100-Level Courses
COMMS 101 : Mass Communication and Society.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | Independent Study also. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Historical and modern roles of mass media in society, emphasizing media effects on individuals and institutions. |
200-Level Courses
COMMS 211 : News Writing.
(3:2:2)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, Sp, Su |
| PREREQUISITE: | Pre-communications status; a B grade or better in one of the following: Engl 150, Phil 150, or Honrs 150. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Principles and practices of identifying news and writing it for newspaper, radio, television, and Internet audiences. |
| NOTE: | Lab required. |
COMMS 230 : Introduction to Advertising.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| DESCRIPTION: | Principles of advertising; critical evaluation of its role and value in American society. Experience in writing and creating ads for all media. |
COMMS 235 : Introduction to Public Relations.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| DESCRIPTION: | Philosophy and practice of public relations in business, government, education, and other institutions. Study of publics, media, methods, press relations, and publicity. |
COMMS 238 : Introduction to Communications Studies.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, Alternate terms |
| PREREQUISITE: | Pre-communications status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Survey of mass communication theory and research; historical and philosophical development of communication theory. |
COMMS 239 : Principles of Journalism.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, alternate terms |
| DESCRIPTION: | Theories and principles of journalism; critical evaluation of journalists' and news organizations' role and value in societies they serve. |
COMMS 275 : Introduction to Broadcasting.
(3:2:3)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, Sp |
| DESCRIPTION: | Fundamental principles and theories of broadcasting and the practical application of visual and aural storytelling; videography and field production; non-linear editing for radio, television, and new media. |
300-Level Courses
COMMS 300 : Media Ethics, Law and Responsibility.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, Sp, Su |
| PREREQUISITE: | major status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Introduction to First Amendment history and press freedom, law, and theory; media regulation and policy; relationship between law and ethics; key ethical issues in professional communications. |
COMMS 301 : Mass Media History and Philosophy.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | Alternate semesters. |
| PREREQUISITE: | Major or minor status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Historical and philosophical development of today's media. Includes theories of media change, social responsibility, economic factors, and influential pioneers. |
COMMS 302 : Popular Culture and Media.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | Alternate semesters. |
| PREREQUISITE: | Major or minor status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Impact of new and traditional media on popular culture. Includes media criticism and cultural theories on the artifacts and drivers of cultural values. |
COMMS 308 : Research Methods for Journalism.
(3:2:1)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, alternate terms |
| PREREQUISITE: | Major status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Qualitative and quantitative information-gathering strategies and techniques: interviewing, use of surveys and public records; online information gathering and data base analysis. |
COMMS 317 : Advertising Research Methods.
(3:2:1)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, Alternate terms |
| PREREQUISITE: | Major status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Quantitative research methods used in marketing and advertising; the research process; planning, designing, and conducting studies; analyzing results using appropriate methodologies. |
COMMS 318 : Public Relations Research and Measurement.
(3:2:1)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, Alternate terms |
| PREREQUISITE: | Major status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Research methods and analysis critical to developing strategic public relations and measuring its effectiveness, emphasizing focus group and survey approaches with qualitative and quantitative statistical analysis. |
COMMS 319 : Research in Communication.
(3:2:1)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, Sp, Su |
| PREREQUISITE: | Major status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Procedures and design considerations for studying media messages, audiences, and effects. Emphasizes survey and focus group approaches to data collection and analysis. |
COMMS 321 : News Reporting.
(3:2:5)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, Sp, Su |
| PREREQUISITE: | Comms 300 or concurrent enrollment; major status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Research and reporting skills. Database retrieval and interviewing. Beat reporting for newspapers, radio, and online media. Lab required. |
COMMS 325 : Broadcast Reporting.
(3:2:3)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, Sp |
| PREREQUISITE: | Comms 300 or concurrent enrollment; major status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Principles and techniques of broadcast and online news reporting. Includes recording and videotaping reports of government, courts, and other institutions. |
COMMS 326 : Performance for Broadcast.
(3:2:2)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W |
| PREREQUISITE: | Instructor's consent. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Theory and practice of presenting news and information for radio, television, and new media. |
COMMS 327R : Special Topics in Broadcasting.
