COMM 100 - School of Communication Seminar – This course introduces students to the opportunities, resources, and requirements in the School of Communication.

COMM 101 – Public Speaking & Critical Thinking – This course is designed to teach students effective communication skills, such as public speaking, critical thinking, and communication theory, as well as social responsibilities to consider when working in the field of communication.

COMM 103 – Business & Professional Speaking – This course emphasizes communication in organizational settings, and examines the theory and practice of catering oral presentations for specific audiences.

COMM 130 – Intro to Audio Production – This course offers an introduction to the skills needed to produce audio projects across a variety of platforms. The course will cover topics such as acoustics, recording methods, digital editing, and sound as an industry and art form.

COMM 135 – Intro to Video Production – This course is a hands-on introduction to video field production.  Students will explore how video and editing techniques create meaning in media by creating a number of short, creative video projects.

COMM 140 – Intercollegiate Debate – This course offers students active participation in Loyola Debating Society.  Students will learn research methods and techniques for debating topical issues.

COMM 175 – Intro to Communication – This course gives a general and theoretical overview of communication.  By approaching communication through a critical and historical lens, students will form an intellectual foundation for further study and communication praxis.

COMM 200 – Digital Communication & Society – This course explores the way technology affects personal, cultural, and mass communication through examining the historical, societal, and ethical implications of new and interactive forms of media.

COMM 201 – Media Theory and Criticism – This course is an introduction to the study of traditional mass media and new media from a critical and interpretive perspective.  Students taking this course should feel comfortable discussing and analyzing specific media texts, such as films, TV shows, or video games.

COMM 202 - Story for Film & TV - This course is an introduction to visual writing, story structure and character development for film and TV. Through in-class exercises, analysis of scripts, and assignments focused on storytelling fundamentals, students will learn what makes a compelling concept, where great ideas come from, and effective ways to build a narrative for the screen.

COMM 203 – Topics in Cinema History – The course examines the aesthetic, social, technical, and theoretical evolution of cinema through specific genres, periods, or movements.  Possible topics include, but are not limited to: war and revolution, social history and cinema, women in film, Indian cinema, science fiction, musicals, technology and style, etc.

COMM 205 – Reporting Basics I: Writing and Interviewing – This course examines current issues in U.S. journalism with strong emphasis on developing skills in news reporting, interviewing, and writing.

COMM 206 - Hip Hop Culture & Social Change - Grounded in Black studies, communication studies, critical cultural studies, political advocacy, popular culture, and the growing field of hip hop studies, we will investigate hip hop's evolving relationship with social change in the U.S. and beyond. Particular attention will be paid to Chicago's hip hop scene and its community building.

COMM 207 – Photojournalism – This course emphasizes the distinction between journalistic photography from self-expressive photography through editing, critique and digital manipulation, and also understand the ethics of photojournalism through graphic concepts and page design.

COMM 208 – Reporting Basics II: Technology for Journalists - This course teaches 21st century journalism skills and how to use the equipment and software to report and edit across platforms, including radio, television and the Internet.

COMM 210 – Principles of Public Relations - Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the roles and practices of the public relations professional, develop PR plans, and create a portfolio.

COMM 211 – Principles of Advertising - This course provides an overview of the theory and hands-on practice of advertising including planning, strategy, creative development, and media planning. Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the principles of advertising and practice creative and decision-making skills in developing an advertising campaign.

COMM 212 – International Advertising - This course will build an understanding of the cultural, language, social, national and business factors that drive international markets. A key outcome is to broaden student perspectives on how organizations communicate with Italian and other European audiences. 

COMM 213 – Digital Foundations - This course teaches digital tactics used in contemporary campaigns, including website development, content creation, search engine optimization, digital public relations, digital advertising, social media engagement, targeted email and text, analytics, and artificial intelligence.

COMM 214 – Introduction to Creative Concepts - This course introduces students to the creative process and idea generating techniques. Students explore what constitutes strong advertising concepts through exposure to award-winning ads and work in teams to create ads for assigned products. 

COMM 215 – Ethics & Communication - This course explores various approaches to ethical decision-making and applies that process to diverse aspects of every day, contemporary life. 

