Communication Studies (COMM)

COMM 1000. Communication Studies at Northeastern. (1 Hour)

Designed to provide a unique opportunity to engage faculty, professional staff, and peer mentors in small group discussions. Introduces students to the College of Arts, Media and Design. Offers students an opportunity to learn about the communication studies major and to explore the different areas of emphasis offered by the department. As part of the course, students are expected to prepare a detailed plan of study and are introduced to the co-op program and meet their academic co-op advisor.

COMM 1101. Introduction to Communication Studies. (4 Hours)

Surveys the field of communication studies. Covers major theories and methodological approaches in communication studies and situates communication within larger social, political, and economic institutions. Exposes students to ways of ethical reasoning across communication contexts, including organizational communication, social media, intercultural communication, mass media, and interpersonal communication.

Attribute(s): NUpath Ethical Reasoning, NUpath Societies/Institutions

COMM 1112. Public Speaking. (4 Hours)

Develops skills in public communication. Topics include choosing and researching a topic, organizing and delivering a speech, handling speech anxiety, listening critically, and adapting language to an audience. Offers the opportunity for students to present a series of speeches and receive advice and criticism from an audience.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

COMM 1113. Business and Professional Speaking. (4 Hours)

Designed to assist students in developing advanced public speaking and presentational skills for professional and leadership positions. Covers fundamentals such as audience, speech objectives and structure, and effective delivery. Emphasizes the production and successful interaction with electronic and traditional supportive media. Offers students an opportunity to develop their presentational skills in a variety of settings and realistic business tasks.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

COMM 1120. Principles of Argumentation. (4 Hours)

Considers how the theories and techniques of argumentation can be used to understand and promote differing points of view, explore ideas and alternatives, and convince others of the need to change or act. Starts with the principles of formal logic and introduces students to truth tables and diagramming techniques. Continues to discuss informal logic and modern argumentation theory, including argumentative reconstruction, argument structures, argument schemes and critical questions, as well as informal fallacies. Concludes with a discussion of the effective use of reasoning in society from a logical, dialectical, and rhetorical point of view.

Attribute(s): NUpath Formal/Quant Reasoning

COMM 1125. Science, Communication, and Society. (4 Hours)

Introduces the major areas of research analyzing the role of communication and the media in shaping debates over science, technology, and the environment. Focuses on what U.S. National Academies calls the “science of science communication” to offer students an opportunity to acquire the knowledge necessary to assess the interplay between science, engineering, and society, including the implications for strategic communication, public engagement, personal decisions, and career choices. Examines the scientific, social, and communication dimensions of debates over climate change, evolution, human genetic engineering, childhood vaccination, food biotechnology, and other case studies. Covers how to find, discuss, evaluate, and use expert sources of information; to formulate research questions and expectations; to think effectively about professional situations and choices; and to write evidence-based, persuasive papers and essays.

Attribute(s): NUpath Societies/Institutions

COMM 1131. Sex, Relationships, and Communication. (4 Hours)

Focuses on communication within the context of close relationships. Topics covered include the role of communication in interpersonal attraction, relationship development, relationship maintenance, and relationship dissolution. Examines how communication impacts relationship quality and commitment. Offers students an opportunity to apply what they learn in the course to their personal and professional lives.

Attribute(s): NUpath Societies/Institutions

COMM 1210. Persuasion and Rhetoric. (4 Hours)

Seeks to teach students to be more astute receivers and producers of persuasive messages by learning how to dissect them. Examines both classical and contemporary theories of persuasion, after which students consider “persuasion in action”—how persuasion is used in everyday language, nonverbal communication, sales techniques, politics, and propaganda. Ethical issues in persuasion are addressed throughout the course.

Attribute(s): NUpath Interpreting Culture

COMM 1225. Communication Theory. (4 Hours)

Explores communicative and cultural practice from a wide variety of theoretical perspectives. Considers a wide range of cultural practices, texts, and artifacts, including popular culture (television shows, movies, and video games); social media and online content; as well as organizational communication (press releases) and interpersonal interactions (conversations between romantic partners). Communication theory is based on two premises: Our cultural assumptions inform and shape our ability to communicate; and communication is the process through which culture is created, modified, and challenged.

Attribute(s): NUpath Interpreting Culture

COMM 1231. Principles of Organizational Communication. (4 Hours)

Surveys the communication process in complex organizations. Topics include the evolution of organizational communication, communication networks, information management, and communication climate. Analyzes case studies and teaches how to improve the quality of communication in an organization.

Attribute(s): NUpath Interpreting Culture

COMM 1255. Communication in a Digital Age. (4 Hours)

Covers digital communication’s history, technical basis (“protocol” and the “Web” ), communicative effects, commercial applications, culture, and societal interactions. Digital communication is central to contemporary life and is (consequently) often taken for granted, which this course seeks to remedy. Applies practical skills relative to theories about collaboration and cultural production and engagement with and analyses of online cultures. Offers students an opportunity to become effective online communicators—using practical exercises such as email filtering, online collaboration, and writing in a Web markup format—and to make use of critical thinking to understand and engage with issues such as online privacy, gender and racial bias, and marketplace credibility and fraud.

Attribute(s): NUpath Interpreting Culture, NUpath Societies/Institutions

COMM 1331. Legal Argumentation, Advocacy, and Citizenship. (4 Hours)

Seeks to train students in effective civic engagement by studying legal argumentation, while preparing students for careers in which persuasive skills are critical to success. Offers students an opportunity to study historical documents to understand the processes of argumentation and to develop arguments by performing detailed research about contemporary issues.

