Courses

All courses carry 3 credits unless otherwise specified.

514 Social Uses of Language
Nature of speech and language as a social practice. Meanings of language use as formative of social and cultural life.

611 Introduction to Theories and Concepts of Human Communication (1st sem)
Process of theory construction, theory testing, and paradigmatic change in communication. Theory relationships among normative and scientific studies. Theory types and their causal mechanisms, units of analysis, and appropriate research methodologies. Major theories compared in terms of their theoretical and metatheoretical bases. Required of all Communication graduate students; taught in fall.

613 Introduction to Theories of Social Interaction
Scholarly literature of interpersonal communication, including historical development and conceptualization, survey of current research and theoretical literature, and critique of methodologies and lines of development. Emphasis on reciprocal causal relationships between communication patterns and nature of the social order, and implications of this relationship for individual action and cultural change. Required of students specializing in this area.

620 Qualitative Methods in Research (1st sem)
Approaches to research, conceptualizations of problems, questions, and methodologies for the field of communication, broadly defined with an emphasis on qualitative, interpretive, feminist, critical, and cultural approaches. Introduction to methodological specialties of departmental faculty. Required of all Communication graduate students.

621 Quantitative Methods in Research (2nd sem)
Introduction to the structure, process, and logic of quanitative empirical research in communication. Topics include research design, measurement, descriptive and inferential statistics, and basic multivariate analysis. Students expected to acquire an understanding of the ability to critique various methodological approaches and techniques. Fundamental concepts of data analysis; preparation for more advanced courses. Required of all Communication graduate students.

641 The Cinema as a Social Force
Effective and reflective roles of film in society. Emphasis on relationship of society to structure, development, function, and effects of the motion picture.

665 Contemporary Rhetorical Theory
Review of major contemporary approaches to rhetorical theory. Includes formalism, structuralism, phenomenology, marxism, poststructuralism, psychoanalysis, and cultural studies.

666 Rhetoric and Social Change in America
Introduction to contemporary rhetorical tradition, especially as it relates and intersects with
(1) critical communication theory and (2) the hermeneutic/phenomenological tradition in communication studies.

691B Seminar in Media Theory
Foundation course in the history and philosophy of various approaches to mass media and technology. Covers mainstream research in direct, indirect, and limited effects models. Required of students specializing in this area.

693D Introduction to Film Theory
Overvew of the major theoretical and critical approaches to the study of cinema, as well as their historical development and applications.

695S  Survey of Performance Studies 
This course provides an overview of performance studies, performance and performativity as theory and methodology.  The various approaches to performance studies in communication are considered, as are interdisciplinary approaches, with emphasis on critical, postcolonial, feminist and pedagogical applications of theory.

699 Master’s Thesis
Credit, 6.

712 Political Communication
Diffusion of persuasive political communications through standard and created media. Examination of campaign techniques (i.e., research on issues and themes, electorate polling, thematic media approaches, campaign strategies) in management and administration.

720 Social Impact of Mass Media
Review of literature on social impact of mass media. Primary focus on television. Seminar: lectures and student critique of reading materials. Topics: media violence and human aggression; media socialization; mass education; mass persuasion; effects on entertainment.

722 Media Systems and Institutions
Analysis of institutionalization of mass communication process in society, including organizational entities creating message systems and nature of resultant information structures.

733 Cultivation Analysis
The theoretical assumptions and methodological procedures of cultivation analysis; how the theory developed; design and execution of cultivation studies; thorough guided secondary analysis of existing databases. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.

750 Language and Society
Relationships between language use and aspects of social structure and process. Study of origins and functions of language diversity; ways that language varieties affect communication, social identity, and social evaluation. Emphasis on social class, gender, race, and ethnicity.

781 Ethnography of Communication
Exploration of ethnographic inquiry and some of its possibilities for creating insights into human communication. Basic philosophy, theory, and methodological issues.

791 Audience Research and Cultural Studies
Focus on the relations between media (television, film, newspapers, etc.) and audiences, concentrating on theoretical and empirical work drawn from a cultural studies tradition.

795M Performance Ethnography
This performance-based seminar focuses on the implications of decolonizing emancipatory epistemologies for critical, interpretive inquiry.  The readings and assignments forefront localized critical pedagogy, critical personal narratives, decolonizing and interpretive inquiry as moral, poltitcal discourse.

796 Independent Study
Independent study in special subjects. Credit, 1-3 each semester; maximum credit, 6.

821 Seminar in Mass Communications
Revolving topics.

841 Seminar in Film
Revolving topics.

860 Seminar in Rhetorical Theory
Revolving topics.

891 Pro-Seminar-Graduate Introduction to Communication (1 credit)
This one credit proseminar is designed for new graduate students (although all are welcome) and has three broad foci: (1) teaching/instructional development; (2) professional development for graduate students; and (3) topics of scholaraly expertise in the Department.

896 Directed Research
Directed study in special subjects. Credit 1-3 each semester; maximum credit, 6

899 Doctoral Dissertation
Credit, 12.