Communication (CMN)
https://cola.unh.edu/communication
The Department of Communication at UNH emphasizes a range of studies in human communication, including rhetoric, media and interpersonal communication. Students are taught to analyze verbal, nonverbal and mediated messages from a variety of perspectives including historical, critical, interpretive and empirical approaches. Students explore connections and interrelationships among the people, environments, technologies and messages that comprise the social world.
The communication major prepares students well for a wide variety of careers in business, media, marketing, government, education, health, advocacy and social services. While offering access to a cutting-edge media lab and courses that teach students multi-media production skills, the department’s primary focus is analytical rather than vocational. We do not train students to do specific communication tasks, such as managing social media profiles or creating promotional content. Rather, we help students develop an understanding of how communication works the way it does, and how different modes of communication shape understanding and social relations. Students grapple with such "how" and "why" questions as they study real-world political issues, news events, cultural phenomena and communication between friends, family members, colleagues, community members and strangers.
The department is committed to providing a strong liberal arts orientation that helps students develop their abilities to think — to describe, analyze, critique, explore, integrate, synthesize and create ideas. The department's faculty members believe that these are the skills and abilities that will be the most useful resources in students' professional, civic and personal lives after leaving UNH. The program trains students to understand, adapt to and participate in social change. These educational efforts lead to the kind of fundamental understanding that identifies the communication professional and also provides a firm foundation for advanced, graduate study in communication and related fields.
The department's faculty members have a strong national and international reputation for their research and publications. In addition, the department is recognized on campus for its commitment to teaching. About half of the department's tenure-track faculty members have won awards for teaching excellence. The faculty is also very active in university, community and professional service.
The department offers a business applications option for communication majors who want to augment the liberal arts focus of their major with professional training in such areas as marketing, advertising and organizational behavior.
The department offers a media practices option for communication majors who want to augment their major with training in media production and applied media communication through courses at UNH-Manchester Communication Arts Department.
The department also offers internships, which are designed to integrate classroom study and supervised practical experience in a work setting. Internship credits do not count toward completion of the communication major, but they do contribute to the total number of credits needed for graduation.
Communication (CMN)
CMN 440A - Honors/The Language of Addiction: Stigma, Social Relations, and Drug Use
Credits: 4
How does our culture relate to and talk about people who use drugs? Discussions of the "opioid epidemic" often rely on models of addiction - the "moral model," "disease model," and "psychosocial model" - that emerge from a view of individuals as self-contained, without taking social contexts into account. As a result, people who use drugs - especially those who inject drugs - are stigmatized as morally bankrupt, disease-ridden, or psychosocially maladjusted individuals. This course will explore how stigma functions as a byproduct of a system of social relations in which various forms of inequality are reproduced through the discourses around drugs. Through readings, discussions, and assignments, we will pull back the veil on language and social relationships to better understand how we think about ourselves, our social institutions, and what we are capable of doing about substance misuse.
Attributes: Honors course; Social Science (Discovery)
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
View Course Learning Outcomes
- Identify the shared nature of stigma as a social fact.
- Articulate the difference between individualist and interactionist models of social life.
- Identify power relations within language and texts which reproduce forms of drug stigma.
- Conduct basic qualitative interviews.
CMN 455 - Introduction to Media Studies
Credits: 4
Nature, development, and the effects of mass media. Overview of mass communication history and theory.
Attributes: Social Science (Discovery)
Equivalent(s): CMN 455H
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 456 - Propaganda and Persuasion
Credits: 4
Introduction to theories of propaganda and persuasion. Examination of symbolic strategies designed to secure or resist social and institutional change. Attention given to case studies of social, political, economic, and religious reformation. Special consideration of the ethical ramifications of such efforts.