Attribute(s): NUpath Ethical Reasoning, NUpath Interpreting Culture

COMM 1412. Social Movement Communication. (4 Hours)

Examines the communication strategies (including rhetorical messaging, public advocacy, grassroots organizing, fund-raising, and media outreach) of historical and contemporary social movement and activist organizations. Social movements considered may include immigration protests, AIDS activism, environmental advocacy, disability movements, racial justice, and feminism.

Attribute(s): NUpath Interpreting Culture, NUpath Societies/Institutions

COMM 1450. Sound Production for Digital Media. (4 Hours)

Designed to prepare students to work with audio in modern media settings. Introduces the process of planning, preparing, producing, and evaluating audio production styles and techniques. Through a series of discussions, screenings, homework, and in-class exercises, offers students an opportunity to gain the skills needed to produce successful audio recordings. Exposes students to the elements and terminology of audio production as they record, mix, and produce their own original projects.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

COMM 1511. Communication and Storytelling. (4 Hours)

Engages students in the discovery of varied and culturally diverse texts in the literary genres of poetry, prose, and drama. Students focus on analyzing an author’s meaning and communicating that meaning to an audience through interpretive performance.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

COMM 1600. Communication Ethics. (4 Hours)

Focuses on ethical principles, issues, and dilemmas in communication. Covers professional codes as well as personal, interpersonal, small group, organizational, and societal factors affecting ethical mediated communication. Designed to stimulate the moral imagination, reveal ethical issues inherent in communication, and provide resources for making and defending choices on ethical grounds.

Attribute(s): NUpath Ethical Reasoning

COMM 1990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

COMM 2100. Elements of Debate. (4 Hours)

Introduces the principles and skills of effective argument. Topics include the process of advocacy, how to develop an argument through reasoning, the psychology of argument, and motivational techniques of argumentation. Combines theory and practice in argument through individual presentations and team debates.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

COMM 2105. Social Networks. (4 Hours)

Applies network science theories and methods to understand the connectivity and complexity in the world around us on different scales, ranging from small groups to whole societies. Applies network theories, data collection methods, and visual-analytic analyses to map, measure, understand, and influence a wide range of online and offline social phenomena, including friendships and romantic relationships, professional networks, social media, social influence and marketing, diffusion and viral media, recommender systems, and collective action. Offers students an opportunity to learn to use computational tools to gather and analyze network data, derive data-supported insights, and develop effective network interventions.

Attribute(s): NUpath Analyzing/Using Data, NUpath Natural/Designed World

COMM 2110. Sports, Media, and Communication. (4 Hours)

Addresses the interdependent links between sports and communication. Sports communication is an emerging area within communication studies and journalism programs. Examines the symbiotic relationship between sports and media, as well as how communication affects team culture, player-coach dynamics, crises in sport, race and gender issues, international relationships, and fandom. Requires students to analyze cases and address both pragmatic and ethical factors related to these cases.

Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity, NUpath Ethical Reasoning

COMM 2131. Dark Side of Interpersonal Communication. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to learn about some of the communicative challenges people face in starting, maintaining, and terminating close relationships. The “dark side” is a metaphor used to describe areas of interpersonal and relational communication that are underexplored or “lying in the shadows”; destructive or dysfunctional; and/or poorly understood or often misinterpreted. The dark side perspective acknowledges that while relationships are often a source of joy and satisfaction, they can also elicit feelings of uncertainty, frustration, and pain. Studies the ways in which communication can influence (and possibly resolve) turmoil in close relationships.

Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity

COMM 2135. Sex and Interpersonal Communication. (4 Hours)

Explores communication theories and concepts as they relate to the interpersonal study of sex, sexuality, and romance. Offers students an opportunity to understand and articulate individual values, assumptions, and paradigms regarding sexuality and how these fit into current research and theory (as demonstrated through in-class discussions, activities, and the opinion paper assignment). Considers how competing communication perspectives can be contrasted, compared, and/or synthesized for a stronger literacy related to sex, sexuality, and sexual identities in an effort to procure an understanding of how communication research and theory can be utilized in academic, personal, and professional settings. Also focuses on sexual health.

Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity

COMM 2200. Visual Communication. (4 Hours)

Analyzes the ways that visual materials impact our daily lives using readings, examples, and discussion. Visual material floods our daily lives, whether we are actively consuming it or it is thrust upon us. As consumers of these images, and especially as communication scholars, we need to think critically about these visual materials and how they shape our perceptions of ourselves and the world around us. Focuses on several methods for critically researching visuals and applies these methods to examine and discuss several kinds of visuals, including photography, film/television, advertisements, arts, and urban spaces. Designed to improve students' critical understanding of the visual, in its various forms, for communication.

Attribute(s): NUpath Interpreting Culture

COMM 2300. Risk Communication. (4 Hours)

Offers a broad overview of the psychological, social, and communication processes involved in risk perception to better understand how communication influences the way we think about and respond to risk. Cigarette pack warnings, weather advisories, nutrition labels, and town hall meetings are among the many examples of risk communication in daily life. We live in a modern "risk society"—preoccupied with assessing, debating, preventing, and managing potential hazards to our health and safety. Offers students an opportunity to learn how these processes inform the development of effective risk-communication strategies, including institutional risk assessment, stakeholder participation, and formal messaging. Designed to help students both construct and critique risk-communication techniques in the context of contemporary social issues (e.g., texting and driving, pollution, terrorism).

