What is communication studies all about? It’s about understanding the processes of how we stimulate meaning in the minds of others to meet our many personal, professional and social goals – be it trying to seek information, form relationships, engage in persuasive communication or simply to entertain ourselves and each other.
Communication scholars seek to discover the mechanisms and rules that govern the wide range of communication activities using a battery of social scientific techniques. We try to develop theories that will account for why we act the way we do. As an academic discipline, communication studies is both young and old. If we consider our rhetorical past, we’re as old as any. If we consider that we’ve only been studying communication in a theoretical sense for less than 50 years, then we’re very young. As an undergraduate in communication studies, we’ll try to teach you what we’ve learned over the last 50 years. As a result, you can expect a great range of topics. However, if your interests lay in a particular direction, our program should allow you to specialize as well.
A degree in communication studies opens doors to allow students to be successful in just about any career, from healthcare to human resources, from sales to social media, from image management to promotions. The new curriculum will make students with a Bachelor of Arts in communication studies even more attractive to potential employers or graduate programs. Big things can happen with a communication studies degree!
How will I focus my studies?
Communication studies majors can study interpersonal, health, social media and
communication technology or strategic and organizational communication. Also,
an integrated communication studies track – designed to expose students to a more
general communication education – is also available. Students will work
closely with their major advisers to choose the track that is appealing to them and
matches their future career goals.
Minor
Communication skills are consistently among the most sought after skills in the workplace.
No matter what your major is, communication will be an important aspect of your
job. A minor allows you to formally document your knowledge of human communication.