(3:2:Arr.)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | On demand. |
| PREREQUISITE: | Instructor's consent. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Includes radio arts, specialty reporting, documentary production, and sports broadcasting. |
COMMS 330 : Creating Advertising Concepts - Portfolio 1.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| PREREQUISITE: | Major status; software proficiency in InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator demonstrated by portfolio review or completion of OIT course. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Basic consumer advertising; copywriting, design, and layout developed from creative strategies. Solving creative problems. |
COMMS 331 : Creating Advertising Concepts - Portfolio 2.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| PREREQUISITE: | Comms 330; software proficiency in InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator demonstrated by portfolio review or completion of OIT course. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Advanced consumer advertising: copywriting, design, and layout. |
COMMS 332 : Marketing Media Planning and Strategy.
(3:3:2)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, alternate terms |
| PREREQUISITE: | Major status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Media planning, theory, and practice in context of the marketing mix. Application of computer-based models as aids to media decisions. Writing of marketing- based media plans. Case study approach to both print and broadcast media. |
COMMS 336 : Strategic Planning and Problem Solving.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, Sp |
| PREREQUISITE: | Major status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Cases selected from wide range of actual public relations problems confronting business, government, education, and other institutions. Focus on strategic planning matrix. |
COMMS 345 : Media Sales and Promotion.
(3:2:2)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, alternate terms |
| PREREQUISITE: | major status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Fundamentals of media sales process. Theory and application of persuasion relating to media sales. |
COMMS 351 : Media and Their Audiences.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | Alternate semesters. |
| PREREQUISITE: | Major or minor status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Understanding media content and channels empowering and improving media consumption and interpretation. Includes new technology, social media, consumer behavior, media criticism, and media literacy. |
COMMS 360 : Communication Management Principles and Theory.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | Alternate semesters. |
| PREREQUISITE: | Major or minor status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Management principles and theory, emphasizing responsible management benefiting organizations and their stakeholders. Includes crisis communication, media or agency management, and programming. |
COMMS 365 : Photojournalism.
(3:2:Arr)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F |
| PREREQUISITE: | Comms 321; admission to news design and new media track; or instructor's consent. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Shooting, processing, selecting, and preparing photographs for use in publications. |
COMMS 370R : Special Topics in Communications.
(1-3:Arr.:Arr.)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | On demand. |
| PREREQUISITE: | Major or minor status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Subject matter may vary. Specific topics emphasizing general issues related to all mass communication. |
COMMS 377 : Feature Writing.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, alternate terms |
| PREREQUISITE: | Comms 321. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Analysis of nonfiction magazine markets and effective writing methods; criticism of students' articles. |
COMMS 381 : International Media Systems.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | Alternate semesters. |
| PREREQUISITE: | Communications or international relations major or minor status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Comparison of media systems in countries and regions outside the United States. Includes media systems analysis, normative theories of the media, and cultural values and norms. |
COMMS 382 : Issues in Global Communication.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | Alternate semesters. |
| PREREQUISITE: | Communications or international relations major or minor status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Issues relating to communicating in a global village. Includes global information and policy, cultural imperialism, intercultural interaction, and multinational communication strategies. |
COMMS 385 : Television News Producing.
(3:2:3)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, alternate terms |
| PREREQUISITE: | Comms 325. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Theory and practice of producing and presenting information for television. Role of television news in society, nature of audiences, production techniques, and TV news management. Lab includes producing daily cable newscast. |
COMMS 390R : Student Media Labs.
(1:1:1)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, Sp, Su |
| PREREQUISITE: | Appropriate introductory course (Comms 211, 230, 235, or 275); lab advisor's consent. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Student-run media labs such as the Advanced Advertising Lab, Bradley Agency, Daily News, and Daily Universe. |
| NOTE: | Cannot be combined with paid position in the same lab. |
400-Level Courses
COMMS 402 : Media Criticism.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | W |
| PREREQUISITE: | Major or minor status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Criticism of electronic media systems and their products and effects; critic's role and qualifications. |
COMMS 406 : Media and the First Amendment.
(3:3.0:0.0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | Alternate semesters. |
| PREREQUISITE: | Major or minor status; Comms 300. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Advanced understanding of media law, policy, and regulation of free speech and press. Includes Freedom of Information, rights of press, government control, and legal precedents regarding the First Amendment. |
COMMS 411 : Mass Communications Processes and Effects.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, alternate terms |
| PREREQUISITE: | Major or minor status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Mass communication as a social process, incorporating literature from journalism, social psychology, sociology, political science, and history. Factors in message construction, dissemination, and audience reception. |
COMMS 416 : Media Advocacy and Social Change.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | Alternate semesters. |
| PREREQUISITE: | Major or minor status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Communication principles, theories, and approaches applied to effect social change. Includes public policy, grass roots advocacy, social marketing, and social movements. |
COMMS 420 : Advanced Print Reporting.
