Department of Communication (CST)
College of Arts & Sciences

102 Ferguson Building
(336) 334-5297
www.uncg.edu/cst

Communication Studies Major | Communication Studies Minor | CST Courses

Faculty

H. L. Goodall, Jr., Professor and Head of Department

Associate Professors Natalle, Kellett; Assistant Professors Bracci, Carlone, De Gooyer, Dunlap, Reeder; Lecturers Davis, Fairfield, Gunn, Ferguson, Shird

The Department of Communication offers coursework in interpersonal, organizational, and public communication. Our program helps students to become more effective communicators as well as facilitators of effective communication in others. The Department offers the BA in Communication Studies as well as an undergraduate minor. The MA and MEd degrees are also offered by the department. For details on graduate programs, see The Graduate School Bulletin.

The mission of the Department of Communication is "to teach students the study of strategic and ethical uses of communication to build relationships and communities." The undergraduate curriculum is based solidly in our core values: (1) we teach strategies for communication effectiveness if all contexts of application; (2) we teach ethics as a way of informing choices about strategies as well as a ways of improving our ability to intelligently consume and interpret public messages; (3) we teach ways and means of understanding and improving personal, professional, and mediated relationships, and (4) we teach ways and means of understanding and contributing productively to the evolution and changes in our personal, professional, and mediated communities.

The Department of Communication offers an additive approach to curricular design so that courses at the lower levels (e.g. 100 and 200 levels) lead into courses at the upper levels in an effort to reinforce and extend our core values through the four-year plan of study. Courses are also designed to make productive use of differing learning styles among students: theoretical and applied, textual and experiential, topical and case studies, coursework and internships, individual and group/team based performances. The capstone experience in each student's program of study is an individualized, semester-long, community-based research project that culminates in public presentation and evaluation. Throughout the program, each student will work with her or his advisor to develop a professional portfolio of materials and accomplishments.

The Department of Communication provides opportunities to study interpersonal, organizational, and public communication. These areas encompass rhetorical and communication theory, public persuasion and argument, group communication, political communication, political communication, and public relations. Communication courses contribute to a liberal education by teaching creative thinking and problem-solving, critical reasoning, and effective oral, written, and mediated communication. The faculty strongly believes in the interdisciplinary nature of communication and this curriculum encourages elective hours to be taken in allied disciplines such as Anthropology; Broadcasting, Cinema, and Theatre; Business; English; Political Science; Philosophy; Psychology; Sociology; and Women's Studies. Additionally, the Department of Communication participates in the College of Arts and Sciences' Honors Program and regularly offers Freshman Seminars. Opportunities exist for Study Abroad (see p. 263-264) including exchanges in Europe. Communication Studies majors with a 3.0 GPA may go abroad the spring semester of the Junior year to participate in the Intercultural Studies Program at Vaxjo University in Vaxjo, Sweden. The program (taught in English) requires coursework in sociocultural theory, intercultural interactions, cultural analysis, and field work with optional study in basic Swedish.

The undergraduate program in Communication Studies is designed to serve as a solid foundation for a variety of professional and entrepreneurial careers; it also provides preparatory work for graduate study in communication, as well as in related fields such as law, business, media studies, and the ministry. Faculty and students in the Department of Communication are actively involved in research and consulting activities for community, state, regional, national, and international organizations and agencies.

Criterion for Progression in the Major

Only grades of "C-" or better taken in Communication courses will count toward completion of a major in the Department.