FACULTY:
Denise Bostdorff, Chair
Ahmet Atay (on leave Fall 2016)
Joan Furey
Donald Goldberg
Cara Hammond
Michelle Johnson
Rohini Singh
Alyxandra Vesey
Communication is the study of the innate human ability to use symbols and create meaning. The Department of Communication contains within it two tracks: Communication Studies and Communication Sciences and Disorders.
Communication Studies
Research and instruction in Communication Studies focus on the study of how messages in various media (spoken, written, printed, photographic, electronic, digital) are produced, used, and interpreted within and across different contexts, channels, and cultures. Communication Studies focuses on how people arrive at shared meanings through an interchange of messages or, in other words, the symbolic processes through which meanings and social realities are created and performed. The origin of Communication Studies goes back to the ancient Greeks and, in its infancy, the discipline emphasized public speaking alone. Today the discipline studies symbolic processes - whether oral, written, nonverbal, or mediated/visual - in a variety of contexts: interpersonal communication, group communication, organizational communication, public address, intercultural communication, media, digital communication, and globalization. The department encourages students to engage in the complex relations between communication and culture. Majors in the track of Communication Studies learn how to be more effective communicators and how to be critical analysts of communication, thereby preparing them for life as enlightened citizens and professionals in a variety of career paths in business, politics, media, education, law, healthcare, religion, and the nonprofit sector.
Return to: