Courses

• COM CM 831: International Communication
  Factors of international communication; cultural, economic, political, and social influences. Role of communication media in effecting social change in a wide variety of countries.
• COM CM 901: Directed Studies
  Supervised reading, fieldwork, or research for student's specific needs.
• COM CM 909: Thesis or Project Research
  
• COM CO 101: The World of Communication
  Introduces students to many fundamental principles of communication. Students also learn about the intertwined nature of communication professions as they explore the major fields of study in communication. Guest lectures from various industries inform students of potential future career paths.
• COM CO 102: Special Seminars
  COM 102 offers multiple sections each semester in a variety of student services, career services and technological topics. These “added-value” seminars do not count toward graduation requirements, but do offer valuable insight and tools to be successful in your college career and beyond.
• COM CO 201: Introduction to Communication Writing
  The College of Communication's core undergraduate writing course. Students refresh their grammatical and stylistic skills and apply those skills to professional writing assignments. Prepares students to write with clarity, conciseness, precision, and accuracy for the communication fields.
• COM CO 350: Mass Media in Australia
  Examines the development of Australian media phenomena, with special reference to current events. Introduces students to the media in Australia and to critical approaches to media studies through an account of the history of the various media and a consideration of contemporary media issues.
• COM CO 510: Special Topics
  An interdisciplinary range of topics intended to be of broad interest to students is offered. Details are made available by the specific department offering a special topics course each semester. Topic varies with the instructor. Recent offerings include Argumentation and Rhetoric.
• COM CO 570: The Comment Workshop
  Students write and edit The Comment, the graduate student magazine of the College of Communication. Editors will consider and story-centered piece (creative non-fiction, feature, film script, short fiction) that reflects the current issue's theme. Students will develop their research and writing skills (with special attention paid to voice, pacing, and sub-text) and will have ample opportunity to revise. The magazine, which is professionally designed, will be published in the spring. The course is open to students from all three departments, but enrollment is limited to 10. Please submit samples at the Writing Director's office, Room 220A.
• COM CO 700: Financial & Strategic Management for Communications Professionals
  The focus of the course is on two critical domains of modern business: financial and strategic management. Through lectures, readings, cases studies and team projects, the course will introduce students to the complexity and challenges facing today's communications industry manager along with practical understanding of how businesses operate and even succeed despite the obstacles. The goal of the course is to help students understand the fundamentals of business enterprise with an emphasis on how these apply to the media industries. The course covers the fundamentals of a business plan, including revenue models, marketing, venture capital, finance, and accounting in the context of the media landscape.
• COM CO 704: Teaching Techniques
  Required for and open only to COM CO 101 graduate teaching assistants. Designed to acquaint teaching assistants with strategies for effective teaching and equip them with techniques for conducting the basic undergraduate communication course. Students increase their proficiency in leading discussion sections, appraising student progress, and handling problem situations.
• COM FT 303: History of Television
  In this course we will examine the ways in which industrial factors and communication policies have shaped the medium that sits in 99% of U.S. homes. We will begin by examining television's roots in radio. The remainder of the course will be broken down into three stages of television history advanced by Rogers, Epstein and Reeves (2002). The first category is TVI- the period of three-network dominance. The next stage, TVII, is characterized by the rise of cable television and the decentering of the three networks. We will conclude the course by considering the current stage of television- TV III- in which the era of "on demand" has further destabilized traditional notions of content, audiences, producers, scheduling and technologies. In addition to tracing this development historically and thematically, we will confront it critically, analyzing the connections between power and money in the medium of television.
• COM FT 304: Film Industry
  A survey of current business trends in the motion picture industry. Focuses on script development; studio structure; agents, attorneys, and contracts; independent filmmaking; and distribution.
• COM FT 306: History of Cinema
  This course is designed to introduce students to the multi-faceted terrain of film history encompassing industry, aesthetics, filmmakers, society, culture and politics. Through lecture, discussion and screenings, students will encounter defining moments in the U.S. and international cinema. Most of the course will take a chronological approach, introducing students to film in its infancy and moving through its maturation in various nations. The final weeks of the course will offer the students case studies in cinema- an approach that offers them a glimpse of what they can look forward to in upper level film studies courses. 4 cr. 1st sem
• COM FT 310: Storytelling for Film & Television
  Required of all undergraduate students in Film & Television. An introduction to the art and craft of storytelling through the moving image. Particular emphasis will be given to writing short scripts. Topics covered include character development and narrative structure as it applies to shorts, features and episodic television.
• COM FT 316: The Impact of Film and Television in Modern Britain
  Examines selected elements of British film, television and other broadcast media, marketing, promotions and new technologies. Students will study major trends and trans-Atlantic influences in media.
• COM FT 317: British Cinema and Society
  Surveys the changing nature of modern British culture and society, using cinema as the main source of evidence. The course is theme-oriented, focusing on issues including social class, regionality and ethnicity, racism, gender and sexuality, youth culture, and popular culture. Students screen one or two films per class meeting and augment their understanding of cinematic themes with assigned reading.
• COM FT 318: British Television Studies
  Examines the content and form of British television, contrasting it with American television programming. Special emphasis on the study of genres and themes. Genres unclude fictional presentations, actuality, entertainment magazines, and variety shows, as well as children's television and sport. Themes include gender, cultural diversity, and social class.
• COM FT 325: Producing I
  Required of all students in the Television Program. An introductory course that takes the student through the various stages of production, beginning with concept and ending with full-fledged, camera-ready proposals. Students are introduced to issues of finance, scheduling and organization; they learn to keep budget and concept on track. May be taken sophomore year.
• COM FT 345: Australian Cinema
  An introduction to Australian cinema by examining the relationship between Australian social history, cultural history, art history, and cinema. In order to understand the "national" nature of Australian films, the course addresses two periods of film production: the first wave from the late 1910s, '20s, and '30s; and the restructuring of the film industry with the so-called new wave of the 1970s and '80s.

Note that this information may change at any time.

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