COMM 220 - Intro to Rhetoric - This course introduces theories of rhetoric, emphasizing the relevance of classical disputes for understanding current controversies over the nature and function of discourse. 

COMM 227 – Social Justice & Communication – This course teaches students how to articulate and defend their conception of the role of communication in achieving a just society and demonstrate an understanding of how existing communication institutions, laws, and norms impede or assist progress towards that goal.  

COMM 230 – Argumentation & Advocacy - This course is an introduction to analyzing and critiquing arguments, and inventing extended arguments to advocate positions.

COMM 231 – Conflict Management and Communication - This course explores the role of communication in conflict resolution. Special attention is paid to mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.

COMM 232 – Digital Cinema Production - In this course, students will demonstrate their ability to apply aesthetic and theoretical principles and cinema production skills. Students work on individual and group projects involving project development, filming and editing.

COMM 234 – Interviewing for Communication - This course explores the crucial skill of interviewing necessary for many aspects of professional and daily life. Students will learn different ways of interviewing depending on context.

COMM 236 – Persuasive Presentations - This class focuses on the creation and delivery of persuasive messages to develop a variety of persuasive strategies and implement them in both individual and group presentations.

COMM 237 – Small Group Communication - This class is an introduction to theory, research, and practice of communication that contribute to effective task-group discussion and decision making.

COMM 256 – Broadcast Newswriting – In this course, students gain experience writing for radio and TV news, as well as basic knowledge of the broadcast news industry and contemporary issues pertinent to the field.

COMM 258 – Game Studies - This course examines games and their complex role within contemporary culture. Students will explore what games say about the nature of identity, community presence, learning, and communication and reflect on their own experience in a blog.

COMM 259 – News Editing - This course examines problems and methods of copy editing, design and typography, and newspaper management and competition.

COMM 261 – Sociable Media – This course explores how the Internet and social media has changed the way we produce and consume content and how social media has affected the way we work, shop, and interact online and off.

COMM 260 - Environmental Journalism

COMM 261 - Social Media

COMM 262 – Feature & Opinion Writing - This course examines methods of researching and writing editorials, commentaries, and features for print media.

COMM 263 – Introduction to Design and Editing – This course is an introduction to information processing and readership, and basic principles of layout and editing. Students will experiment with a variety of printed formats and practice copy fitting, typography, and photo-editing.

COMM 266 – Advertising Copywriting - This course will focus on the art of copywriting for advertising, be it for TV, print, outdoor, social media and the ever changing landscape of digital media. Students will learn to craft their words to make creative advertising based on strategies and insights. 

COMM 268 – Persuasion – This course explores theories related to persuasion, social influence, and compliance-gaining. Students will get practical experience in the analysis, critiquing, and application of persuasive discourse across various mediums. 

COMM 271 – Media, Culture, & Communication – This course examines contemporary U.S. American culture from a critical-theoretical standpoint while examining popular icons and social practices with particular attention to their influence on individual and collective identities.   

COMM 272 – Intercultural Communication – In this course, students explore how differences in ethnic, religious, economic, and geographical experiences produce social biases and engender conflict. Students are expected to explore their own cultural histories to understand how they create meaning and adopt attitudes.

COMM 273 – Interpersonal Communication – This course focuses on self-exploration of communication patterns by asking life's big questions about self and other. Students will gain competence in interpersonal communication through the development of perceptual accuracy, and clarification of values with regard to relational goals.

COMM 274 – Introduction to Cinema – This course will provide students with the basic terminology, observational skills and theoretical background for the study of film aesthetics, language, cultural analysis, history and the production of cinematic texts.

COMM 275 – Web Design & Usability – This course will explore the design and usability of websites from several perspectives: how they look (aesthetics), how they work (navigability and usability), and how they are made (tools and software). Lectures, demonstrations, and in-class lab time will introduce students to the creative tools and software that power contemporary web design and usability.

