The Department of Communication Studies offers a
variety of program areas, including speech communication, print and
electronic journalism, advertising, public relations, media theory and
history, as well as radio, television, and film/video production. While
each of these program areas have distinct outcomes in regard to
professional competence, the faculty makes a strong effort to work
collaboratively to assure that the measure of success in earning a
degree in Communication Studies is defined in three departmental
outcome goals which we seek to make one in the learning process:
- Oral and written communication competence.
- The development of critical thinking skills.
- The development of both social and professional skills.
We recognize that the development of
"professional skills" involve both general and specific outcomes.
General outcomes include producing students who display professional
standards in regard to interpersonal, intercultural, and organizational
communication skills, as well as professional work habits (punctuality,
reliability, ethical discernment, teambuilding, etc.). Specific
professional skills taught in the Department prepare students to
succeed in the professional areas of business communication, health
communication, advertising, public relations, film, broadcasting, and
journalism.
The Department makes a conscious effort to assess
our curricula, teaching, as well as learning processes, and
student/faculty competence, on the basis of student learning outcomes.
We take pride in our reputation as a "teaching" department.
These outcome goals must equally serve students
who will be immediately entering the workplace following the attainment
of their undergraduate degree, as well as those who will be entering
graduate school programs in a wide variety of academic areas (law,
business, speech communication, journalism, film, among others).
In every departmental course/lab,
we consciously seek to employ specific learning process options that
reinforce the three goals above. For example, in a film/media
production class, student work is not only graded on professional
standards of technical skill, but also on the ability of the student to
give an oral presentation concerning their film/video production, as
well as the ability to turn in written work that demonstrates an
ability to apply a critical/theoretical/historical analysis of the
production. The same approach is likewise applied to professional
internships.
Arts and Sciences, College of