ABOUT THE COURSE

Communication is as current as a conversation that takes place today or a newspaper that will be seen tomorrow, but it is as old as civilization itself, for all people have had to face the problem of communicating their ideas and beliefs to other members of their society.

Communication plays a vital role in everyone's life, and it is widely agreed that an understanding of the many ways people communicate is becoming increasingly important in our complex, technological society. The communication major offers a balanced approach to one of humanity's oldest and most important problems and provides the foundation for a truly liberal education.

A student who majors in communication studies the process of communication from a variety of viewpoints. We are fundamentally concerned with the ways people send messages in order to achieve their goals, and the ways that messages affect the thoughts, emotions, and behaviors of an audience. The discipline offers the opportunity to examine human messages; as it operates in contexts ranging from dyadic relationships to mass media; as it relates to our thought about both theoretical and practical activities; and as it has occurred in the past as well as in the present.

The Department of Communication offers a social scientific approach to the study of communication. It attempts to understand the process of communication as a phenomenon that can be measured, understood, and evaluated using current social science methods.