COMM 277 – Organizational Communication – This course is an introduction to theory and practice of organizational communication, with an emphasis on organization contexts, culture, systems, and the role of communication in building relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

COMM 278 – International Public Relations - This course explores the growing impact of globalization on public relations. Students will explore the growth of international public relations by comparing countries, analyzing and discussing cases, and learning best practices.

COMM 279 – Critical Issues in Journalism - This course examines different approaches to understanding the role of journalism in contemporary society, emphasizing the historical development of issues that surround journalism today.

COMM 280 – Media Technology & Society – Communication technologies shape our experience of language, reality, time, memory and knowledge. Learn how the telegraph, telephone, radio, tv, computers and social media embody the assumptions of those who build and use them, and the complex relationships that arise between people and their tools.

COMM 281 – Communication, Language, & Gender – This course explores the role of communication practices in the production, reinforcement and transformation of gendered identities. Students will learn how gender expectations within cultural contexts are created, and how deeply-rooted assumptions limit social change and guide communication.

COMM 282 – Media Law – This course examines cases and issues in constitutional, statutory, and regulatory law affecting print and electronic media including First Amendment rights, libel, privacy, copyright and trademarks, Freedom of Information, and telecommunication regulations.

COMM 290 – Branding and Positioning – Examines the theory and practice of branding, target segmentation, and how the digital space and the rapid rise of consumer-generated content have impacted brand management. The course explores each stage of the communication planning process and introduces students to the way audience research, and the competitive sets are used to develop brand positions and benefits. 

COMM 296 – Themes in Advertising/Public Relations – This course is an intermediate-level Ad/PR lecture that examines specific areas of study. Topics vary each semester.

COMM 297 – Themes in Communication Studies – This course is an intermediate-level communication studies lecture that examines specific areas of study. Topics vary each semester.

COMM 298 – Themes in Multimedia Journalism – This course is an intermediate-level journalism lecture that examines specific areas of study. Topics vary each semester.

COMM 299 – Themes in Film and Digital Media – This course is an intermediate-level communication studies lecture that examines specific areas of study. Topics vary each semester.

COMM 304 – Rhetorics of Utopias and Revolution – This reading-intensive course will examine rhetorics of utopia, revolution, and strategies of change. Students will read a variety of texts from activists, scholars, and revolutionary thinkers to understand the ways (historically and presently) that utopias and revolutions are imagined and created through communication, media texts, and discourse.

COMM 306 – Environmental Advocacy – This course explores the rhetorical means by which citizens influence the policies and practices affecting our natural and human environments. The focus is on contemporary issues and current controversies. 

COMM 307 – Communication & Social Movements – This course explores the communication strategies used to promote and/or resist significant socio-political change. Students will demonstrate an understanding of how communication is used in particular societal struggles to effect socio-cultural change at an individual, community, institutional or global level.

COMM 308 – Screen Directing – This advanced course in screen directing is designed to further students' narrative filmmaking skills. Geared toward creating fiction films, the course focuses primarily on blocking for the camera, directing actors for the screen, and structuring dramatic scenes. Students should have a working knowledge of basic videography, nonlinear editing, shot composition and film grammar.

COMM 309 – Designing Media for Social Change – This course examines media and social change at the intersection of theory and practice. The class will be dedicated to analyzing the way social change is catalyzed and communicated through various media platforms. Students will gain a historical and multi-media perspective on a variety of design and communication strategies tied to a range of social and cultural issues.

COMM 311 - Health Communication - This course focuses on the growing field of health communication. Building on students¿ knowledge of public relations, advertising, communication and marketing, this class aims to help students develop an area of specialization that offers career opportunities in many settings. Through guest speakers and field trips, the class is designed to provide an overview of what health communicators do and where they work.

COMM 312 – Special Events Planning – In this course, students will gain hands-on experience in event planning. Students will also learn to anticipate and execute the needs of an organization or community planning special events.

COMM 313 – Corporate and Organizational Communication – In this course, Students will learn the theory and practice of responsive and strategic organizational communication in developing corporate identity and image.

COMM 314 – Public Relations Cases – This course focuses on issues, strategies, and solutions in creating and maintaining relationships with the public including media relations, internal communications, community relations, public affairs, investor relations, and crisis communications.

