Courses

Nonverbal aspects of human communication, including proxemics, kinesics, haptics, vocalics, eye behavior, human artifacts, and environments; the functions served by nonverbal behavior in interaction.

Sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic, and general semantic analysis of language as a component of human communication systems.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate understanding of fundamental perspectives on language in communication; use theories and concepts to analyze human behavior.
• Identify and appraise various approaches to language, their methodologies, and implications.
• Analyze features of conversational organization, such as turns and action sequences.
• Analyze how we accomplish basic everyday activities in conversation (e.g., story-telling, complaining, and blaming) and their implications for interpersonal relationships.
• Analyze how nonverbal behaviors contribute to communication.
• Demonstrate proficiency in using evidence to study and understand everyday communication processes.
• Create detailed transcriptions from tapes of ordinary talk.
• Analyze recordings and transcripts of ordinary talk in order to describe how conversational activities are accomplished.

The role of communication in social change, diffusion of innovations, and national development.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Apply an ecological approach to communication.
• Demonstrate how ecological levels are interrelated.
• Explain how ecological factors impact community engagement and practices through case studies.
• Determine appropriate communication strategies to enhance context-placed practices.
• Demonstrate an understanding of community-based principles and ethics.
• Identify how an ecological approach is relevant to certain careers working with communities.

Urban communication addresses the ways individuals, institutions, and information communication technology use organize urban life. This course helps students appreciate the city as a communication environment with its own communicative practices and processes, as well as variations in urban communication related to geography, culture, inequality, and other factors. Students will learn how contemporary urban issues can be understood and addressed through communication and will practice doing urban communication research.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Define the field of urban communication and relevant scholarly concepts.
• Describe how urban spaces “communicate” and promote communication.
• Explain points of convergence between cities and information communication technology (ICT) and media use.
• Examine approaches urban communities use to enhance civic engagement.
• Practice doing urban communication research.

This course takes a communication-based approach to key workplace processes that operate in the shadows (e.g., violence, wrongdoing, harassment) and what are called hidden organizations (e.g., terrorist cells, informal economy, secret societies).

 Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Describe the various problematic practices in organizations and the destructive forms of communication typically associated with them.
• Diagnose dark/problematic communication in organizations and make recommendations for addressing such problems.
• Recognize types of and examples of dark organizations based on the characteristics that determine a dark organization.
• Discuss the (in)effectiveness and (in)appropriateness of organizations and organizational practices that can be described as dark/hidden.

Examines leadership from a communicative perspective, integrating theory and practice. Combines traditional information components of university courses, with experimental learning activities such as interactive simulations, exercises, case studies, and an organizational simulation.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Apply communication theories, concepts and skills to the study and practice of leadership.
• Understand fundamental perspectives, theories and concepts of leadership as they apply in relationships, groups, organizational and civic settings.
• Demonstrate an analytic/critical perspective relative to leadership perspectives, theories and concepts.
• Systematically assess individual, group and organization leadership practices and situations.
• Acquire enhanced experience and competency in, and commitment to, personal leadership in relationship, group, organizational, and civic settings.

This class explores facets of patient-provider communication and their impact on patient and provider satisfaction and health outcomes.

 Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Describe characteristics of the U.S. healthcare system and analyze their influence on patient-provider communication.
• Appraise the models of the patient-provider relationship and consider how they have framed patient-provider communication.
• Compare different methodological approaches to studying patient-provider communication (e.g., communication as perceptions, as attitudes, as behavior).
• Identify features of patient-provider communication and social/ecological factors (e.g., technology, medical interpreting, physician training) and explicate their significance for the patient-provider relationship and/or health outcomes.

Application of principles and techniques in a targeted health communication campaign; social norms theory, experiential learning theories, effects of misperceptions on behavior, and needs of special student populations.

 Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Analyze the theoretical and pragmatic bases of health communication campaigns, in general, and dangerous drinking prevention campaigns specifically.
• Describe themselves as products and producers of culture and indicate the implications for them as instruments of both reinforcing and changing the culture of college drinking.
• Apply lessons learned from the scholarly literature on the social norms and brief intervention approaches to prevention of dangerous drinking among college students.
• Explain basic information about addiction and the challenges faced by students in recovery on a college campus.
• Create innovative RU SURE Campaign messages and implement campaign strategies in new locations.

This course will cover principles and methods of identifying, categorizing, and segmenting mass audiences. The more specifically a PR or MarCom professional identifies targets by demographic or other means (and where they can be found) the easier it is to find communication strategies and tactics that will reach those targets.  This course is designed to give the PR or MarCom professional these tools and awareness.

This course is ideal for the PR and MArketing Communication student who is looking to learn, by better defining his/her target audience, how to expose hot buttons for copy content and style, SEO/SEM keywords, hook development, and more.

Greater success of message delivery is gained by determining: where your target audience is, the best message placement, types of event development and venues, which will expose ideal strategic alliance and joint marketing opportunities, as well as develop and provide support for marketing and business decisions.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Analyze a produce or service offering and formulate, evaluate, and communicate conclusions and inferences to determine an ideal target audience from industry-acceptable media/marketing tools and sources of quantitative information.
• Develop and present a communications plan designed to reach a desired target audience using a variety of media choices, and begin to understand the complexities of budgeting and execution.

Research projects conducted under the direction of individual faculty members. Requires application.

Advanced topical seminar dealing with issues of concern to contemporary communication studies.

Advanced topical seminar dealing with issues of concern to contemporary communication studies.

Advanced topical seminar dealing with issues of concern to contemporary communication studies.

Advanced topical seminar, dealing with issues of concern to contemporary communication studies.

Issues in theory building in the field of communication.

Advanced topical seminar dealing with issues of concern to contemporary communication studies.

Family communication theory, research, and practice. Includes assessment and measurement of interaction patterns, pathologies, and intervention strategies.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Understand and articulate the fundamental concepts and theories related to family communication.
• Demonstrate mastery of these concepts by applying them to current social issues and questions related to family life.
• Demonstrate your ability to gather evidence to explore, understand, and debate possible outcomes of these issues with their classmates.
• Conduct independent research on family communication topics, and to demonstrate this ability through reviews of the literature and by successfully conducting an interview on family communication processes.

Research trends in current literature in interpersonal, group, organizational, mass, and intercultural communication, and in public relations and advertising.

Independent study projects in communication. Requires application. Does not count toward the major. Ranges form 1-3 credits.

Independent study projects in communication requires application. Does not count toward the major.

Ranges from 1 to 3 credits.

Ranges from 1 to 3 credits.

Supervised study in communication pedagogy. Reserved for tutors.  Requires application. Does not count toward major.