Attribute(s): NUpath Societies/Institutions

COMM 2301. Communication Research Methods. (4 Hours)

Offers an overview of the concepts, methods, tools, and ethics of communication research. Introduces students to the basic statistical concepts used by communication researchers. Designed to help students become knowledgeable consumers and limited producers of communication research. Offers students an opportunity to learn to read, interpret, and critically evaluate research reports. Exposes students to basic social science concepts and research designs and the fundamentals of conducting and analyzing research using surveys, experiments, and content analyses. Students conduct their own empirical research study as a final project, which entails research design, data collection, data analysis, and a written presentation.

Attribute(s): NUpath Analyzing/Using Data

COMM 2303. Global and Intercultural Communication. (4 Hours)

Focuses on theories of and approaches to the study of intercultural communication. Emphasizes the importance of being able to negotiate cultural differences and of understanding intercultural contact in societies and institutions. Stresses the benefits and complexities of cultural diversity in global, local, and organizational contexts.

Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity, NUpath Societies/Institutions

COMM 2304. Communication and Gender. (4 Hours)

Presents a theoretical and practical examination of the ways in which communication is gendered in a variety of contexts. Integrates into this analysis how different institutions and interpersonal situations affect our understanding of gender roles. COMM 2304 and WMNS 2304 are cross-listed.

Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity, NUpath Societies/Institutions

COMM 2350. Producing for the Entertainment Industry. (4 Hours)

Investigates the role of the producer in the production of content for traditional and new media venues. Explores a variety of distribution systems, including online channels, mobile video, terrestrial/satellite radio, documentary film, and independent films, among other platforms. Examines the producer’s role in story conceptualization, budget planning, preproduction, and marketing. Through a series of discussions, screenings, homework writing assignments, and in-class writing workshops, offers students an opportunity to gain the skills to produce commercially viable content.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

COMM 2451. Sports Broadcasting. (4 Hours)

Develops and refines skills in the art of sportscasting. Students are given an historical perspective and a state-of-the-art analysis. Emphasis is on practical development of skills and evaluation of talent and potential. Areas of study include play-by-play announcing, interviewing, reporting, writing, and anchoring.

COMM 2500. Analyzing Conversations in Everyday Life. (4 Hours)

Considers aspects of talk, such as turn taking, sequence organization, and repair for handling breakdowns, in speaking or understanding. Studies the full range of things people do, such as making requests, blaming others, apologizing, complaining, etc. Having conversations with others is among the things that humans do most. Since talk is a locus of sociality and a site for examining language in use, offers students an opportunity to learn how to make discoveries about the orderliness of social life. By the end of the course, successful students recognize what people are doing with their talk, how to identify communication breakdowns, and learn methods for increasing communication efficiency in everyday and organizational encounters.

COMM 2501. Communication Law. (4 Hours)

Introduces the fundamental principles of communication law and ethics. Explores the complex interplay between law (the First Amendment) and ethics (personal and professional responsibilities). Topics covered include blasphemy, commercial speech, copyright, defamation, fighting words, free press/fair trial, hate speech, heresy, incitement, obscenity, political speech, pornography, prior restraint, public forums, special settings (such as schools, prisons, and the military), symbolic speech, threats, and time-place-manner restrictions. Emphasizes ethical issues involving privacy, accuracy, property, and accessibility. The transcendent question in communication law and ethics is whether it is right to exercise the rights granted communication professionals under the First Amendment.

Attribute(s): NUpath Ethical Reasoning

COMM 2510. Social Media Analytics. (4 Hours)

Introduces concepts and professional best practices in social media analytics. Offers hands-on instruction in analytic techniques for Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms, including experiments and observational analyses.

Attribute(s): NUpath Analyzing/Using Data

COMM 2534. Group Communication. (4 Hours)

Covers small group decision-making processes, problem solving, and the interpersonal dynamics of groups. Offers students an opportunity to study and increase their level of proficiency in group interaction and to develop skills in working with and in a variety of small groups. Topics include communication dynamics, systems thinking, dialogue, conflict management, leadership, power, and teams within different institutions, including government, higher education, and corporate America.

Attribute(s): NUpath Societies/Institutions

COMM 2550. Television Field Production. (4 Hours)

Offers advanced training in video production techniques, emphasizing remote location shooting. Includes location scouting, production budgets, writing techniques, equipment location, postproduction editing, and content analysis. Covers the fundamentals of single-camera field production and the nonlinear editing process. Offers students an opportunity to work in teams to produce and direct television using remote video equipment.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

COMM 2551. Free Speech in Cyberspace. (4 Hours)

Examines the intersection of law, policy, and new (or relatively new) information and communication technologies. New technologies offer the possibility of new forms of creativity, political engagement, and social life; they also, however, offer very real opportunities to cause serious reputational harm, promote damaging malicious speech, create new controls on creativity, and violate privacy. Uses readings and in-class activities to consider how values and principles that have historically been deemed important apply to the world of new information and communication technologies. Examines how law and policy shape the development and use of new technologies and, at the same time, investigates how new technologies challenge, undermine, and reconfigure existing law and policy.

Attribute(s): NUpath Societies/Institutions

COMM 2555. Games for Change. (4 Hours)

Offers students sound introduction to the psychological and behavioral theories of entertainment media with the goal of implementing these theories to the future design and evaluation of games for change. Focuses more on the psychological, behavioral, and social aspects of video games than on pure technical aspects. Organized around a collection of selected readings and real-world games and discussions. The final project is based on reflective thinking, critical evaluation, and creative application. COMM 2555 and GAME 2555 are cross-listed.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

COMM 2625. Communication, Technology, and Society. (4 Hours)

Surveys core concepts, histories, and controversies in the design, use, and critical study of communication technologies that both shape and are shaped by social relationships and social institutions (such as work, education, religion, and the family). Offers students an opportunity to learn about different definitions of communication, technology, and society; examine the values and assumptions of social actors who build communication technologies across various cultures and countries; and gain insights into how communication technologies are interpreted, resisted, and remade through ever-shifting institutional and interpersonal social dynamics. Through canonical works and contemporary case studies, students examine communication, technology, and society in the context of relationships, design, identity, mobility, value, labor, ethics, community, and belonging.

Attribute(s): NUpath Societies/Institutions

COMM 2650. The Business of Entertainment. (4 Hours)

Examines business issues associated with the entertainment industry. One dozen award-winning media industry guest speakers deliver lectures on the vital topics reshaping the entertainment landscape. Through lectures and case studies, introduces students to financing contracts, intellectual property issues, licensing, product placement, marketing and publicity, ratings, the impact of piracy, understanding and leveraging new technologies, and distribution. Offers students an opportunity to master these concepts by organizing into teams and developing an original entertainment industry business product or services. Requires each team to develop a formal business plan that includes a market analysis, a budget, and a marketing plan.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

COMM 2655. Television Studio Production. (4 Hours)

Introduces the process of planning, preparing, producing, and evaluating studio productions. Exposes students to the elements and terminology of studio production using multiple cameras, live switching, audio mixing, and studio lighting. Through a series of discussions, screenings, homework, and in-class exercises, offers students an opportunity to obtain skills in the basics of directing creative and technical talent and the skills needed to produce successful television studio productions.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

COMM 2700. Sports Promotion in the 21st Century. (4 Hours)

Develops frameworks and conceptual tools for understanding the world of sports marketing and promotion in an increasingly global and interconnected world. Drawing on examples from domestic and international sports promotional campaigns and academic literature, explores the promotion of sports at the professional, collegiate, and special event level. Focuses on the role marketing plays in attracting fans and sponsors and communicating effectively with the public. Emphasizes quantitative and qualitative approaches to research as part of a comprehensive approach to the development of an on-campus sports promotional campaign. Covers brand marketing and positioning, sports marketing research, event sponsorship and promotion, social media, public relations and community outreach, and controversial issues in sports.

COMM 2725. Popular Communication. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to engage with a specific genre, using historical and critical methods, to better understand this reciprocal relationship between a people and their moment. Successful completion of this course enables one to recall, compare, and give examples of key concepts and theories in popular communication; understand how the popular shapes and is shaped by its people; understand the historical context of a popular genre; critically analyze a genre with respect to social, economic, and political values and events; and demonstrate proficiency in communicating one's analyses. Genres of popular communication—be they self-help books, speculative fiction, or fashion blogs—reflect the aspirations and fears of a people at their moment in history. Simultaneously, popular communication shapes people’s sense of identity, purpose, and worth.

Attribute(s): NUpath Interpreting Culture

COMM 2750. Beyond Television. (4 Hours)

Designed to teach students how to conceive, pitch, write an outline, and complete a script for a cutting-edge half-hour comedy pilot or drama that might appear on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and other emerging, nonlinear networks. Emphasizes the differences and similarities between writing content for streaming vs. broadcasting. Culminates in a final project, in which small groups of students complete an episodic show that will be judged by a panel of professional television writers. Course objectives are achieved through reading professional scripts, critically viewing television content, and participating in group writing assignments and “table reads.” .

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

COMM 2800. Sport and Spectacle. (4 Hours)

Introduces students to the lens of performance studies, the world of sports, and the intersection of the two in the field of communication studies. Addresses performance as a cultural and communicative process that enables us to constitute our identities and our lives. Explores how our lives and identities are performed in space and time, while applying those same concepts to athletes and athletic competition. Offers students an opportunity to understand key concepts in performance studies such as ritual, play, performativity, performing, and performance processes.

Attribute(s): NUpath Interpreting Culture

COMM 2900. Sports, Politics, and Communication. (4 Hours)

Critiques historical and current examples of the intersection of sport and politics and applies relevant communication theory in written reviews of these events, how those events were covered by the media, and their societal impact domestically and globally. Topics include the influence of sport on political protest; gender, racial, and labor issues; and current marketing practices. Offers students an opportunity to develop frameworks and conceptual tools for understanding the intersection of sport and politics through the lens of communication studies.

Attribute(s): NUpath Societies/Institutions

COMM 2912. Special Topics in Communication Studies. (4 Hours)

Offers a special topics course in communication studies. Course content may vary from term to term. May be repeated once.

COMM 2990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

COMM 2991. Research in Communication Studies. (1-4 Hours)

Offers an opportunity to conduct introductory-level research or creative endeavors under faculty supervision.

COMM 3200. Mobile Communication. (4 Hours)

Introduces students to the landscape of mobile communication technologies. Takes a broad view of what “mobile,” “communication,” and “technology” mean in the past, present, and future, encompassing a range of digital and nondigital objects as well as technological and communicative practices. Covers core concepts and theories in mobile communication, focusing on the impact that mobile hardware and software have on society, culture, and politics.

Prerequisite(s): ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Societies/Institutions, NUpath Writing Intensive

COMM 3201. Health Communication. (4 Hours)

Explores various topics as they relate to health communication including interpersonal aspects, cultural issues, and political complexities of health. Subject matter includes patient-provider communication, organizational systems, advertising in the health industry, and the role of media in the formation of expectations about health and the use of media to promote social change.

