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Communications and Media Studies Minor

Coordinator: Joel Nathan Rosen, Associate Professor of Sociology and Media Studies; Director, Communications and Media Studies Program

The interdisciplinary minor in Communications and Media Studies combines courses from a variety of disciplines to provide students with knowledge and familiarity about the public’s use of and responses to mass communication. Courses promote critical thought about the impact that media has upon culture, including aspects of individual and community behavior, law, economics, history, politics, technology, and public appeal. Students can focus their attention on a wide range of related content, including but not limited to, print and electronic media, marketing, social media, communications related to art and music, media in popular culture, etc. Regardless of concentration, students must attain a minimum GPA of 2.00 in five designated courses to complete the minor.

Each track consists of three required courses and two minor elective courses. Either Introduction to Communications or Human Communications will serve as the mandatory introductory course, and Communications in Practice will serve as the mandatory capstone course.

A growing list of required and elective courses are listed below. Please check back for additional offerings.

Communications and Media Studies Minor

Required courses:

  1. Human Communications
  2. Communications and Media Studies Capstone
     

Elective courses:
Elective courses have included the following, with many more options available. Only one may be a 100-level course.

  • Art 131 Introduction to Graphic Design (prerequisite Art 142)
  • English 230 Public Speaking
  • English 290-299 One special topics course in rhetoric approved by the English Department for this requirement
  • English 312 News and Feature Writing (or equivalent)
  • History 237 Popular Culture in Medieval and Early Modern Europe
  • Political Science 130 The First Amendment
  • Political Science 330 Politics and Popular Culture
  • Sociology 113 Cultural Anthropology (M4)
  • Sociology 115 Introductory Sociology (M4)
  • Sociology/Interdisciplinary 350 Media Technology and Society (U1)
  • Communications and Media Studies 190-99, 290-99, 390-99 Special Topics
  • Communications and Media Studies 286, 381-384 Independent Study
  • Communications and Media Studies 400-401 Honors
  • Management 227 Consumer Behavior
  • Management 228 Telling and Selling Your Brand
  • Management 251 Marketing Management
  • Management 311 Marketing Research (WI)