Here you will find a list of Communication and Media program classes as well as descriptions pertaining to each course number.
CC 307 — Studies in Personality and Culture
Culture is expressed through individual personalities, the product of both genetic unfolding and interaction with others in a specific cultural context. While a means of communication, language is also a way of organizing perception and understanding. In this course students will study the interaction between broad genotypes, individual personality, communication and culture.
CC 308 — Studies in Urbanization
This course emphasizes the study of cities and societies from a variety of perspectives, and examines a broad range of theoretical and practical public policy issues, including race and gender, immigration patterns, economic growth and decay, and population distribution.
CC 309 — Studies in Communication and Cultural Change
This course examines cultural change resulting from new technologies, scientific discoveries, demographic changes, political conflict, and changes in the environment. Special emphasis will be given to how effective communication can help to resolve (and miscommunication can escalate) conflicts and stresses arising from such change.
CM 199 — Communications & Media Perspectives Elective
CM 203 — Intro Communications & Media
Introduces theories and concepts of communication. Examines the evolution of different media forms and current media issues. Considers the impact of media and information technology. Analyzes how gender, class, sexuality, ethnicity and race shape and are shaped by media culture.
CM 301 — Mass Media Ethics
This course is designed to give students an understanding of what it means to act “ethically,” the tools to identify and analyze ethical issues, and knowledge of the ethical norms of print and broadcast journalism, photojournalism, advertising, public relations and entertainment media. It will examine various ethical decision-making models, theories and problems through selected case studies both from the textbook, supplemental readings and current events. After completing this course, students should be able to apply ethical theories, values and principles to the mass media, while developing their own ethical foundations and identities.
CM 302 — Web Design
Examines the technical, functional, and aesthetic principles of media design for the World Wide Web. Outlines the use of design tools, industry-standard guidelines, and access and interaction conventions. Requires students to apply design principles in designing and planning a website.
CM 304 — The Mediated Globe
This course examines global media institutions and international communication. We will outline the roles that film, television and other media formats play in forming and critiquing global, national and local cultural identities. We will analyze issues in global marketing, public relations and international and national customs and laws.
CM 306 — Studies in Mass Communication
This course examines the current state of print, broadcast and digital media as well as major theories of communication, as they currently exist in the 21st Century. Topics will include political and social effects, propaganda and public opinion, information versus entertainment and other relevant areas. Students will participate in weekly Discussion Board forums and develop research projects, individually or in groups, while using a variety of presentation media and techniques. This course examines specific topics in mass communication. Since this is not an introductory or survey course, the course focuses on selected topics in the academic field of mass communication and global mass media. Such topics will include the news media, journalism, advertising, public relations, media ethics, the relationship between media and the government, and the entertainment industry. The course will examine all forms of the mass media – print, broadcast, film, digital, social and Internet.
CM 307 — Studies in Personality and Culture
Culture is expressed through individual personalities, the product of both genetic unfolding and interaction with others in a specific cultural context. While a means of communication, language is also a way of organizing perception and understanding. In this course students will study the interaction between broad genotypes, individual personality, communication and culture.
CM 308 — The Mediated City
As the process of urbanization continues to shape our world, the city has become the primary context and setting for studying the development and relationships between communication, culture, and media. Cities are defined by the interplay and exchange of diverse perspectives historically shaped by different modes of technology. These mediated perspectives influence the way that we experience, negotiate and conceptualize our urban spaces and social relationships. This course will explore the construct of the city as a social site of communication through different technologies, scopes and scales.
CM 309 — Communication and Cultural Change
This course examines cultural changes resulting from new media
technologies and landscapes, scientific discoveries, economic developments, historical shifts and political conflicts. Special emphasis will be given to how effective understanding and communication about human behavioral patterns can help to identify and resolve problems arising from such changes.
CM 310 — Visual Communication
Examines visual communication theory and builds visual literacy. Outlines the history, philosophy, and practice of visual design. Analyzes visual communication strategies in advertising, entertainment, and other types of media. Students will learn to develop video content using a variety of applications for producing digital content for the web. Students will cultivate essential video editing skills and improve their understanding of visual media for creative expression. Each student will be required to actively share their work with other members of the class for group critique and discussion.
CM 311 — Writing for Digital Media
Examines the theory and practice of writing for digital media. Describes a selection of current applications and mainstream and alternative digital media types. Outlines the technical limitations of specific platforms. Requires that students create a variety of individual and group writing projects. On average, Americans spend more of their waking life consuming media than they do interacting with “reality.” In 2018 a study found that American adults spend over 11 hours a day on average interacting with various media (Nielsen 2018). This course approaches the rise of digital media from the perspective of writers and creators and blends theory and practice.
CM 312 — Social Media
Examines the theoretical background and the history of social media. Outlines the use of social media in marketing. Describes and discusses the major social media platforms. Uses case studies to analyze and critique brand management, the importance of influencers and advocates, and online communities and cultures. Requires a term-long project tracking social media presence.