COMM 315 – Advanced Reporting – This course offers in-depth attention to the challenges of writing complex stories characterized by careful research, use of sources, interviewing, and reporting and writing.

COMM 317 – Media Planning – This course examines the advertising and marketing processes required to research, develop and implement an effective media plan. Students will also explore the process of budgeting appropriate advertising time and space.

COMM 318 – Public Relations Writing – This course focuses on PR strategies, and writing for the public across a variety of media platforms. Students develop competency writing and editing news releases, pitch letters, fact sheets, public service announcements, newsletters, and Web content to develop an individualized portfolio.

COMM 320 – Public Service Communication – This course examines public relations strategies and applications in cause-related campaigns, public service initiatives, and community relations activities for corporate and nonprofit organizations.

COMM 321 – Advertising Campaigns – This course is an advanced advertising course in a simulated agency environment to provide practical experience in the campaign planning process. Student teams will develop a professional advertising campaign that includes market research, development of creative and media recommendations, and an integrated marketing communication strategy.

COMM 322 – Guerilla Media – This course covers the history and theory of alternative forms of journalism, film, art and digital media production, and explores how the term guerilla has been appropriated for various methods of distribution, promotion and audience participation.

COMM 323 – Remixing Culture – This course explores remix culture, meaning the exchange of cultural artifacts, and the recreation/reproduction of culture directly or indirectly influenced by another medium. Students will create projects that involve mashing up media using various web-based and mobile media creative tools, web-based editing, live online broadcasting, and various means of online presentation.

COMM 324 – Film Genre – This course offers an in-depth analysis of film genres, their conventions, and/or cultural functions (e.g. documentary, film noir, science fiction). Selected film viewing is a catalyst for analyzing the relations between ideology, authorship, and storytelling.

COMM 326 – Screenwriting – This course introduces students to the process of writing for the screen. Through exercises and analysis of structure and story-telling fundamentals, writers develop a working sense of the paradigm and the art of dramatic writing.

COMM 327 – Video Storytelling – This course focuses on the reporting and production of TV News stories, with a particular emphasis on TV packages. The course emphasizes the combination of information gathering and storytelling in reporting for the television medium, as well as the video and editing skills necessary to complete the stories.

COMM 328 – Magazine Design and Production – This course gives advanced instruction in multi-page editorial layout and design by incorporating writing and photography into a complete, full-color magazine. Students will work as editors and designers in applying principles of design and production to existing articles; and understand ethical issues in serving the readers of the magazine.

COMM 329 - AD/PR Design - This course is for AD/PR majors who want to understand the creative and design discipline of the fields.  Students will learn the fundamentals of print-based messages used in advertising and public relations.  Students will employ various design programs applied in today's industry to develop visual communications projects, which will culminate in a final portfolio.

COMM 330 – Intermediate Advertising Design – Builds on the creative skills and understanding acquired in the introductory advertising creative courses to enhance students¿ conceptual abilities. Students work in teams to write a benefit statement for each creative assignment and develop both print and integrated campaigns. 

COMM 331—Social Media Advertising - This course covers the latest theories and practices of social media advertising. Students will be exposed to 1) evolving concepts and theories related to social media advertising, 2) case studies that discuss the strategies of social media campaigns, and 3) hands-on practices of digital technologies to implement social media campaigns.

COMM 332 – Investigative and Public Affairs Reporting – This course examines the "journalism of outrage". The course emphasis is on examining investigative works, including historical and contemporary non-fiction and documentaries/broadcast exposes for techniques used to awaken public outcry against social injustice/marginalization.

COMM 334—Mobile Advertising - Mobile is one of the most valued investments for advertisers. This course covers the latest practices and trends of mobile advertising which includes 1) branded mobile application design and development; 2) advanced mobile experiences with AR/VR experiments; and 3) various practices, tactics, and ethical concerns for native mobile advertising experiences.

COMM 335 – City News Bureau – This course focuses on hard news reporting and covering events in Chicago and Cook County. 

