About graduate credit: Students receive graduate credit for 5000-level courses. Students may also receive graduate credit for undergraduate courses numbered 4500-4999, but only with the graduate advisor’s approval and the course instructor’s permission. Further, the Graduate School only allows two courses at the undergraduate level to count toward the M.A. degree in Communication Studies. Courses 4500-4999 may not always be open to graduate students.
Complete Graduate Studies Course List
Organizational Communication Courses
Communication and Media Courses
Interpersonal Communication Courses
Intercultural Communication Courses
Political Communication Courses
Organizational Communication
COMM 5220. Communication Technologies (3 credits)
Seminar on design, usage, and social impact of electronic mail, communication through computer networks, and new technologies of organizational communication such as group decision support systems (GDSS). Each student will study an actual application of a major communication technology in an organization. May be repeated up to 3 credits.
COMM 5510. Organizational Communication (3 credits)
Communication strategies and patterns of private and governmental organizations, including research on communication systems. May be repeated up to 3 credits.
COMM 5530. Leadership Communication (3 credits)
Examination of traditional theories and concepts of leader-follower dynamics; presentation of cognitive, systems, and symbolic interpretative views of leadership with an emphasis on persuasion and motivation in leader-follower interactions. May be repeated up to 3 credits.
COMM 5550. Case Studies in Leadership Communication (3 credits)
Students will assess, synthesize, integrate, and evaluate research in the area of leadership and organizational communication. Students will interact with modern topics related to communication and organizations through the analysis and discussion of various cases pulled from current events in organizational research. COMM 5550 is the graduate version of COMM 4550. Additional work will be required for Graduate Students.
COMM 5560. Ethics & Diversity in Leadership Communication (3 credits)
This course provides students with an opportunity to explore the issues related to ethical decision-making and personal ethical development as they apply to interpersonal communication, followership, organizations, diversity, and organizational citizenship. Additional work will be required for Graduate Students.
COMM 5998. Communication Internship for Graduate Students (3 credits)
Internship opportunity to apply what students have learned to the real world. Restricted to majors. Prerequisite: 9 credits of M.A. degree. May be repeated up to 3 credits.
Communication and Media
COMM 5220. Communication Technologies (3 credits)
Seminar on design, usage, and social impact of electronic mail, communication through computer networks, and new technologies of organizational communication such as group decision support systems (GDSS). Each student will study an actual application of a major communication technology in an organization. May be repeated up to 3 credits.
COMM 5230. Strategic Communication (3 credits)
This course covers history, theory, and research related to the use of strategic organizational communication to change attitudes. The course is a survey course designed to help you understand how organizations create targeted, creative, research-based communication to accomplish their objectives. Students will examine the role of communication in organizational planning and execution of advertising, marketing, public relations, and social change. Strategic Communication provides insight into how communicators use critical and creative thinking to gather, organize, evaluate and deliver information in a culturally diverse world. Graduate students will be required to fulfill advanced research and presentation requirements. May be repeated up to 3 credits.
Interpersonal Communication
COMM 4620. Deception and Communication (3 credits)
Deceptive communication including nonverbal indicators of lies, types of lies, and the influence of relationships on lying behavior and interpretation. May be repeated up to 3 credits.
COMM 5610. Interpersonal Communication (3 credits)
Theories of interpersonal communication and communication within a relationship, including the study of relevant models, contexts, and constructs. May be repeated up to 3 credits.
COMM 5630. Family Communication (3 credits)
This course examines cutting-edge research on family communication, as well as classic theories and research findings that have influenced and revolutionized the way scholars conceptualize family interaction. Topics include basic family communication processes, communication in family subsystems, communication during family stress, and the role of family interaction in health and well-being. Students will explore how family relationships are built, maintained, and destroyed by communication as well as the potentially important and long-lasting effects of family relationships on individuals.
COMM 5640. Nonverbal Communication (3 credits)
This course focuses on human physical behaviors as the basis of communication between persons. This physical behavior includes such variables as voice, face, eyes, posture, gesture, space, territory, clothing, and touch. The content of the course considers the individual and social factors affecting the production of such behaviors, and the effects of such behaviors on others' attitudes, perceptions, cognitions, and relationships. Applications of research and theory in nonverbal communication to infant development, personality, sex differences, marital satisfaction, relationship development, culture, aging, and brain functioning are also studied throughout the course.
Intercultural Communication
COMM 4640. International Communication (3 credits)
Exploration of the forms and channels of communication substantially influenced by international cultural and political factors. Covers: global communication technology; news, information, and entertainment flows; international diplomacy and negotiation. May be repeated up to 3 credits.
COMM 4730. Environmental Communication (3 credits)
Examines the link between communication and environment within the context of communication scholarship. Topics include sense of place, cultural approaches to interacting with the environment as well as exploring current themes surrounding the environment. May be repeated up to 3 credits.
Political Communication
COMM 5210. Political Communication (3 credits)
Political communication theory, research, and issues. Empirical studies of campaigns, movements, news media, voter decision-making, political participation, socialization, and knowledge. Political theory, field research, communication science findings, and research methods. May be repeated up to 3 credits.
COMM 5120. Persuasion Theory (3 credits)
Work with an actual persuasion campaign, such as public information, political, or commercial marketing campaigns. Includes case studies of large-scale persuasion efforts, current theoretical models of persuasion processes, and methods for studying, evaluating, and refining messages for optimal effects. Prerequisite: COMM 3120: Persuasion Theory and Practice or consent of instructor. May be repeated up to 3 credits.
Method & Theory Seminars
COMM 5110. Theories of Communication (3 credits)
The theories covered in this course are intended to provide you with a foundational background for future graduate courses that will explore theoretical and topical areas of study in more depth. May be repeated up to 3 credits.
COMM 5130. Quantiative Research Methods (3 credits)
Seminar in the quantitative study of human communication phenomena, research design, and statistical analysis. May be repeated up to 3 credits.
COMM 5140. Qualitative Research Methods (3 credits)
Survey of qualitative research methods in the study of human communication, including historical and critical approaches, interviewing, participant-observation, and communication ethnography. Students apply methods to their own research. May be repeated up to 3 credits.
