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 MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.
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COM CM 530: Public Relations in Nonprofit Settings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CM215
Graduate Prerequisites: CM701
This course will provide a kaleidoscopic view of the fundamentals nonprofit public relations. Students will study the processes, effects and influences of media relations practices, related to both traditional and new media, in a nonprofit environment. They also will learn the essentials of fundraising and volunteer recruitment/retention and how these can be influenced, in part, by politics locally--as well as across the nation and around the world. The course also will explore types of nonprofit organizations and the breadth of communication management careers available within them. Additionally, the course will study the benefits and cautions of nonprofit-corporate partnerships and the communication management techniques related to forming and managing such agreements. -
COM CM 535: Political Campaigns
Undergraduate Prerequisites: Sophomore standing.
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
Undergraduate Prerequisites: Sophomore standing.
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 548: International Public Relations
Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM CM 215.
This course focuses on the global practice of public relations with an emphasis on corporate and agency practice. A major goal of the course is to help students become knowledgeable about the ever-increasing development of public relations throughout the world and the opportunities it offers within corporations, government, business, and non-governmental organizations. (This course was formerly CM448; if you have taken CM448, you cannot take CM548.) (Undergrad prereq: CM215.) -
COM CM 555: Advanced Media Writing
Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM CM 331.
Graduate Prerequisites: COM CM 707 or COM CM 703.
In-depth focus on promotional, client-based writing. Course includes developing story ideas and angles; writing off- and on-line feature stories and slide shows for trade, business, and special-interest market as well as researching and writing a treatment/script video package with accompanying brochure. Also includes numerous multimedia workshops. 4 cr. Either sem. -
COM CM 557: Media Effects
Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM CM 180 and COM CM 321.
Graduate Prerequisites: COM CM 710.
This course introduces the study of the effects of media on individuals and on society. This course will overview a broad range of media theories that have examined media as a social force, that have explored factors that affect individuals' selection of and perceptions of media messages, and that have studied how media affect viewers' attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. These theories will be used to examine a variety of different types of content, including media violence, portrayals of race and gender, politics, advertising, and entertainment, among others. 4 cr., 1st sem. -
COM CM 561: Special Topics
Graduate Prerequisites: CM722
Spring 2022 - 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 580: PRLab
Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM CM 215 and COM CM 331; junior standing
Graduate Prerequisites: COM CM 701 and COM CM 707.
PRLab at Boston University is the nation's oldest student run public relations agency. PRLab allows students to gain valuable industry experience in an agency style setting, working in the corporate, nonprofit and government sectors. Students engage in media relations, event planning, branding, copy editing, content creation and social media management. Over the course of the semester, students create professional portfolios. 2 or 4 cr. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Teamwork/Collaboration. -
COM CM 581: PRLab Executive Board
Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM CM 215 and COM CM 331; consent of instructor
Graduate Prerequisites: COM CM 701 and COM CM 707.
This course represents the management function of the student run PRLab. The PRLab Executive Board consists of a President, Vice President and several Account Supervisors, who work together to facilitate the overall success of the student- client interactions and PRLab as a whole. The E-Board is also responsible for PRLab's branding and new business acquisition. 2 or 4 cr. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Teamwork/Collaboration. -
COM CM 585: AdLab
Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM CM 217 or COM CM 317; Junior Standing
Graduate Prerequisites: COM CM 708.
Experience in student-run, full-service advertising agency. Students organize, manage, and perform all functions: solicit business, perform market and consumer research, contact clients, write plans, create advertising campaigns, evaluate media, and prepare campaign evaluations for community service agencies. Variable credit. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in the following Teamwork/Collaboration. -
COM CM 586: AdLab E-Board
Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM CM 217 or COM CM 317; Consent of Instructor
Graduate Prerequisites: COM CM 708; Consent of Instructor
Experience is a student run, full service advertising agency. Students organize, manage and perform real world functions: solicit business from real world clients, perform market and consumer research, collaborate with clients, write strategic plans, create advertising campaigns that run in the real world, evaluate media and prepare client presentations. Student leaders operate as agency management collaborating with other students. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in the following Teamwork/Collaboration. -
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 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 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
Graduate Prerequisites: COM CM 701.
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: Media 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: Advertising Strategy & Consumer Insights
Graduate Prerequisites: COM CM 708.
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.