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: Principles and theories relevant to communication behavior within organizations which can be used to guide the way people communicate in organizations.
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: Study of Historical and foundational texts with opportunity to analyze texts tailored to students' specialization.
Description: In-depth study of the evolution of rhetorical theory from its origin to St. Augustine, with emphasis on rhetorical theory in Classical Greece and Rome.
Description: In-depth study of the evolution of rhetorical theory from the middle ages through the modern period, with emphasis on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British rhetorical thought.
Description: In-depth study of the development of rhetorical theory in the twentieth century.
Description: Literature and research pertaining to the basic psychological concepts, principles, and communication skills employed in effective instruction. Communication as it applies to instruction by studying and applying theories of learning and communication to instructional contexts.
Description: Review and analyze the seminal and current research related to communication in instructional contexts. Foundation for developing theory and generating original research.
Description: Investigation of current topics in instructional communication and speech communication education. Specific content depends on the semester the course is offered and the research interests of the instructor assigned.
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: 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: Examines consequential problems of communication in and around contemporary organizations. Recent subjects include communicating and organizing for social change.
Description: Explores current research foci of the faculty. Recent subjects include the development of a communication perspective on globalization.
Prerequisites: Admission to doctoral degree program and permission of supervisory committee chair