COMM 336: Search & Display Advertising - This course covers search engine optimization and advertising practices through lectures and hands-on practices. Students will learn technical terms and tactics involved in optimizing the search result and user experience with brand websites. Google AdWords, search network campaigns, display network campaigns and Google merchandiser set-up training will be included. (Consider scheduling to coincide with Google Challenge.)

COMM 337 - AD/PR Multimedia Commercial Production - This is an advanced video and advertising course designed to give students an introduction to various types of multimedia commercials as well as practical considerations of producing television spots.  Students will need to multi-task to complete several commercial projects and practice the process of developing and executing broadcast production, as well as learn more about technology and implications of media production, and strategy and creative development, through studying, reading and engaging with the community.

COMM 338 – Narrative Production – Students work in teams to create short-subject narrative films taking their projects from preproduction to exhibition. Students will experience working as a part of a film production crew, be exposed to a variety of jobs, and produce and exhibit original films.

COMM 339 – Video Documentary – This course offers hands on production of video documentaries through the study of electronic field production technology, the analysis of documentary texts, and the application of documentary research methods.

COMM 345: Student Agency: This course involves actual client work in Ingo, the student-run communications agency. Students gain skills/put theory into action as they provide public relations, digital communication, stratrgy and other services to companies and non-profits. Students must apply prior semester. Contact instructor Cheryl McPhilimy at cmcphil@luc.edu. Undergraduates only; all majors encouraged. 3.0 GPA required.

OUTCOMES:
A fundamental understanding of what agencies are and how they function.
A heightened sense of professionalism
Advanced level teamwork
Increased written and verbal communication skills

COMM 357 – Programming Film & Media: Festivals, TV & Digital – This course examines the fundamentals behind reviewing, programming and curating media for different audiences, as well as archiving and distribution. Students will curate a project (e.g. film festival, event, webisode) during class that involves photography, film or new media, while meeting local programmers and event planners.

COMM 358 – Newscasting and Producing – This course is designed as a capstone for the broadcast journalism emphasis. It covers all aspects of TV (or web) newscasts, including producing, anchoring, reporting, photography and editing, as well as studio production. The class produces and delivers newscasts, designed to prepare students for work in the TV news industry.

COMM 359 – Advanced Post Production – This course combines advanced editing theory and practice, aimed at providing students with the skills required for editing motion pictures of all genres and for all platforms.

COMM 360 – Digital Media Ethics – This course is designed to familiarize students with a new set of ethical dilemmas that have sprung up in the last decade with the rise of “new media.” Using classical ethical theories, students will formulate appropriate and responsible solutions to ethical dilemmas emerging in a new/digital media context.

COMM 361 – New Media Criticism – In this course, students will learn critical language skills for thinking of new media as art, narrative, culture, and code.

COMM 362 – Multimedia Journalism Research Methods – This course advances student knowledge of resources, methods, and credibility standards for gathering and reporting news stories. Students will learn how to conduct research that is both accurate and balanced.

COMM 363 – Research Methods in Ad/PR – This course will introduce Ad/PR majors to ethical and effective social science research methods commonly used in the profession, including surveys, focus groups, content analysis, and audience analyses.

COMM 365 – Naturalistic Methods Communication Research– This course examines how communication research is conducted in naturalistic settings using qualitative methods associated with observation and in-depth interviewing.

COMM 367 – Rhetorical Criticism – This course examines theory, research, and application of critical methods for analyzing historical and contemporary persuasive discourse.

COMM 368 – Critical Ethnography in Communication – This course teaches principles of participant-observation research as a critical practice to produce a 'thick description' of meanings, values, hierarchies of interests, power structures and ideals of a particular cultural group or community.

COMM 370 – Special Topics in Advertising & Public Relations  – These classes are advanced courses in specialized AD/PR areas.

COMM 371 – Communication Studies Special Topics – These courses offer in-depth reading, research, and discussion in specialized areas dealing with current social issues and communication practices.

COMM 372 – Special Topics in Multimedia Journalism – These courses offer in-depth reading, research, and discussion in specialized areas dealing with current issues in journalism. Select/specific topics will satisfy the Values requirement. Please consult your academic advisor for more information.