Prerequisite(s): ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Writing Intensive

COMM 3230. Interpersonal Communication. (4 Hours)

Offers an overview of the theory and practice of interpersonal communication with the goal of developing the knowledge and skills to create dialogue in conversation, work through conflict, adapt to change, and establish/maintain relationships. Topics include definitions of the communication process, identity, self-disclosure, verbal and nonverbal language, listening, management of interpersonal conflict, and relational and dialogic communication.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Writing Intensive

COMM 3304. Communication and Inclusion. (4 Hours)

Explores the relationships between communication, social identity, and social inclusion. Focuses on how communication shapes perceptions and positions of social identity categories and how individuals and groups resist and transform identity and promote inclusion through communication. Examines communication and inclusion in the contexts of gender, race, sexual identity, social class, ability, and age. Course topics cover a range of theoretical and practical issues, including diversity in organizational settings and the social construction of identity. COMM 3304 and WMNS 3304 are cross-listed.

Prerequisite(s): ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity, NUpath Writing Intensive

COMM 3306. International Communication Abroad. (4 Hours)

Applies communication theory and practice to a wide range of documents, artifacts, museums, and landmarks. Available to students participating in a Dialogue of Civilizations sponsored by the Department of Communication Studies. Content is adapted by the faculty depending on the location of the class. For example, students may study the classical foundations of communication and contemporary political discourse in Athens or British history and documentary film production in London. Often includes meetings with foreign professors, government officials, community organizers, and local artists that have shaped their own country in unique and innovative ways. May be repeated without limit.

COMM 3307. Production Practicum Abroad. (4 Hours)

Combines the process of filmmaking with exploring Britain’s multicultural society, offering students an opportunity to obtain firsthand experience to develop a deeper, more complex understanding of the culture, particularly as it is evident in London. Covers all aspects of field production from the preproduction process of intensive research and development of story ideas to the technical aspects of filming, lighting, sound recording, digital editing, and graphics. Students work with remote video equipment that includes HD cameras, audio, and remote editing equipment. Taught in London.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

COMM 3320. Political Communication. (4 Hours)

Reviews the construction and influence of rhetoric in political campaigns, particularly contemporary presidential campaigns. Also studies the impact of mass communication on the outcome of elections. Offers students an opportunity to analyze artifacts from recent political campaigns such as stump speeches, campaign debates, campaign advertising, and formal campaign speeches such as nomination acceptance addresses, concession and victory speeches, and inaugural addresses.

Prerequisite(s): ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Societies/Institutions, NUpath Writing Intensive

COMM 3330. Argumentation Theory. (4 Hours)

Studies the conditions of successful and valid human reasoning as manifested in its products (arguments) and procedures (debates and critical discussions). The first half of the course explores the ethical and structural fundamentals of argumentation, including its main theorems regarding argument schemes and critical questions, argument structures and reconstruction, and fallacies and felicity conditions of valid reasoning. The second half engages contemporary trends in argumentation studies, including the formalization of arguments and its diagramming for artificial intelligence, the contextualization in different societal domains (politics, health, private and public discourse), and the translation of argument theory into pedagogical practice.

Attribute(s): NUpath Ethical Reasoning, NUpath Formal/Quant Reasoning, NUpath Writing Intensive

COMM 3409. Advocacy Writing. (4 Hours)

Offers an Advanced Writing in the Disciplines (AWD) course. Dedicated to teaching students to write scholarly arguments in the discipline of public advocacy and rhetoric and to translate that work for a general audience. Features both an academic approach to writing in the field of rhetoric and a practical approach to writing persuasively for general audiences.

Prerequisite(s): (ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C ); (COMM 1210 with a minimum grade of D- or COMM 1225 with a minimum grade of D- or COMM 1231 with a minimum grade of D- or COMM 1255 with a minimum grade of D- or COMM 1310 with a minimum grade of D- or COMM 1331 with a minimum grade of D- or COMM 1412 with a minimum grade of D- )

COMM 3415. Communication Criticism. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to deepen their abilities to think critically about texts in a variety of forms such as orations, advertisements, music, and art. Studies methods that may range from close textual analysis to deconstruction to theories of performance. Students are required to write a lengthy research paper that carefully analyzes a rhetorical object.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Writing Intensive

COMM 3445. Public Relations Principles. (4 Hours)

Presents the principles, history, and methods of public relations; processes of influencing public opinion; responsibilities of the public relations practitioner; and analyses of public relations programs. Through case studies and class discussions, offers students an opportunity to confront real-life ethical dilemmas and learn to apply ethical frameworks to evaluate and resolve them. COMM 3445 and JRNL 3425 are cross-listed.

Attribute(s): NUpath Ethical Reasoning, NUpath Writing Intensive

COMM 3450. Voice-Over Artist. (4 Hours)

Introduces voice-over acting techniques for TV commercials, radio, multimedia, and various styles of presentation for both audio and video projects. Offers students an opportunity to uncover and develop their vocal range as narrator, announcer, character, and spokesperson with effectiveness and emotional authenticity. Covers both the “business” and the technical aspects of being a voice talent. Includes the use of microphones, headphones, and recording equipment while in our audio lab. Studies the essentials of vocal techniques, studio etiquette, and working with direction during a studio session.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

COMM 3451. Advertising Practices. (4 Hours)

Examines the development, procedures, economic functions, and responsibilities of advertising. Explores planning, research, production, and other elements that go into successful advertising. Covers the preparation of advertising for print and broadcast media, including campaign planning, space and time buying, and scheduling.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

COMM 3500. Environmental Issues, Communication, and the Media. (4 Hours)

Analyzes major debates over the environment, climate change, and related technologies such as nuclear energy, wind power, natural gas “fracking,” and food biotechnology. Studies the relevant scientific, political, and ethical dimensions of each case; the generalizable theories, frameworks, and methods that scholars use to analyze them; and the implications for effective public communication, policymaker engagement, and personal decision making. Offers students an opportunity to gain an integrated understanding of their different roles as professionals, advocates, and consumers and to improve their ability to find and use expert sources of information; assess competing media claims and narratives; write persuasive essays, analyses, and commentaries; and author evidence-based research papers.