(3:2:1)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W |
| PREREQUISITE: | Comms 308, 321. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Print news coverage of government, courts, education, and other institutions. Investigative reporting on major public issues and trends. |
COMMS 421 : Public Relations Writing and Production.
(3:3:1)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| PREREQUISITE: | Comms 321, 336; computer proficiency in InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Flash, and Dreamweaver demonstrated by portfolio review or completion of Office of Information Technology course. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Professional public relations writing and editing in a variety of formats as used in public relations applications. |
COMMS 428 : Publication Graphics and Production.
(3:2:3)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, alternate terms. |
| PREREQUISITE: | Comms 308, 321; software proficiency in InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, and Illustrator demonstrated by portfolio review or completion of OIT course. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Layout and graphics for publications. Contemporary practices in production. |
COMMS 432 : Account Planning Management
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| PREREQUISITE: | Major status; Comms 317. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Development and execution of a comprehensive strategic advertising research program, including data collecting, interpretation, field investigating, audience analysis, and strategy development. |
COMMS 433 : Advanced Advertising Concepting - Portfolio 3.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| PREREQUISITE: | Comms 331; concurrent enrollment in Comms 489. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Capstone course in creating consumer advertising concepts, copywriting, design, and layout. Emphasizes finished portfolios. |
COMMS 480 : Media Ethics and Moral Reasoning.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | Alternate semesters. |
| PREREQUISITE: | Comms 300 or instructor's consent. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Advanced application of moral reasoning and understanding of ethical issues in mass communication. Includes current cases and issues, professional practices, and philosophical foundations of ethics. |
COMMS 481 : Gender, Race, and Class in the Media.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | Alternate semesters. |
| PREREQUISITE: | Major or minor status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Applying critical theory to the interaction between media and underrepresented groups in society. Includes stereotypes and portrayals, access to media, participation, and media ownership. |
COMMS 482 : Media and World Religions.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | Alternate semesters. |
| PREREQUISITE: | Major or minor status. |
| DESCRIPTION: | The interaction of media, world religions, and beliefs. Includes media coverage and portrayal of religion, religions' use of media, conflict between the two, and communicating across religious cultures. |
COMMS 483 : Advanced Communications Studies
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W |
| PREREQUISITE: | Comms 319; 411 or concurrent enrollment. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Contemporary developments in communication theory, research, and practice. |
COMMS 484 : News Editing and News Judgment.
(3:2:6)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, Sp, Su |
| PREREQUISITE: | Comms 321; 420 or concurrent enrollment. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Management and editing of news flow, ranging from editorial conceptualization and news judgment to copy editing, headline writing, and basic page design. |
COMMS 485 : Strategic Public Relations Campaigns.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| PREREQUISITE: | Comms 318, 336, 421; software proficiency in Flash, Dreamweaver, and Image Ready as demonstrated by portfolio review or completion of Office of Information Technology course. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Capstone course applying communication principles to internal and external publics; fact finding, planning, and evaluating social interrelationships; major campaigns for selected clients. |
COMMS 486 : Advanced Broadcast Reporting.
(3:2:Arr)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, alternate terms |
| PREREQUISITE: | Comms 308, 385. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Capstone for broadcast journalism students. In-depth broadcast news coverage of major public issues and trends. Formats may include daily news reports, series, and documentaries. |
COMMS 487 : Multimedia Journalism.
(3:2:4)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W |
| PREREQUISITE: | Comms 438; software proficiency in Flash, Dreamweaver, Image Ready demonstrated by portfolio review or completion of OIT course; or instructor's consent. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Editing, design, and delivery of multimedia and interactive news content. Theories of new media use and practical application of those theories to create professional-level content. |
COMMS 489 : Strategic Advertising Campaigns.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| PREREQUISITE: | Comms 300, 317, 332, 432; Comms 433 or concurrent enrollment. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Researching, planning, budgeting, creating, and writing national advertising campaigns; writing and producing a complete advertising plan, accompanied by a formal client presentation. |
COMMS 495R : Research and Readings in Communication Practice.
(.5-4:0:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| PREREQUISITE: | senior standing and instructor's approval of projects. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Independent research projects and readings for communications majors. |
| NOTE: | Projects must be approved in advance of registration. |
COMMS 497R : Research Practicum.
(1:0:Arr.)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | F, W, Sp, Su |
| PREREQUISITE: | Major status; instructor's consent; approval of tasks or projects. |
| DESCRIPTION: | Conducting research in a mentored environment with a faculty-sponsored research project. |