Nov 12, 2024  
2024-2025 University Bulletin 
    
2024-2025 University Bulletin

Communication - B.A.


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Communication - B.A.

The Communication major gives students a broad education in communication fundamentals as well as specialized training in one of five distinct concentrations. These fundamentals of theory, methods, history, ethics and professional oral and written communication provide the flexible foundations of success in many fields. The concentrations supply the specialized knowledge and skill sets employers are seeking. 

Major Requirements:

Forty-two semester hours, as determined by the requirements outlined in the core (18 credits) and concentration options below (24 credits each)

Communication Studies


Communication Studies provides a generalist approach to understand communication concepts, processes, and theories and how they apply to a variety of situations and contexts. The concentration emphasizes the role communication plays in shaping our reality in a variety of personal, social, cultural, and political settings. Required courses bring theory and practice together as students study the historical and theoretical foundations of the field. Other concentration requirements equip students with the competencies that employers are looking for in a globally competitive world, including effective oral and written communication skills, critical thinking and reading, problem solving, and decision making. Students complete a rigorous academic program consisting of courses in general education, historical and theoretical foundations, research methods, performance, application, and practical experience. A concentration in communication studies is designed to enhance students’ lives and careers through a clearer understanding of the role communication plays in their professional and personal lives.

Health Communication


Health Communication is the study of communication as it relates to health professionals, health education, and the experience of health by individuals, families, and cultures. The concentration provides foundational courses in communication theory and methods, ethics, risk and crisis, and Health Communication models, with flexibility for related interdisciplinary courses across the curriculum. This concentration also provides students with a general study of Health Communication issues and contexts, including those related to the construction, interpretation, and diffusion of health information through public health campaigns and interactions among health care organizations, nurses, doctors, other professional care providers and/or patients, and families. It also provides a fundamental study of how we experience health as individuals and across cultural and community groups, including study of the social determinants of health and health literacy.

Media Studies and Production


Media Studies and Production prepares students to critically, technically, and creatively engage with communication technologies of the 21st century. An emphasis on media studies helps build a student’s media, digital, and information literacies to become perceptive and discerning media consumers and producers. Course work builds students’ understanding of how to engage with media industries, texts, and audiences for different informative, persuasive, and entertainment purposes. Additionally, students will gain hands-on production experiences to develop the knowledge and skills to use an assortment of communication technologies in their personal, professional, and civic lives.

Multimedia Journalism


Multimedia Journalism teaches the bedrock skills of news reporting and writing and enables students to acquire the technical capacity to report and tell stories using audio, visual, and textual media on multiple platforms - online, broadcast, social media, and print. Students will complement this expertise with in-depth study of media law, history, theory, criticism, and ethics. This course of study will prepare students for careers in the news media and also provide the background in critical thinking, problem solving, and clear writing necessary for success in a wide range of other careers or graduate programs. In addition, the knowledge and skills acquired in the multimedia journalism concentration will help students interested in public advocacy, social change, and active citizenship.

Organizational and Professional Communication


Organizational and Professional Communication will prepare students to better understand human communication within businesses and organizations. Through the study of communication perspectives, theories, and principles, students will gain the vital knowledge and skills to aid in dynamic problem-solving and decision making while focusing on the ethical methods and practices of creating and presenting information in a professional context. Students with aspirations in global, national, and local organizations - from corporate to not-for-profit - will develop a solid foundation in oral and written message development and delivery across channels and genres. Professional communication mastery is highly valued and could advance a career in any number of fields. 

Accelerated Graduate Program Offerings


Communication majors considering getting a Master of Business Administration (MBA) or MS Healthcare Management (MSHCM) degree are encouraged to pursue Dominican University’s BA/MBA or MSHCM progrmas in the Brennan School of Business. These programs allow Dominican University undergraduate students to begin graduate work before completing the undergraduate degree. 

For more information check the Brennan School of Business Accelerated Graduate Program Options at https://bulletin.dom.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=25&poid=4679

 

 

 

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