Attributes: Humanities(Disc)
Equivalent(s): CMN 456H
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 457 - Introduction to Language and Social Interaction
Credits: 4
An introduction to the study of the conversational basis of social reality. Presents an overview of interpersonal communication processes and the ways in which they influence the formation of identity, personal relationships, gender, interactional patterns, conflict, culture, and power. Readings and class material from a variety of authors in the communication discipline as well as related fields in the humanities and the social sciences.
Attributes: Social Science (Discovery)
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 500 - Public Speaking
Credits: 4
Performance course buttressed by practical theories of public discourse. Focus on analysis of speaking situations and audiences, message construction, presentation, and critical evaluation. Does not count towards the CMN major.
Equivalent(s): CA 450
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 504 - Introduction to Argumentation
Credits: 4
Persuasive discourse as inquiry and advocacy grounded in practical inductive and deductive reasoning. Discovery, analysis, and testing of practical arguments. The nature and function of proof. Some emphasis on applied presentation.
Attributes: Inquiry (Discovery); Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 505 - Analysis of Popular Culture
Credits: 4
Locates the development of popular cultural artifacts and practices within the 20th-century social history of the U.S. Examines the political-economic forces that underpinned the commercialization of art, leisure, sports, and other elements of culture in industrial and postindustrial America.
Attributes: Inquiry (Discovery)
Prerequisite(s): CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 507 - Introduction to Rhetorical Theory and Analysis
Credits: 4
Major precepts of rhetorical theory. Application of those precepts in analysis and understanding of a wide range of human communication. Consideration of how precepts and issues of rhetorical theory apply to contemporary issues and problems.
Attributes: Inquiry (Discovery)
Prerequisite(s): CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 514 - Analysis of Online Identity
Credits: 4
This course will explore how digital media technologies inform strategies of self-presentation and practices of identity formation. We will situate contemporary practices of self-presentation within the historical development of the internet and sociological theories of identity. Students will be encouraged to examine how the internet and mobile technologies challenge existing understandings of concepts such as anonymity, authenticity, reputation, and privacy. Throughout the course, students will be asked to think critically about the ways in which traditional identity markers - such as race, gender, and class - are both challenged and reproduced in digital environments. Drawing on the current digital media landscape, we will explore several contemporary issues including privacy and reputation, self-branding and microcelebrity, online dating, and self-tracking. Throughout the semester, students will use academic literature to identify and address real-world problems.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 519 - Advertising as Social Communication
Credits: 4
Social role of advertising, public policy debates concerning advertising, influence of advertising on culture, and methods of analyzing advertising messages.
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 525 - Persuasion & Public Relations
Credits: 4
An exploration of the persuasion genres, techniques, roles, and stages in the practice of public relations across the full range of rhetorical situations and organizations.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 529 - Data for Sale: Capitalism and the Surveillance Economy
Credits: 4
Surveillance, the practice of tracking and recording information about people, is central to modern capitalist societies. Capitalists rely on surveillance systems to supervise workers and managers, identify customer markets, keep accounts, and calculate the risk of investments and innovations. While such practices can increase profits, they also pose threats for privacy and individual freedom. This course explores the relationship between capitalism and surveillance, and considers the role of surveillance as a mode of economic world-building and social control in the past and present.
Attributes: Environment,TechSociety(Disc)
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 535 - Digital Democracies
Credits: 4
This course explores how emerging digital technologies alternately enhance and obstruct the pursuit of democratic values, broadly conceived. We examine the history and meaning of terms like democracy and freedom in the context of both politics (campaigns, voting, legislation) and culture (music, entertainment, and the arts); the history of computers and the Internet; and the impact of digital media on international politics and professional journalism.
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 540 - Special Topics in Communication
Credits: 4
Selected topics not covered by existing Communication courses. Topics may vary. Courses are available in the department office or online prior to each semesters registration period. May be repeated barring duplication of topic.
Repeat Rule: May be repeated up to unlimited times.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 545 - Media, Religion, and Culture
Credits: 4
This course examines the impact of media on religious belief, practice, and institutions in an American context. We cover the rise of evangelicalism; the development of religious denominations and political parties; the birth of religious broadcasting including the rise of televangelism; and the decline of institutional religion with the emergence of a "spiritual marketplace." We examine religious representations in popular film, music, and news, and ask whether digital technologies have become imbued with religious meaning.
