Communicaton Studies Majors

Communication Studies is a diversified and dynamic department. Our state-of-the-art facilities in Lang Hall allow us to be well prepared to assist students in becoming informed, responsible, creative and critical communicators in our diverse global communities. We are dedicated to providing our students with a variety of experiences inside and outside of the classroom that will help them prepare for a career in a communication-related field.

 

Majors:

Community and Communication, B.A.

Culture and Communication, B.A.

General Communication, B.A.

Interpersonal Communication, B.A.

Organizational Communication, B.A.

Electronic Media, B.A.

Political Communication, B.A.

Public Relations, B.A.

Theatre-teaching, B.A.

 

Minors:

Business Communication

Communication: Journalism
Communication Studies
Communication-Theatre:Theatre-teaching
Communication-Theatre: Communication-teaching
Public Relations

 

Certificate Programs:

Public Speaking

 

(Click major/minor/certificate title to see typical courses for the program)

 

Communication is a learned skill. Most people are born with the physical abilties to acquire necessary communication tools, but such abilities do not guarantee that they will learn to be effective communicators. Language, rhetorical strategies, listening skills, and a vocabulary of verbal and nonverbal meanings are developed in various ways. Excellent communication skills are important in both social and career settings. Communication is the basis for relations development and maintenance, family cohesion, and work success.

We are dedicated to providing our students with a variety of experiences inside and outside of the classroom that will help them prepare for a career in a communication-related field. Our mission is:

1. To assist students in becomming informed, responsible, creative and critical communicators

2. To enhance student knowledge of, and skill in, the construction, interpretation and distribution of communication in diverse cultural and global communities

3. To promote theoretical understanding and professional/personal practice of effective and ethical human communication between and within a broad range of contexts and communities

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Communication graduates enter such diverse occupations as:

Advertising Broadcasting Consulting Fund raising Health services Human resources development Law Management Ministry

Nonprofit organizations Personnel work Press agent Print journalism Public relations Research Sales Teaching Web development

 

Job titles and examples of firms employing graduates:

Associate dean and professor of speech communication Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois   Communications coordinator Scripps Health , San Diego, California   Instructional design and organizational research specialist GMAC , Waterloo, Iowa   Reporter/photographer and morning anchor KWWL-TV , Waterloo, Iowa

Plant manager Hawkeye Corrugated Box Company Cedar Falls, Iowa   Marketing consultant KKDM-FM Des Moines, Iowa   Television programming coordinator USA Network Los Angeles, California

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The Department of Communication Studies is located in the fully renovated Lang Hall, a beautiful campus building constructed in 1900 and historically refurbished in 2001. Lang Hall features multimedia classrooms and faculty and graduate assistant offices. Lang Hall also hosts an expansive electronic media area that includes digital video editing suites, audio studios and space for two television studios. The building is the home of a Macintosh and a PC computer lab. Student organizations housed in the department have office space in the building. The Interpreters Theatre is the setting for several productions each year. And, the historic Lang Auditorium is used for classes and special events on campus.

 

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Some of the most valuable learning occurs outside the traditional classroom. Co-curricular opportunities are available in a nationally recognized Speech and Debate Program, an award-winning Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) organization, an innovative Interpreters Theatre, Cedar River Productions (video), KGRK student radio station, KUNI 90.9 FM radio station, the Society for Professional Journalism, and the Communication Student Association.

 

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The Department of Communication Studies offers these scholarships for incoming students:

• Forensics (Debate)

• Forensics (Individual events)

• Kenneth Kohn (Debate)

• Carol Denter Bodensteiner (Minority public relations)

• Melvene Draheim Hardee (General)

Other scholarships offered to current communication studies students include:

• UNI PRSSA (Public relations)

• Journalism (Journalism)

• Bill Henderson (Debate)

• Bartlett Freeland (Debate)

• Eugene & Mary Grossman (Electronic media)

• Tom Pettit (Journalism or Electronic media)

• Elaine McDavitt Stageberg (Performance studies/Interpretation)

• Communication Studies

• Archana Daya Shankar

• Iowa Broadcasters Association (Electronic media)

More information on department scholarships can found at Financial Aid.

 

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