Prerequisite(s): ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Societies/Institutions, NUpath Writing Intensive

COMM 3501. Free Speech: Law and Practice. (4 Hours)

Provides students with an opportunity to better understand freedom and limits to freedom, particularly in the realm of speech and expression. Materials covered range from the philosophy of freedom to historical legal cases about free speech and the press to political correctness and the repression of dissent.

Prerequisite(s): ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Writing Intensive

COMM 3505. Rhetoric of Public Memory. (4 Hours)

Analyzes the specific ways in which the concepts of power and memory have been deployed and challenged through various rhetorical texts—including museums, memorials, monuments, commemorations, reenactments, film, television, theater, art, photography, music, and internet sites, among others. "Memory" has become a central concept for analyzing problems of historical representation and identities. As representations of the past have been/are used as instruments of power, it is important to study the ways in which various communicative practices and institutions are implicated in the construction, representation, negotiation, and revision of public memory.

COMM 3530. Communication and Sexualities. (4 Hours)

Analyzes the ways in which sexualities intersect with issues relating to interpersonal communication, mediated communication, popular culture, identity, and social movements. Discusses outing, media representations, queer identity development, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Covers theoretical perspectives from communication and other social science disciplines, gender and sexuality studies, and cultural studies. Students work with a variety of materials, contemporary and historical, theoretical and empirical, fiction and nonfiction. Offers students an opportunity to design, conduct, and write their own original empirical research paper relating to sexualities and communication using class content as a theoretical framework.

Prerequisite(s): ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity, NUpath Writing Intensive

COMM 3532. Theories of Conflict and Negotiation. (4 Hours)

Explores both theories of conflict and potential strategies for more effectively managing conflict in a variety of contexts, that is, interpersonal relationships, organizational settings, and broader societal contexts. Offers students the opportunity to participate in the process of conflict assessment and to explore various negotiation strategies as well as discuss the role of forgiveness in conflict situations.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Ethical Reasoning, NUpath Writing Intensive

COMM 3615. #Black Twitter and Black Digital Culture. (4 Hours)

Uses social and digital media to examine questions about contemporary topics and the histories that contribute to them. Black Twitter stands as a point of entry for this course as we address questions about culture and communication, applying what we learn to better understand the dynamics of race, media, and power in the internet age. Offers students an opportunity to develop their own media products to put their learning into real-world context.

COMM 3625. Public Relations Practice. (4 Hours)

Demonstrates practices and techniques employed in the field including organization of events and functions. Studies campaign planning, research, and media relationships.

Prerequisite(s): JRNL 3425 with a minimum grade of D-

COMM 3655. Digital Editing for TV. (4 Hours)

Addresses the changes in editing practices through digitization and offers students advanced training in nonlinear editing utilizing Avid Media Composer. Introduces the terms and concepts of nonlinear editing as well as the technical/creative aspects of postproduction. Students are expected to have a working knowledge of digital video equipment and Macintosh computer skills.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

COMM 3750. Special Effects and Postproduction for Television. (4 Hours)

Explores a variety of approaches to making special effects for film, video, and the World Wide Web. Offers students an opportunity to utilize cutting-edge technology and to apply state-of-the-art techniques to design and produce innovative special effects. Explores historical, technical, and theoretical aspects of special effects. Topics covered include compositing, matte painting, multiplane animation, explosions, smoke, three-dimensional lighting, particle emitters, chroma keying, motion graphics, video tracking, and more.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

COMM 3912. Special Topics in Communication Studies. (4 Hours)

Offers a special topics course in communication studies. Course content may vary from term to term. May be repeated once.

COMM 3990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

COMM 4102. Health Communication Campaigns. (4 Hours)

Offers an in-depth look at how persuasive health campaigns are designed and executed. Discusses how campaigns are designed to intentionally influence awareness, knowledge gain, and attitude/behavior change. Offers students an opportunity to obtain skills to design and evaluate campaigns through the completion of their own campaign projects and to learn about visual and verbal arguments and the unique ethical and other considerations of health campaigns.

Prerequisite(s): COMM 2301 with a minimum grade of D-

Attribute(s): NUpath Analyzing/Using Data, NUpath Capstone Experience

COMM 4530. Communication and Quality of Life. (4 Hours)

Seeks to further develop an understanding of the function of communication in life and how that relates to quality of life. Examines the communicative experiences of organizations and relationships using both theoretical approaches and practical experience. Students participate in activities designed to develop knowledge and skills necessary to successfully analyze and address ethical and interpersonal communication issues. Offers students an opportunity to be able to reflect on and assess one’s own competence in communication and how one’s communication affects one’s quality of life and to respectfully consider the ethical complexities of quality-of-life issues in both organizational and interpersonal settings.

