheses. Spring.

COMM 504     Organizational Communication Audits                                                     3
Prereq.:  COMM 500 or permission of instructor. Study of information/communication flow and patterns, and formal/informal networks. Case studies of relational, environmental, and structural communication problems form a basis for discussion. Fall. (E)

COMM 505     Persuasive Communication                                                                       3
Prereq.:  COMM 500 (may be taken concurrently) or permission of department chair. Theories and empirical research related to the influence of audiences external to an organization. Fall.

COMM 506     Case Studies in Public Relations                                                                3
Prereq.:  COMM 500 or permission of instructor. Case studies of public relations/promotions principles and processes in variety of internal and external, public and private, for-profit and non-profit contexts. This is a link course with COMM 406. No credit given to students with credit for COMM 406. Spring. (E)

COMM 507     Campaign Planning and Evaluation                                                          3
Prereq.:  COMM 500 or permission of instructor. Methods and procedures used to plan, monitor, and evaluate communication campaigns. Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies are explored. Fall. (E)

COMM 508     Public Relations Writing Strategies                                                          3
Prereq.:  COMM 500 or permission of department chair. Critically examines most common writing tools and formats used in the professional practice of Public Relations. Techniques focus on developing press releases, feature stories, pitch letters, op-eds, and newsletters. Irregular.

COMM 512     Communication & Change                                                                         3
Prereq.: COMM 500. Examination and critical analysis of existing theories and paradigms of communication and development (social change) and evaluation of current approaches and methods to the use of communication (Interpersonal, Folk/Traditional, Group and Mass Media) for development/social change objectives. Irregular.

COMM 522     Corporate Communication                                                                        3
Prereq.: COMM 500. Communication of an organization with its investors, customers, and employees. Interpersonal communication, media campaigns, and training programs are among the strategies examined. Focus will be on the use of media in public relations and corporate advertising processes and related theoretic and empirical research. Spring. (E)

COMM 543     Intercultural Communication                                                                    3
Study and critical examination of theories regarding how communication in and between multinational organizations must be modified to cope with cross-cultural differences. Such cross-cultural differences as those involved in conflict resolution, motivation, and managerial styles and their communication implications may be considered. Fall. (O)

COMM 544     Strategies in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution                                   3
Prereq.: COMM 500. Study of the theories and empirical research regarding negotiation and conflict resolution strategies and appropriate communication patterns unique to each approach and their impact on an organization's effectiveness. Fall. (O)

COMM 551     Policy Issues in Organizational Communication                                      3
Prereq.: COMM 500. Examines communication's impact on decision-making, planning, organizational policy, and ethics. Spring. (E)

COMM 562     Communication and High-Speed Management                                       3
Prereq.: COMM 500. Study of theory and empirical research which delineates the communication patterns necessary for the effective use of new high-speed management tools. Complex coordination patterns peculiar to processes of communication among managers and employees resulting from the application of these tools will be examined. Fall. (O)

COMM 585     Special Topics                                                                                             3
Prereq.: COMM 500. Study of selected topics in organizational and managerial communication. May be repeated once with different topic. Irregular.

COMM 590     Independent Study                                                                            1 TO 3
Prereq.: Completion of Communication Core or permission of instructor. Reading and research in an approved topic under the guidance of a faculty member in the Communication department. May be repeated with different topics for a maximum of six credits. On demand.

COMM 597     Special Project                                                                                             3
Prereq.:  COMM 500 and a 3.00 overall GPA. Preparation of a special project under the supervision of an advisor. Students must have 24 credits completed or in progress in the M.S. Communication program. On demand.

COMM 599     Thesis                                                                                                           3
Prereq.:  COMM 500 and a 3.00 overall GPA. Preparation of the thesis under the supervision of the thesis advisor. Students must have 24 credits completed or in progress in the M.S. Communication program. On demand.