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 562 - Collaborative Leadership in the 21st Century
Credits: 4
This course grounds the study of interaction in groups via theories of inter-organizational collaboration. Students will leave this course with a very specific set of knowledge and skills related to dialogue, principled negotiation, constructive conflict, consensus decision making and appreciative inquiry. Lessons focus on the development of a responsible ethic regarding how to share power among diverse group members. This ethic prepares you to lead collaborative groups in organizations, communities, and as family members.
Prerequisite(s): CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 567 - Gender, Race, and Class in the Media
Credits: 4
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to contemporary critical scholarship on the construction of gender, race, and class in the media - particularly popular media. Subjects such as the portrayal of ethnic groups, ideal body image, blue collar men, and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender groups are case studies. This course is one that introduces students to performing communication analysis.
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN #572 - Analysis of Language and Social Interaction
Credits: 4
In this mid-level course, students develop the observational and analytic skills necessary for the in-depth study of interaction in a variety of everyday and institutional social settings. Settings may include dialogue, multiparty interaction, non-verbal communication and embodiment, identity talk, and communication in organizations. Special attention to developing the reading and research skills used in upper level interpersonal communication courses.
Prerequisite(s): CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 580 - Lying, Deception and the Truth
Credits: 4
The ability to lie is a defining feature of the social life of higher order primates and humans. Deceiving, concealing, lying and evading are forms of communication which are a basic part of everyday human life. This course will explore the structure and function of lying, deception and evasion in the course of communication. As we do so we will also explore the nature of truth as it applies to human interaction in the world.
Prerequisite(s): CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 588 - Analyzing Institutional Interaction
Credits: 4
Examinations of institutional interactions in emergency services, justice/law, medicine, family school encounters, journalism and politics. Shows how the work of society gets done through interaction. Students get hands-on experience analyzing persons' conduct in these interactions. This course is designed to develop students' analytic skills in studying social interaction in institutions, using recorded data in the form of naturally-occurring interactions in these settings.
Attributes: Inquiry (Discovery)
Prerequisite(s): CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 596 - Special Topics in Media Studies
Credits: 4
Selected topics not covered by existing courses in media studies. Topics vary; course descriptions are available in department office during preregistration. May be repeated for credit if topics differ.
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C.
Equivalent(s): CMN 595
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN #597 - Special Topics in Rhetorical Studies
Credits: 4
Selected topics not covered by existing courses in rhetorical studies. Topics vary; course descriptions are available in department office during registration. May be repeated for credit if topics differ.
Prerequisite(s): CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 598 - Special Topics in Interpersonal Studies
Credits: 4
Selected topics not covered by existing courses in interpersonal communication. Topics vary; course descriptions are available in department office during registration. May be repeated for credit if topics differ.
Prerequisite(s): CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Repeat Rule: May be repeated for a maximum of 8 credits.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 599 - Internship
Credits: 1-4
Internships are designed to integrate classroom study and supervised practical experience in a work setting. Each student is required to write a series of reports focusing on aspects of the work experience that are related to coursework in the Communications Department. These assignments are designed to enhance a student's ability to reflect critically on the internship experience and to merge theory and practice. Assignments are available, depending on the number of credits granted (1-4). Students are expected to hold the common exam time (TR, 1240-2) open for occasional meetings. Before starting the internship, students must submit a written proposal to both the work supervisor and the faculty sponsor. The proposal should include detailed information on the duties and responsibilities to be undertaken at the internship site and on the goals and learning objectives as relevant to the Communication Department curriculum.
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Repeat Rule: May be repeated for a maximum of 8 credits.
Grade Mode: Credit/Fail Grading
CMN #602 - Theories of Interpersonal Communication
Credits: 4
Analysis and criticism of contemporary perspectives on interpersonal communication. Theories and concepts, issues, and research models are examined as they contribute to our understanding of social interaction. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) prior to this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 607 - Persuasion in American Politics
Credits: 4
Study of the forms and strategies of persuasive discourse employed by contemporary American political leaders. Analysis of important political addresses of the 20th century, with attention to theoretical and critical issues in political communication and public address. Discussion of the status of rhetoric in modern politics, and the impact of persuasive discourse on campaigns, policy decisions, crisis management, political scandal, and the national identity. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) prior to this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 614 - Gender, Race and Technology
Credits: 4
Why do digital assistants have women's voices? Are highways racist? This course explores the influence of gender and race on communication technologies. Drawing on communication, gender studies, critical race studies, and science and technology studies, this class engages in a social examination of everyday technologies. We examine the historical relationship between gender, race, and technology and understand how design decisions influence the meanings of communication tools. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) prior to this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN #619W - Histories of New Media
Credits: 4
New media are a defining feature of 21st-century society, from the internet to social networking sites. But what makes new media "new"? How do new media affect existing social norms, including notions of intimacy, privacy, community, and identity? This course considers the concept of new media from a historical and cultural perspective, examining the social construction of technology, the idea of technological progress, and comparative studies of both "old" and "new" media. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) prior to this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Equivalent(s): CMN 619
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 620W - Global Media, Culture, and Power
Credits: 4
This past century, communication and transportation technologies connected the world as never before. As people and ideas move with increasing ease, how are traditional notions of culture being challenged worldwide? This course uses theory and examples from politics and popular culture to explore the construction of culture and cultural difference. It examines the political an economic consequences of mediated ideas of culture, including their relationship to race, nationalism, and transnational inequities. Completion of two CMN 500-level courses required prior to taking this course.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of D- and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of D- and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of D-.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 622 - Digital Rhetoric
Credits: 4
This course examines how traditional rhetorical theories and methods apply in contemporary digitized environments. It asks whether we can employ, as is, traditional theories and methods, many of which were developed centuries ago, or whether we need to develop new approaches in order to understand persuasion in online contexts. As it explores these issues, this course tackles both rhetorical production and rhetorical analysis. That is, it asks students to both create and analyze digital rhetoric. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) prior to this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN #627 - Great Speakers and Speeches
Credits: 4
Historical and critical survey of masterpieces of oratory examining the rhetorical situation and artistic features of great works of spoken discourse. Demosthenes, Cicero, Edmund Burke, Daniel Webster, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton may be among the orators studied. The course will engage students in critical assessment of eloquence by emphasizing study of historical circumstances, ethical choices, and artistic virtue of the most effective and admired public speakers in Western tradition. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) prior to this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Equivalent(s): CMN 557
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN #630 - Psychology of Communication
Credits: 4
Recasts human psychology as a communicative accomplishment, offering a critique of the individualist tradition. Emphasis on the ways in which identity, knowledge, values, and beliefs are constructed in daily social engagements and the pragmatic, political, and moral implications of this view. Implications for our major cultural institutions such as education, health, and politics. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) prior to this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 634 - Media and Politics
Credits: 4
The goal of this course is to study the role of the media in American politics, and what media evolution means for future politics. Topics such as political campaigns, media effects, news reporting, framing terrorists, etc. are studied in depth. Timely topics such as "are the media liberal or conservative?" are debated in class. Research projects and papers study questions related to important social issues such as women in the media. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) prior to this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 635 - Contemplative Media Studies