Attribute(s): NUpath Capstone Experience, NUpath Ethical Reasoning

COMM 4533. Consultation Skills. (4 Hours)

Introduces the theoretical frameworks necessary to engage in a broad range of consulting activities (management consulting or organizational training and development). By studying nonprofit organizations in the Boston area, offers students an opportunity to learn how to gather and analyze data, to use mathematical methods to perform critical analysis, and to evaluate and critique choices made in the presentation of data. Requires students to make a formal report to the organization and to write a paper reflecting on the organization and its mission in the context of broader social, political, and economic issues. Emphasizes ethical considerations involving security, privacy, and fairness.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1101 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Analyzing/Using Data, NUpath Capstone Experience

COMM 4535. Nonverbal Social Interaction. (4 Hours)

Offers analytic insight on methods people use to communicate different types of social action through body language. Much of our communication is nonverbal, as it is through our body language that we initiate new relationships (both personal and professional) and communicate anger, frustration, happiness, and grief. Offers students an opportunity to develop an understanding of the tools needed to examine the role nonverbal behaviors (body orientation, gaze direction, gesture, laughter, etc.) have in conveying meaning and constructing and negotiating interpersonal relationships. This course incorporates materials from communication, psychology, anthropology, and sociology.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Writing Intensive

COMM 4602. Contemporary Rhetorical Theory. (4 Hours)

Exposes students to contemporary perspectives on rhetorical theory and its use in society. 'Contemporary' refers to the models and theorists from the second halves of the 20th and the 21st centuries. 'Rhetoric' refers to strategic communication employed to reach the persuasive goal of an agent. 'Theory' is used in the holistic sense as the interested observation and careful scrutiny of an object. As a capstone course, the course also provides a transition for students from the role of receptive learners to independent researchers who can identify, answer, and defend research questions at the intersection of rhetorical theory and its neighbors (theories of argumentation, humor, style, politeness, courtship, and the like).

Attribute(s): NUpath Capstone Experience, NUpath Interpreting Culture

COMM 4605. Youth and Communication Technology. (4 Hours)

Examines how meanings of “youth” and “communication technology” shift in relation to one another and to broader changes in society, culture, politics, and the economy over time. Analyzes how communication technologies (and the content they deliver) positively and negatively affect the social, emotional, and cognitive development of young people and how these changes are influenced by the particular family, school, community, and institutional contexts in which children grow up. Examines how young people differ individually across the life span as well as collectively by class, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexuality, and disability. Requires a final paper at the end of the term in which students articulate and defend positions about youth and communication technology.

Prerequisite(s): ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity, NUpath Societies/Institutions, NUpath Writing Intensive

COMM 4608. Strategic Communication Capstone. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to complete a semester-long, intensive research and writing capstone project related to the field of strategic communication. Research topics can span business, politics, advocacy, entertainment, public health, the environment, and other societal sectors. Building on previous course work, students have an opportunity to gain a deeper scholarly and professional understanding of strategic communication; cultivate professional and academic contacts; and demonstrate mastery of relevant theoretical concepts, professional principles, research methods, and writing approaches. Encourages students to share and translate their findings for relevant academic and professional communities.

Attribute(s): NUpath Capstone Experience

COMM 4625. Online Communities. (4 Hours)

Considers online community dynamics, including formation, governance, conflict, and exit. Offers students an opportunity to understand and engage with online community and how this relates to topics such as human behavior, identity, and communication online. Reviews contemporary issues and concerns. Engages the question and practice of what it means to develop and maintain a successful online community.

Attribute(s): NUpath Capstone Experience, NUpath Integration Experience

COMM 4631. Crisis Communication and Image Management. (4 Hours)

Examines theories, models, and strategies related to crisis communication and establishes ethical principles regarding what, how, and when essential elements must be employed for effective and ethical crisis communication. Offers students an opportunity to learn how to distinguish between an incident and crisis; to analyze communication practices and methods applied during a crisis; to apply social scientific theory to explain how and why a crisis occurred; and to draw upon theory to develop effective crisis communication plans. Assesses responses to crises using ethical principles such as transparency, two-way symmetrical communication, and timing. Designed to prepare communication professionals who appreciate the need for responsible advocacy when responding to crises.

Prerequisite(s): ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Writing Intensive

COMM 4755. Production Capstone. (4 Hours)

Offers advanced training in video production techniques, allowing students an opportunity to develop a deeper theoretical understanding of cohesive marketing strategies. Through case study assessments and hands-on exercises, explores the process of marketing video techniques from designing, building, and executing marketing ideas to evaluating effectiveness and exploring online corporate identities. Offers students an opportunity to hone their skills in all aspects of the production process by incorporating the knowledge they have acquired from previous production courses—from the preproduction process of intensive research and development of story ideas and scriptwriting; producing; to the technical aspects of filming, lighting, green screen, sound recording, digital editing, and graphics.

Attribute(s): NUpath Capstone Experience

COMM 4901. Seminar in Communications. (4 Hours)

Integrates students’ experiences in cooperative education with classroom concepts and theories. Topics include integrative learning, the field of communication, pathways and careers in communication, and the professional communicator. Offers students the opportunity to demonstrate competency in communication skills such as oral reporting, conducting research in communication, and writing.

Attribute(s): NUpath Capstone Experience

COMM 4970. Junior/Senior Honors Project 1. (1-4 Hours)

Focuses on in-depth project in which a student conducts research or produces a product related to the student’s major field. Combined with Junior/Senior Project 2 or college-defined equivalent for 8 credit honors project. May be repeated without limit.

COMM 4990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

COMM 4992. Directed Study. (1-4 Hours)

Offers independent work under the direction of members of the department on a chosen topic. Course content depends on instructor. May be repeated without limit.

Prerequisite(s): COMM 1101 with a minimum grade of D-

COMM 4994. Internship in Communication. (4 Hours)

Offers students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the communications industry. Further internship details are available in the department office. May be repeated without limit.

Prerequisite(s): COMM 1101 with a minimum grade of D-

Attribute(s): NUpath Integration Experience

COMM 5250. Communication and Technology Research Methods. (4 Hours)

Presents an in-depth introduction to ethical quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches in communication, media, and technology-related research. Offers practice in concept explication and analysis across levels of society—from the individual to the organization. Covers designing and analyzing survey and content data, unstructured and semi-structured interviews, focus groups, ethnography, community-based research, and comparative case studies.

COMM 5510. Technology and Strategic Communication. (4 Hours)

Provides a current, integrated, and strategic approach to digital media practice and scholarship applied to strategic communication. Examines research literature on social media, search engine optimization, extended reality, and artificial intelligence and applies concepts studied to a real-world project or campaign. Students critique how digital technologies have been used strategically and develop their own goal-based strategy, content, format, and evaluation plan. Discusses ethical implications and impacts on diverse audiences.

COMM 6102. Health Communication Campaigns. (4 Hours)

Offers an in-depth look at how persuasive health campaigns are designed and executed. Discusses how campaigns are intentionally designed to influence awareness, knowledge gain, and attitude/behavior change. Offers students an opportunity to obtain skills to design and evaluate campaigns through the completion of their own campaign projects and to learn about visual and verbal arguments and the unique ethical and other considerations of health campaigns.

COMM 6304. Communication and Inclusion. (4 Hours)

Explores the relationships between communication, social identity, and social inclusion. Focuses on how communication shapes perceptions and positions of social identity categories and how individuals and groups resist and transform identity and promote inclusion through communication. Examines communication and inclusion in the contexts of gender, race, sexual identity, social class, ability, and age. Course topics cover a range of theoretical and practical issues, including diversity in organizational settings and the social construction of identity.

COMM 6320. Political Communication. (4 Hours)

Covers the major theories about the role of communication in U.S. politics, public opinion, and public policy. Discusses how to formulate and evaluate your own theory-based hypotheses on the influence of media in American democracy. Emphasizes the role and place of the media in a democratic system devoted to the proposition that the government should be responsive to the "will of the people." The course is organized around five subjects that are central to the study of political communication: communication systems and practices; communication effects: media, politics, and society; the politics of entertainment and the changing political information environment; elections, accountability, and the mass media; and media and political institutions.

COMM 6500. Environmental Issues, Communication, and Media. (4 Hours)

Analyzes major debates over the environment, climate change, and related technologies such as nuclear energy, wind power, natural gas “fracking,” and food biotechnology. Studies the relevant scientific, political, and ethical dimensions of each case; the generalizable theories, frameworks, and methods that scholars use to analyze them; and the implications for effective public communication, policymaker engagement, and personal decision making. Offers students an opportunity to gain an integrated understanding of their different roles as professionals, advocates, and consumers and to improve their ability to find and use expert sources of information; assess competing media claims and narratives; write persuasive essays, analyses, and commentaries; and author evidence-based research papers.

COMM 6501. Free Speech: Law and Practice. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to better understand freedom and limits to freedom, particularly in the realm of speech and expression. Topics covered range from the philosophy of freedom to historical legal cases about free speech and the press to political correctness and the repression of dissent.

COMM 6505. Rhetorical Approaches to Public Memory. (4 Hours)

Analyzes the ways in which power and memory have been deployed and challenged through various rhetorical texts—including memorials, mass media, performance, and art, among others—in a seminar format. Memory has become a central concept for analyzing problems of historical representation and identities. As representations of the past are used as instruments of power, it is important to study the roles of various communicative practices in constructing, negotiating, and revising public memories. Situates these forms as central to the production of official discourses of citizenship, belonging, and nationalism, as well as the construction of identities. The course objective is not to seek solutions to problems of memory but to develop enabling questions that guide research.

COMM 6605. Youth and Communication Technology. (4 Hours)

Examines how meanings of “youth” and “communication technology” shift in relation to one another and to broader changes in society, culture, politics, and the economy over time. Analyzes how communication technologies (and the content they deliver) positively and negatively affect the social, emotional, and cognitive development of young people and how these changes are influenced by the particular family, school, community, and institutional contexts in which children grow up. Examines how young people differ individually across the life span as well as collectively by class, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexuality, and disability. Requires a final paper at the end of the term in which students articulate and defend positions about youth and communication technology.

COMM 6608. Strategic Communication. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to complete a semester-long, intensive research and writing capstone project related to the field of strategic communication. Research topics can span business, politics, advocacy, entertainment, public health, the environment, and other societal sectors. Building on previous course work, students have an opportunity to gain a deeper scholarly and professional understanding of strategic communication; cultivate professional and academic contacts; and demonstrate mastery of relevant theoretical concepts, professional principles, research methods, and writing approaches. Encourages students to share and translate their findings for relevant academic and professional communities.

COMM 6631. Crisis Communication and Image Management. (4 Hours)

Examines literature related to crisis communication—including theories, models, and strategies—and establishes ethical principles in terms of what, how, and when essential elements must be employed for effective and ethical crisis communication. Offers students an opportunity to learn how to distinguish between an incident and a crisis; to analyze communication practices and methods applied during a crisis; to apply social scientific theory to explain how and why a crisis occurred; and to draw upon theory to develop effective crisis communication plans. Assesses responses to crises using ethical principles such as transparency (the what element), two-way symmetrical communication (the how element), and timing (the when element). Designed to prepare communication professionals who appreciate the need for responsible advocacy when responding to crises.

COMM 6962. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

COMM 6995. Research Project. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to complete and present a high-level research project. Requires the framing of a significant question or set of questions, the research to find answers, and written communication skills to convey the results to a wide range of audiences. Projects bridge theory and practice and are intended to have an impact on the professional life of students.

Prerequisite(s): COMM 5250 with a minimum grade of C-

COMM 7962. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.