COMM 373 - Digital Storytelling Abroad - This course is restricted to Santiago Study Abroad Participants. Participants will learn and execute multimedia storytelling in an international setting.  This course will help students enhance their video, writing, interviewing, photography and editing skills in the colorful and cosmopolitan city of Santiago, Chile. Students will use a mix of media that may include text, still images, audio and video.

COMM 374 – Special Topics in Film & Digital Media  – These courses offer in-depth reading, research, and discussion in specialized areas dealing with film and digital media. Course titles and content vary. May be repeated for up to 9 hours, but only 6 may count toward the major.

COMM 375 – Media Relations - Students learn to develop influence through earned media. Skills taught include identifying news values, writing/creating multimedia press releases and media alerts, AP style, media training, creating media lists using Cision, working with syndication services, search engine optimization for news releases, creating a social presence and working with social influencers.

COMM 379—Digital Sustainability - Digital Sustainability explores the environmental impact of digital media. Mining precious metals to manufacture devices, burning fossil fuels to run data centers, global black market trading of e-waste are points where the digital world meets the physical world. Students will explore digital sustainability problems, and work toward creative solutions.

COMM 380 – Debate Practicum – In this course, students gain advanced practical experience in the Loyola Debate Society.

COMM 381 – Communication Practicum – In this course, students gain advanced practical experience in service experiential learning projects.

COMM 382 – Multimedia Journalism Practicum – In this course, students gain advanced practical experience in developing journalism projects.

COMM 383 – Radio Practicum

COMM 384 – FDM Practicum – In this course, students will gain advanced practical experience creating digital cinema projects.

COMM 386 – Ad/PR Capstone – In this course, students focus on integrating and applying knowledge and skills related to advertising and public relations. They will research a career interest area, interview working professionals, and create strategic communication portfolio materials.

COMM 388 – Film and Digital Media Capstone – In this course, students focus on integrating and applying knowledge and skills related to film and digital media applications. They will gain specialized research and industry knowledge and skills, improve professional communication competencies, and build digital industry contacts.

COMM 391 – ADPR Internship  – This supervised field experience enables students to have hands-on professional learning at a wide range of agency, corporate, and non-profit organizations as the basis for learning and refining professional communication skills.

COMM 392 – MJRN Internship – This supervised field experience enables students to have hands-on professional learning at a wide range of agency, corporate, and non-profit organizations as the basis for learning and refining professional communication skills.

COMM 393 – CMUN Internship – This supervised field experience enables students to have hands-on professional learning at a wide range of agency, corporate, and non-profit organizations as the basis for learning and refining professional communication skills.

COMM 394 – FDMD Internship – This supervised field experience enables students to have hands-on professional learning at a wide range of agency, corporate, and non-profit organizations as the basis for learning and refining professional communication skills.

COMM 398 – Directed Study – For this course, students work independently in the student's area of interest with a supervising faculty member whose expertise is in that area.

COMM 400 – Designing for Digital Environments –Students will learn about the design and usability of websites from several perspectives: how they look, how they work, and how they are made.  

COMM 401 – Foundations of Global Strategic Communication – This course delves into two areas impacting communicators¿ success in the global arena: new media and culture. Through a blend of class discussions, interactive activities and guest speakers, students will study frameworks for strategic communication in a global environment and then apply these lessons in group and individual projects.

COMM 402 –Organizational Leadership and Change Management – Students will examine best practices in organizational leadership and change management. Students will also be introduced to major economic, financial and business principles and the terms, concepts and values that guide organizations. Finally, will gain insights that will enable them to work more effectively as communicators and organizational leaders.

COMM 403 – Strategic Communication Research Methods – This course is designed to provide students with a critical framework for evaluating communication research and first-hand experience in the research process. Specifically, we will examine how research questions, originating from client-specific interests, are translated into a research project.

COMM 405 – Story Development and Production – This course will give students a basic understanding of narrative theory and its evolution.  It will also emphasize the idea that telling a good story begins with having something to say and a purpose for telling it to someone. 

COMM 410 – Media Law for Inclusive Digital Storytelling – This course addresses how courts and lawmakers have addressed legal issues presented by digital media.

