Computer-Mediated Communication:
This concentration prepares students for digital communication specialties in many different media environments. CMC students gain a theoretical understanding of computer-based communication concepts and develop expertise in the uses and applications of communication-related hardware and software. By also choosing electives from another concentration, students are prepared to apply their expertise in digital message preparation and delivery to a specific communication profession.
News-Editorial:
Students learn critical thinking and applied skills to prepare for careers in newspapers, magazines, business publications, newsletters and online publications. Courses focus on news writing and reporting, copy editing, publication design, and online journalism. Course assignments take students from concepts to finished products as they learn techniques for gathering information, evaluating data, and presenting material in style and formats appropriate for general and specialized readerships. Accuracy, fairness and responsibility are core values in each course.
Public Relations:
This concentration prepares students for careers as professional communicators in corporations, not-for-profit organizations, and government institutions. Public relations professionals counsel management and organized programs to provide information and build relationships between organizations and their constituencies, including consumers, employees, investors, government agencies and the community. The concentration emphasizes a strategic approach to public communications programs, focusing on media. Specialties include media relations and public information, publications writing and design, and online and multimedia production.
Specialized and Technical Communication:
Students learn to produce specialized technical information useful to diverse audiences. Such information can be related to health, environment, biological and physical sciences, business and economics, computer and information sciences, or a range of other specialties. This flexible concentration enables students to learn to write, edit, and produce such specialized content for magazines and other publications, manuals, Web sites, electronic and other media. The unique feature of this concentration is its emphasis in greater student knowledge of a specialized content area so that graduates can communicate more effectively about that area.
Television News and Video Communication:
Students prepare for careers in television writing, producing, camera work and video editing while learning the techniques and practices necessary to create quality, information-based television programming for genres such as television news, sports, documentary and corporate video. Students also learn to critically evaluate content, style and use of the television medium. The concentration focuses first on basic production techniques, expanding into specific courses where students develop production expertise and learn how to tailor programming for specialized audiences.
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