Credits: 4
Contemplative Media Studies involves the application of contemplative practices and principles to the critical analysis of media content, technology, and institutions. It links Media Studies to Contemplative Studies, which integrates empirical social-science research (neuroscience, psychology) to first-person practices like meditation, yoga, and art therapy. Through academic essays and arts-based assignments, students strive to become more mindful digital citizens-creative yet critical, hopeful yet judicious with regard to the current and future course of technical development. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) prior to this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 637 - Controversy and Reasoning in Law
Credits: 4
Uses rhetorical analysis and criticism to evaluate communication practices in courtroom disputes. Compares conventional American litigation to alternative methods. Explains how stages of a trial shape communication options and norms. Illustrates common subjects and forms for judicial reasoning. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) prior to this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN #640 - Seminar in Communication
Credits: 4
Variable topics in communication research, theory, and practice. May be repeated for different topics. Topic descriptions are available at the department office or online during registration. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) prior to this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Repeat Rule: May be repeated up to unlimited times.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 647 - Rhetorical Criticism of Media
Credits: 4
Use of rhetorical approaches and methods in the analysis and criticism of contemporary forms of visual media culture. Students examine the social, political, and aesthetic implications of contemporary media forms from within a framework of rhetorical theory. Emphasis on practical analysis employing various rhetorical approaches with a goal of understanding persuasive elements in contemporary media (including television, film, print & broadcast advertising, internet, and social media). Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) prior to this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 650W - Critical Perspectives on Film
Credits: 4
Advanced, focused study of film theory as cultural practice. Topics vary from year to year and with instructor. May be repeated for different topics. Focus may range from general considerations of film theory, criticism, and history, to specific analyses of selected genres, directors, national cinemas, and periods. Course descriptions available in department office during preregistration. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) prior to this course, unless granted instructor permission. May be repeated for credit if topic is different.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Repeat Rule: May be repeated for a maximum of 12 credits.
Equivalent(s): CMN 650
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
Special Fee: Yes
CMN 656 - Environmental Communication and Rhetoric
Credits: 4
Working from a rhetorical perspective toward communication as persuasive action, students learn to analyze environmental communication in public spheres. Communication about the environment is examined in visual and popular culture, print and digital news, advertising and marketing, science communication, corporate communication and advertising, and campaigns and movements. Special attention to issues of public engagement, citizen activism, and public advocacy. Students work on a semester long case study in which they analyze, evaluate, and respond to communication about an environmental problem in a local town. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 657W - Media and the Environment
Credits: 4
There are few topics, beyond communication itself, which better reflect our interconnected humanity than "the environment." Mediated environmental messages surround us, whether about expansive issues like climate change or the newest, organic or sustainable product. These mediated messages often come together or diverge around conceptualizations of our environment hinging on risks and uncertainties about the fundamentals of contemporary society. This course will look at the study and practice of the environment and media through a range of concepts, ranging from the "sacrificial landscape" reflected in television shows such as the first season of HBO’s True Detective to the "growth machine," as a persistent framework to understanding risk amid the imperative of economic growth in contemporary capitalism.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of D- and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of D- and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of D-.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
View Course Learning Outcomes
- Comprehend the early development and continued growth of environmental\\ncommunication, with attention to the role of media, and demonstrate this understanding in your own final research.
- To critique and question the media’s role and responsibility in reaching and educating the public about issues related to the environment.
- Come to synthesize key course concepts in analyzing environmental issues and the\\nconstitutive role of media and communication to these issues.
- Recognize the foundational role of crisis and risk communication within the field of\\nenvironmental communication and how it still impacts the field today.
- Define and recognize the mediated and transnational nature of environmental and climate justice in addressing climate change and other environmental risks.
CMN 662 - Public Dialogue and Deliberation
Credits: 4
This course explores the theory behind the practice of public dialogue and deliberation. It considers the distinctions and appropriateness of different types and aims of public participation, and how to best facilitate conversations important in the public sphere. The course anchors civil discourse as vital to democracy. Students will design, organize, and implement a public dialogue on campus, facilitating discussions on a relevant topic serving our community. Students marry practice with deep consideration of issues of equity, diversity, voice, representation, neutrality, and power. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 562 with a minimum grade of D-.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 666 - Conversation Analysis
Credits: 4
Exploration in how participants in interpersonal communication display their orientation to the fundamental orderliness of conversational sequences in everyday, institutional, and mass media settings. Basic concepts covered include the interactional co-construction of turn-taking, repair, overlap, openings, closings, silences, adjacency, pairs, disagreement, preference, and the role of various linguistic, paralinguistic, and nonlinguistic features in the conversation process. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 667 - Popular Music Studies
Credits: 4
This course provides an opportunity to critically examine and study popular music. Popular music represents one of the most significant global cultural industries, transcending borders and economies, especially as technology ushers in new ways to listen, share, produce, and perform music. This course will look at the role of contemporary popular music in providing a mediated form of communication and culture by examining its historical and cultural development. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 670 - From Silicon Valley to Foxconn: Global Digital Capitalism
Credits: 4
From young Internet users in Ghana's Internet cafe to American teenagers to Chinese factory workers assembling iPhones, and Indian coders migrating to Australia, this course exposes you to the multifaceted lived experiences under global digital capitalism while grounding them in the history and theory of capitalism as an uneven world system. The design of this course encourages you to think critically about what's new and not so new about capitalism in its contemporary digital/neoliberal phase. It helps identify the on-going technology-driven social transformations on a global scale. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 675 - Civil Discourse Lab: Public Dialogue, Equity, & Authenticity
Credits: 2
Students will learn the theoretical underpinnings of civil discourse to promote public dialogue on "should questions" by connecting research to social/civic policy and ethics (e.g. What should we do to increase equitable access to sustainable energy for our communities? Or, what should we do to create more ethical leaders in our local communities?) The class will teach students public engagement processes framed through a dialogic ethic that fosters relationships based on honesty, respect, reciprocity, humility, and trust. Students will examine and think together about issues important to a civil society through a public dialogue and deliberation framework. Students that complete both 2-credit courses CMN 675 and CMN 676, may use the courses together to fulfill one (1) writing intensive course requirement.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
View Course Learning Outcomes
- Understanding and strengthening public/civic participation processes and conversations across differences.
- Learning to value multiple perspectives.
- Considering the role/contributions of expertise, advocacy, and citizen voices.
- Demonstrating authentic listening.
- Maintaining the dignity of those with whom we may not agree.
- Examining the ways that language matters (framing/reasoning, constitutive identity, agency, power in a democracy).
- Normalizing constructive conflict and gracious contestation.
- Experimenting with design and facilitation skills for public engagement: (a) issue naming and framing and types of reasoning, (b) identification of key stakeholders, (c) complexifying public problems, (d) asking good questions, (e) weighing solution options/tradeoffs.\\n
CMN 676 - Civil Discourse Lab: Public Deliberation and Issue Framing
Credits: 2
Students will learn the theoretical underpinnings of civil discourse to promote public deliberation on "should questions" by connecting research to social/civic policy and ethics (e.g. What should we do to increase equitable access to sustainable energy for our communities? Or, what should we do to create more ethical leaders in our local communities?) The class will focus on public deliberation with special emphasis on creating a students’ citizen’s initiative review impact statement. Students that complete both 2-credit courses CMN 675 and CMN 676, may use the courses together to fulfill one (1) writing intensive course requirement.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
View Course Learning Outcomes
- Students in the course will consider how we navigate difficult conversations by understanding the civil discourse landscape of protest, dialogue and deliberation.
- Students in the course will consider how we navigate difficult conversations by understanding differing conceptions of polarization.
- Learn to complicate the narrative in a deliberation context: Examine the ways that language matters (framing/reasoning, constitutive identity, agency, power in a democracy).
- Design a public deliberation examining should questions.
- Produce a nonpartisan citizen’s initiative review report.
