Communication Studies (COMM)
Description: Relationship between gender and communication. Theories and research on gender and communication, serving as the basis for studying the interrelationships among language, social reality, sex role stereotypes, and cultural values.
Description: Theories of mass media, digital media and culture as the basis for investigation of human communication in a variety of contexts and activities.
Description: In-depth exploration of interpersonal communication theory and research across contexts. How people interact to create, maintain, and dissolve relationships.
Description: Topic varies.
Prerequisites: Admission to masters degree program and permission of major adviser
Description: Systematic introduction to the discipline of communication studies, focusing upon the various dimensions of scholarship essential to successful pursuit of an advanced degree in communication studies. Function of communication studies research, surveys major research trends of the discipline, examines epistemology from a human communication perspective, and helps to develop writing and research skills.
Description: In-depth study of the development of rhetorical theory in the twentieth century.
Description: Introduction to the theories, concepts, and research on intergroup communication, personal and social identity, and social categorization. Communicative processes associated with defining self and others including social comparison, prejudice and discrimination, and social conflict.
Description: Understand the entanglement between race and varying global systems of domination (imperialism, settler-colonialism, colonialism, neocolonialism, racial-capitalism). Interrogate, un-do, and reimagine the colonial and imperialist assumptions underwriting the politics of knowledge production in the field of Rhetorical Studies.
Description: Investigation of current topics in the research between cultural processes and human communication.
Description: In-depth study of the influences of communication behavior on political events. Communication within political campaigns and governmental processes.
Description: An introduction to the foundational and contemporary issues of health communication, including illness identity, patient-provider communication, family influence, social support, community-based interventions, health disparities, and future directions for the subfield.
Description: Emphasizes the role of communication in defining health problems and creating communication-based intervention solutions to improve health equity and reduce preventable differences in health outcomes based on gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, geography, age, sexual orientation, disability, and mental health.
Description: Examine a global perspective on the relationship between culture and health communication. Explore key theoretical frameworks, case studies, and examples from health communication from a global perspective. Topics include how culture is addressed in healthcare settings, health messages, campaigns and interventions, health meanings, health narratives, and the structural and social determinants of health. Review and synthesize the current health communication literature on how culture is defined and discussed in health communication theory and practice. Understanding theory-based applications of culture for achieving greater health equity globally within the context of health communication with the broad goal to build the research skills necessary for studying culture in the field of health communication.
Description: In-depth examination and analysis of community-based participatory research approaches. Key topics include the CBPR vision and scope, theoretical foundations, relationship-building processes, cultural humility, power sharing, reflexivity and positionality, diverse methods, ethical considerations, data analysis, interpretation, dissemination, sustainability, and advocacy.
Description: Explores indigeneity and power through the traditions of rhetoric and public culture, with attention to U.S.-based and global Indigenous peoples, experiences, and communities. Incorporates diverse theoretical perspectives to examine the social, cultural, and political impacts of these concepts on Indigenous communities. Emphasis on developing practical strategies to effectively address the ongoing problems of settler colonialism, racism, and Indigenous erasure.
Description: Fundamental concepts, theories, and research in interpersonal communication. Selected problems and contemporary research.
Description: Concepts, theories, and research in family communication. Selected problems and contemporary research across a variety of family contexts.
Description: Surveys current research in interpersonal communication. Issues, direction and methodology in interpersonal communication.
Description: In-depth exploration of aspects of interpersonal and family communication traditionally considered negative and destructive to understand the potentially (dys)functional aspects of these behaviors and processes. Focuses on impact on human health.
Description: Explores theory and research that situates narratives as central to making sense of, creating, and coping with our relational lives. Emphasis on how narratives and storytelling are linked to mental, physical, and relational health both within and outside the context of health care.
Description: Advanced course in rhetorical criticism and textual analysis. Designing and conducting an in-depth research perspective from a critical perspective.
Description: Contemporary approaches to scholarship on movements, social protest, and counterpublics within rhetoric and media studies with a focus on hegemony, embodiment, and coalitions.
Description: Introduction to quantitative research methodology and analysis. Paradigmatic assumptions, reading and interpreting quantitative research studies, and quantitative research design and analysis. Posing research questions and/or hypotheses, quantitative measurement and study design, data collection, and univariate statistical analyses.
Description: Theory and practice of interpretive research methodologies and methods. Individual and/or group research projects are planned, conducted, and reported.
Description: Advanced course focusing on the critical analysis of cultural artifacts, especially upon the relationship of media, language, and culture. Designing and conducting a research project from a cultural studies perspective.
Description: Examines post-positivist, interpretive and critical perspectives on organizational communication research and their use to creatively explore problematic communication situations.
Description: Review extant literature on provider-patient relationships, exploring in-depth the current and contemporary theoretical and methodological approaches to studying patient-provider encounters. Topics covered include patient uncertainty, shared decision-making, caregiving, difficult conversations, racially discordant communication between patients and providers, and implicit bias with the goal of developing strategies for health interventions such as patient aids and improving patient decision-making. Patient-provider dynamics involve communication between patients, family members, and medical teams in healthcare settings involving all types of providers (e.g., oncologists, nurses, physical therapists, patient navigators, and medical teams). Theories guiding topics covered include problematic integration theory, co-cultural theory, communicative disenfranchisement theory, communication accommodation theory, bilingual health communication, and more.
Prerequisites: Admission to doctoral degree program and permission of supervisory committee chair