Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the Student Link for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• COM CM 527: Brand Experience Marketing
  Today's rapidly changing digital and media landscape calls for strategic and creative solutions that take into consideration emerging consumer behaviors and the new technologies that enable them. In this course, students create content and campaigns that consider the many different ways in which brands engage with their communities - paid and earned media, mobile apps, and branded utility. 4 credits.
• COM CM 529: Advanced Design Strategy and Software
  In this course students develop advanced design and new media skills while participating in multi-media lectures, critiques, and hands-on software skill building. While implementing individualized creative processes, students develop strategic projects from concept through to functional new media campaigns. The projects are continually updated to prepare students for emerging opportunities in the communication industry. 4 cr. Either sem.
• COM CM 531: Media Disruption
  This course examines the transformation of legacy business models across the media industry. Combining case study methodology and academic theory, the course offers unique insight into the forces of creative destruction, and how leadership must adapt to survive.
• COM CM 535: Political Campaigns
  Critical evaluation of political campaign strategies and tactics within the sociopolitical environment. The roles of campaign managers, media consultants, pollsters, press secretaries, and field operatives are studied. Analysis of the impact of press coverage, political advertising, and candidate debates on the electorate. 4 cr. Either sem.
• COM CM 539: Health Campaigns
  Health Campaigns involves the principles and practices of designing media campaigns to promote health behavior change, whether related to smoking and alcohol consumption, illicit drug use, physical activity and diet, condom use, public safety, and environmental issues. It centers on how health organizations and initiatives can achieve their goals for population-based health behavior change by strategically creating, distributing, and evaluating media campaigns and media messages. At the nexus of communication and public health, this course uses theory and persuasive elements as a basis for designing and implementing health media campaigns and media messages via different media, including traditional media, new media, and social media. With this foundation, students are tasked to evaluate extant health media campaigns and campaign messages and design their own original health media campaigns and campaign messages.
• COM CM 555: Advanced Media Writing
  Course focuses on the writer as content developer and transmedia storyteller. Assignments: online feature stories with accompanying slide show scripts for consumer and business audiences. Heart of course is writing a promotional video treatment/script package with accompanying promotional social media. Also includes sight & sound workshops. 4 cr. Spring semester.
• COM CM 561: Special Topics in Mass Communication
  Social Media Management - This class explores social media through seven key frameworks. The Historical Framework gives students a deeper understanding of how communications channels evolved into mass media, and later into social media. The Cultural Framework applies specific communication, social and psychological theories to the study of new media. The Functional Framework explores how and why people (and corporations) use social media. The Procedural Framework begins the class' study of how new media has shaped business operations and the communications process. The Organizational Framework continues the discussion of the business context for social media and introduces the need for social media management. The Technology Framework helps students understand and categorize the thousands of social networks, tools and platforms that have emerged as new media has matured.
• COM CM 700: Financial & Strategic Management for Communication Professionals
  The focus of the course is on two critical domains of modern business: financial and strategic management. Through lectures, readings, case studies, and team projects, the course will introduce students to the complexities 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. 1st sem.
• COM CM 701: Contemporary Public Relations
  Foundations of professional principles and practice in public relations for corporate, governmental, and nonprofit organizations. Includes history, organization, and scope of the field; its roots in social science; types of campaigns and programs; and professional ethics. Theories, strategies, and tactics in current practice emphasized. Explores opportunities and requirements for work in the field. 1st sem.
• COM CM 702: Advertising and Society
  Analyzes the impact of advertising on individuals and society and evaluates the ethical, moral, and legal questions relating to the advertising industry. The history of advertising and the rise of consumerism will be studied to create a paradigm for understanding the social effects of advertising. Students will study the issues of advertising in cyberspace and question of privacy and protection from intrusive communication messages. 1st sem.
• COM CM 703: Basic Media Writing
  CM 703 Begins a graduate level, two-semester immersion in American English communication writing. Portfolio finale serves as a bridge assignment to CM 707 Writing for Media Professionals in the spring semester. Introduces basic communication writing formats, including news releases, social media, features, profiles. Emphasizes interviewing, target marketing and publication options. Stresses tenets of plagiarism across media. Strong focus on creating quality copy in American English, which necessitates extensive work in grammar exercises and brainstorming workshops, quizzes, presentations, class participation, collaborative projects. Students fine-tune their writing and speaking skills as they analyze and rewrite their own copy.
• COM CM 704: Contemporary Mass Communication
  The history, practices, business models and technologies of contemporary mass media. Topics include mass media's forms, content, audiences and social effects; the state and fate of the printed word; the ups and downs of the Internet; media consolidation and the growing movement toward synergy; the future of independent media; and ethical and moral issues created by new technologies and old economic pressures. 1st sem.
• COM CM 707: Writing for Media Professionals
  Serves to provide an in-depth understanding and proficiency in communication writing and transmedia storytelling skills across a wide variety of off and online formats, including news releases, social media, features (off and online), Q & A interviews, websites, broadcast PSA's, slide shows, videos. Stresses plagiarism prevention, collaborative workshops, reading aloud, media strategies, editing, and interview techniques. Extensive writing and rewriting. Develops comprehensive writing skills for media professionals. Both semesters. Prerequisite CM 703, unless waived via writing placement test or consent of the instructor.
• COM CM 708: Principles and Practices of Advertising
  Overview of the nature, function, practice, and social, economic, and behavioral aspects of advertising. Student teams develop advertising plans, create campaigns, and explore problems of account management, creativity, production, and ethics. 1st sem.
• COM CM 709: Corporate Public Affairs
  Monitoring sociopolitical environment, managing corporate crises and confrontations, analyzing issues, formulating political strategies, developing programs of advocacy advertising, constituency communication, and public involvement. Case studies used. 2nd sem.
• COM CM 710: Communication Theory
  Examines origins, nature, and consequences of mediated communication and related processes and contexts. Reviews traditional theories of mass communication, derivative and developing theories on various communication media, including social and mobile. Furthermore, the course considers the application and utilization of theories for media professionals.
• COM CM 712: Consumer Insight & Account Planning
  Explores how to arrive at consumer insights that lead to better advertising and promotion. The course focuses on the set of skills necessary to create breakthrough advertising, including qualitative research, observation, interviewing skills, mapping and presentation tools. Students learn to write effective, creative briefs.
• COM CM 713: Media Law and Policy
  This course covers the laws that apply to communication and media practitioners and the policies that underlie them. Topics include the First Amendment, defamation, invasion of privacy, liability for physical and emotional harm, national security, copyright, trademark, regulation of advertising, obscenity and indecency.
• COM CM 714: Professional Presentations
  This course covers the essentials of effective presentation, from preparation (audience analysis, content development) to critical thinking when presenting. It is designed to place students in business and social settings that require a mastery of presentation skills in order to be successful. A combination of lecture, discussion, and hands-on practice and simulation, this course helps students exercise leadership through oral communication.
• COM CM 715: Public Relations in Nonprofit Settings
  Principles and practices of public relations in social, health, educational, and public service institutions. Analysis of the structure, publics, public relations, communication, and marketing programs unique to nonprofit agencies. Attention to recruitment and management of volunteers, fund-raising, budgeting, and intra- and inter-agency relationships.

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