CMN #680 - Perspectives on Culture and Communication
Credits: 4
Critical interpretation of culture focused on the communication practices and resources of diverse groups. Examination of the reciprocal relationship between communication practices, forms of culture, and cultural identity. Exploration of the conditions necessary for dialogue between differing cultural groups. Emphasis on the role of communication in constructing race, power, cultural domination, and globalization. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 685 - Gendered Rhetorics
Credits: 4
This course focuses on exploration of the social, rhetorical, and communicative construction of gender through contemporary contexts. We will examine popular and political discourse and discuss how such discourse structures and disciplines our everyday experiences of sex (male/female) and gender (how society shapes understanding of those categories). Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
Special Fee: Yes
CMN 696W - Seminar in Media Studies
Credits: 4
Variable topics in media research, theory, and practice. May be repeated for different topics. Topic descriptions available in department office during preregistration. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Repeat Rule: May be repeated up to 1 time.
Equivalent(s): CMN 696
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 697 - Seminar in Rhetorical Study
Credits: 4
Variable topics in rhetorical research, theory, and practice. May be repeated for different topics. Topic descriptions available in department office during preregistration. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Repeat Rule: May be repeated up to 1 time.
Equivalent(s): CMN 697H
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 698 - Seminar Interpersonal Studies
Credits: 4
Variable topics in interpersonal research, theory, and practice. May be repeated for different topics. Topic descriptions available in department office during preregistration. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Repeat Rule: May be repeated up to 2 times.
Equivalent(s): CMN 695
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 702 - Seminar in Interpersonal Communication Theory
Credits: 4
In-depth concentration on a particular theoretical orientation in interpersonal communication. Original works are read. Theoretical orientation varies by semester. May be repeated for different topics. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Repeat Rule: May be repeated up to unlimited times.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 703 - Seminar in Rhetorical Theory
Credits: 4
Focused study of problems in rhetorical theory construction through examination and criticism of selected theoretical frameworks used to explain or interpret rhetorical phenomena. May be repeated for different topics. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Repeat Rule: May be repeated up to unlimited times.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN #714 - Youth and Media
Credits: 4
This course will situate contemporary debates about youth and media in historical and theoretical context by examining the ways in which media texts and technologies construct and reflect ideas about youth culture. With a focus on western societies, we will examine the cultural, economic, and political factors that contributed to the social construction of adolescence as a distinct lifecycle stage in the twentieth century. In particular, we will look at how media industries have worked to define and commodify this life stage, thereby creating expectations about what it means to "grow up" in western cultures. We will explore the importance of media texts - including music and fashion - in the construction of youth subcultures. Our investigation of subcultures will consider the role of race, class, and gender in academic theories about young people. We will examine how "moral panics" about youth culture and counter cultural movements are reflected and reproduced in current fears about the effects of media technologies and texts on teenagers. We will conclude by investigating how these various interventions play out in discussions about adolescents' media production, particularly in a digital environment in which young people are simultaneously constructed as savvy "digital natives" and vulnerable victims of media messages.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 719 - Surveillance and Society
Credits: 4
Surveillance is fundamentally concerned with social control. The course tracks the historical development of surveillance, from its origins in embodied experience and record keeping through the rise of computing, social media and big data. This history provides a backdrop against which critical theories of surveillance are introduced, drawing attention to how power is exercised through systems of identification, social classification, visibility, and statistical knowledge. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 735 - Media & Ethics
Credits: 4
This course asks how human beings can flourish (i.e. lead meaningful and purposeful lives) in the context of increasingly complex systems of digital media and information systems. We do so through the lens of virtue ethics, meaning that we place special emphasis on concepts like authenticity, wisdom, courage, and integrity. The course's capstone project asks students to develop a clear and well-informed ethical framework for the mass-mediated aspects of their personal, professional, and civic lives. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 740 - Seminar in Communication Research and Theory
Credits: 4