CM 314 — Film and Television
Examines the relationship of film and television using major theoretical fields of criticism. Outlines how the mediums of film and television interact with cultural and social issues. Analyzes the works of individual episodes and films. The visual materials selected for this course reflect the changing face of media in relation to the social issues of sexuality, gender, race and social class. Weekly discussions allow students to study these issues through the lens of psychoanalytic criticism; students will acquire a global understanding of how culture shapes the media and how mass media, in turn, shapes culture.
CM 316 — Film History
This course surveys the development of cinema as an art form, an industry, and a medium of communication from 1930 to the present—that is, from the arrival of sound, to a moment when the medium is once more undergoing transformation as the result of digital technologies, globalization, and media convergence. Given its scope, the course does not aspire to comprehensively “cover” this period in film history, but rather, to provide students with a working knowledge of some major texts and topics—and to leave open the opportunity for students to explore others. Although Hollywood will be a point of reference throughout the semester, a primary goal of the course is to examine other national film traditions both in their own contexts and in relation to each other. Another recurring concern will be film’s capacity to represent and reflect on its own history—and the extent to which the construction of “history” is subject to the competing interpretations of viewers, critics, and scholars. Throughout the semester, we will read contemporary reviews of the films we screen along with essays that provide critical frameworks for our discussions and which introduce major terms, concepts, and theoretical debates. Some of the questions we will ask: How are films shaped by the context of their production and reception? How do we understand film—a medium that has frequently been seen as “just entertainment”—in relation to social, cultural, and political forces? What are the logistics and politics of “doing” film history? How do dominant narratives of film history get generated, and what may be excluded, overstated, or minimized by those accounts? Finally, how can we as scholars participate in critiquing those accounts, and generating new ones?
CM 320 — Digital Storytelling
This course examines the use of video in contemporary discourse from practical and theoretical perspectives. Students will study, analyze, and perform visual storytelling techniques through reading and writing assignments and completing hands-on projects. Students will produce short narrative videos to present ideas for diverse audiences using a range of rhetorical strategies.
CM 324 — Data Analytics and Visualization
InfoWorld’s Doug Bordonaro describes data literacy as “the ability…to derive meaningful insights from data and apply those insights.” In this course we will do exactly this: find, organize, analyze, visualize, and present communications and media-focused data. We will explore a wide variety of different data visualization applications used by media professionals. Storytelling will be an important tool to help communicate our findings. Those with little to no experience with statistics and data visualization are welcome!
CM 330 — Frameworks of Photography
This course will give you the tools to answer these questions and analyze photographs, both historically and technically. It will show you different ways of how to read and interpret images. It will also offer you a conceptual understanding about the issues confronting the field of contemporary photography as well as the skills to create your own photos for creative and professional use. By the end of the semester, you will be conversant about the practice of photography and have in hand a collection of original images and text that has been workshopped and critiqued by your peers. Through our units, you will learn how to: define photography; tell a story in a single frame; convey a story through a series of photos; make sense of everyday images; evaluate different modes of
portraiture; differentiate between photos and AI images. A simple phone camera and a basic editing app will be the essential tools you will need for your assignments. (Of course, you may use whatever kind of camera you like.) Your main purpose will be to develop strong ideas behind the photographs you produce. Because you will be shooting a lot in this course, your own photography should dramatically improve. Most importantly, you will start to “see” things around you very differently.
CM 333 — Corporate Communication
Introduces writing techniques for effective corporate communications. Outlines the history, function, and traditional practices of public relations. Analyzes case studies in corporate communications and public relations. Requires that students create a variety of individual and group writing assignments.
CM 411 — Advanced Mass Media Research
Reinforces research theories, strategies, and applications in the media and marketing industries. Outlines the function of quantitative and qualitative research, content analysis, surveys, and focus groups. Provides hands-on experience with a variety of research processes. Requires that students conduct media research, and critically use and present research data and statistics.
CM 490 — Topics in Communication and Media
Introduction to Digital Journalism: You don’t have to be a journalist to apply a journalist’s skillset to your own professional ac”vi”es. In this course, you’ll learn the power of thinking like a journalist and how to put journalis”c tools and techniques to work in a wide range of non-journalis”c se#ngs. For those who are aspiring journalists, this course is for you as well, since everything we cover is in the standard journalist toolkit.
Television and Popular (American) Culture: For over 75 years, television has played a crucial role in in mediating historic events, framing social problems, and entertaining the masses through a variety of programming genres. The television industry has gone through major shifts over the past few decades, with the rise of new technologies like cable and streaming, but TV’s centrality to the pop culture landscape remains clear. This course explores how television has developed as a form of popular culture and challenges students to reflect on their own viewing practices, past and present. We will think about how television creates meaning, and how it impacts our understanding of politics, social issues, and personal identity. Students will have the opportunity to sample episodes from throughout TV history, analyzing the unique formal components of televisual texts compared to other types of media, such as film and radio. Throughout the semester, we will incorporate creative analytical approaches and dialogue-focused assignments to build a vibrant, fun learning community.
CM 491 — Independent Research
Independent research or project under faculty guidance. Written contract and report required.
CM 499 — Communication and Media Capstone
Capstone academic research project, creative project, or applied project demonstrating achievement of Communication and Media program outcomes. Includes resource and literature review as well as reflection on course and program learning.