COMM 411 – Strategic Communication Ethics and Law – This course explores various approaches to ethical decision-making and applies them to diverse aspects of strategic communication in professional settings. Students will learn to discern a wide variety of ethical issues concerning communication behavior, apply systematic ethical analysis to various business situations, and clearly explain their analyses.

COMM 412 – Communication Content Mining and Analytics – This course is for students interested in learning practical data analysis/data mining techniques in strategic communication. A useful takeaway from the course will be the ability to perform powerful data analysis using popular statistic packages (e.g., R, SPSS, Excel) and web analytics (e.g., Google Analytics).

COMM 413 – Writing for Strategic Communication – This advanced writing intensive course engages students in the strategic process of professional-level writing by focusing on communication objectives, cultural differences among audiences, techniques, style and mechanics. Students will learn the importance of planning, research, pre-writing, editing and rewriting in the writing process. 

COMM 415 – Data-Powered Digital Storytelling – This course focuses on how and where to discover compelling story ideas utilizing investigative methods to cultivate original points of view for digital presentations.

COMM 420 – Digital Production: Storytelling with Impact  – This lab-based course will introduce students to production techniques for digital storytelling.  Students will acquire knowledge of videography, sound recording, video and audio editing, web design and interactivity.

COMM 421 – Topics in Global Strategic Communication – This two-week course will offer in-depth reading, case studies, and discussion in specialized areas dealing with current issues in global strategic communication.

COMM 422 – Global and Multicultural Audiences & Stakeholders – In this course students will investigate various audiences in today's global marketplace that organizations need to consider to remain relevant. The course will explore the concept of globalization and how, as a dynamic and uneven process, it requires practitioners to understand global and local audiences and those influenced by multiple cultures.

COMM 425 – Digital Marketing and Analytics – This course will explore online audience behavior and measurement. Students will use analytics to understand user activities and to drive improvements in distribution performance.  In the course of their development, students will come to understand intellectual property protection, self-publication, bandwidth issues, usability, file formats, social sharing, security, syndication and mobile delivery.

COMM 430 – 2D Design for Print and the Web – This course will focus on visual theory, graphic design, photo editing, and web design.

COMM 431 – Campaign Development – To achieve maximum effectiveness, communication programs must be strategic. This course explores the four pillars of campaign development ¿ research, planning, implementation and evaluation. Course material is amplified through study of strategic communication cases as well as development of a model client campaign.

COMM 432 – Nonprofit Communication – This course examines the principles and best practices of strategic communication for nonprofit organizations. Increasingly, leaders of forward-looking nonprofits are realizing what their counterparts in the corporate world have long known: that strategic communication is critical to furthering their mission and goals.

COMM 433 – Corporate Communication – This course develops a multiple stakeholder approach to managing the communication function in corporations. Management topics include developing a communication plan, budgeting, creating a communications calendar, working with agencies and other external resources, project management and evaluation.

COMM 434 – Business-to-Business Communication – The robust business-to-business (B2B) sector provides enormous opportunity in the global marketplace. This course will explore B2B's unique set of challenges that strategic communicators need to consider in developing and delivering effective messages.

COMM 435 – Public Affairs and Issues Management – The course explores how to predict and identify emerging issues, which can proliferate rapidly through digital and social media; accurately assess the potential threat posed by issues; and plan and implement effective response to prevent issues from growing into crises.

COMM 436 – Crisis and Risk Management – This course explores both the practical and theoretical aspects of crisis communication through case studies, guest presentations and hands-on class exercises. It also examines real world organizational crises and how and why communication helped or harmed the situation.

COMM 441 – Global Strategic Communication Capstone – Students will synthesize & apply knowledge and skills from previous courses to demonstrate competence in a specialized area of strategic communication of greatest interest to them. Students will submit a comprehensive work, research project, media artifact, business plan, or any other comparable work approved by the instructor. In addition, students will develop fully annotated & professional quality final presentation.

COMM 450 – DMST Capstone – This course involves integration of new media tools and storytelling, culminating in a professional project that is conveyed to public audiences and widely distributed.