In-depth concentration on particular theoretical and methodological orientations within communication research. Orientations vary by semester. May be repeated barring duplication of subject. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Repeat Rule: May be repeated up to unlimited times.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN #742 - Dialogue and Teamwork
Credits: 4
This course is about team building, alternative conflict resolution, and creative problem solving. We will explore the idea that, contrary to prevailing cultural assumptions, a significant factor in our achievements at work and play can be traced not to our individual attributes but rather to the relationships that we develop in our conversations with others. We will examine the dialogic basis of these relationships, drawing on a range of philosophic traditions and practical activities that highlight the social basis of thought. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 756 - Rhetorics of Display
Credits: 4
This course examines a selection of displays with the goal of acquiring perspective for understanding and evaluating how they engage with people who come into contact with them. Displays examined range among oratory, photographs, advertisements, films, architecture, monuments, and statuary, public demonstrations, and presentations of self. Attention is given to questions about identity and belonging, authenticity and simulation, and public memory. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
Special Fee: Yes
CMN #760 - Mediation
Credits: 4
This course will explore different theories and models of mediation as they inform the broader topic of conflict resolution. Emphasis will be on models that examine relational processes as opposed to models that provide a list of skills or techniques for mediation. To that end, the course will focus on transformative dialogue as a mode of mediation and conflict resolution rather than on compromise or consensus models. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 762 - Organizational Communication and Society
Credits: 4
This course will demonstrate how communication is key to understanding how organizations work. Through such topics as culture, identity, structure, systems, globalization, and change, the course examines the ways individuals and society are shaped by interactions with the organizations. Through case studies, we examine the way people communicate in organizational contexts, and the social, ethical, and sometimes political implications. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 772 - Seminar in Media Theory
Credits: 4
Detailed analysis of major theories related to the interaction of communication technologies and society. Application to current examples in politics, advertising, and entertainment. May be repeated for a different topic. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Repeat Rule: May be repeated up to unlimited times.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 780 - Communication and Sports Coaching
Credits: 4
There is a long-standing literature on what makes for good or bad coaching in sports, but less in what interactional practices are involved in the actual activities of coaching. Here we learn about the processes of Communication used by Coaches and Athletes when in sports settings. The course will explore the basic process of communication underpinning learning in settings of movement and learning. Students will develop a focal project on practices of Communication in Coaching.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 785 - Communication and Deliberation Across Differences
Credits: 4
This course will focus on the art of rhetoric in a civic context, or how students may engage with the rhetorical tradition to focus on connections among communication, democracy, knowledge, power, and equity. Students will focus on learning the skill of deliberation, or bringing people together in conversation across difference to discover shared values, and to identify key tensions, in order to explore possible solutions to thorny public problems. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 788 - Opening Everyday Interaction
Credits: 4
Examination of how everyday human social interactions begin. Provides hands-on experience analyzing verbal and nonverbal social actions during naturally occurring interactions, including telephone conversations and especially face-to-face encounters between previously acquainted and unacquainted persons socializing and/or doing work. Explores how parties use the openings of interactions to (re)-create and maintain social relationships. Encourages students to develop intellectual curiosity about everyday social life. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Attributes: Writing Intensive Course
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 795 - Independent Study
Credits: 1-4
Advanced individual study in rhetoric, media, or interpersonal communication. Project to be developed with supervising instructor.
Repeat Rule: May be repeated for a maximum of 8 credits.
Equivalent(s): CMN 795W
Grade Mode: Letter Grading
CMN 796 - Comm-Entary Journal
Credits: 1
Serve on the editorial board of student run communication journal. Elective credit which does not count toward the major. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.
Prerequisite(s): CMN 455 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 456 with a minimum grade of C and CMN 457 with a minimum grade of C.
Repeat Rule: May be repeated for a maximum of 2 credits.
Grade Mode: Credit/Fail Grading
Special Fee: Yes
CMN 799H - Honors Thesis
Credits: 4
Written thesis based on substantial and original research under the direction of a full-time member of the communication faculty. Thesis must be in the form and style of a publishable, scholarly work. Restricted to seniors seeking honors in major.
Attributes: Honors course
Grade Mode: Letter Grading