Graduate Courses

The faculty has approval to offer the following courses in the academic years 2019–2020 and 2020–2021; however, not all courses are taught each semester or summer session. Students should consult the Course Schedule to determine which courses and topics will be offered during a particular semester or summer session. The Course Schedule may also reflect changes made to the course inventory after the publication of this catalog.

Communication Studies: CMS

CMS 180E, 280E, 380E, 480E. Conference Course in Communication Studies.

Readings in the literature of communication studies designed to expand the graduate student's opportunity for individual consultation both in research and in informational aspects of the work. One, two, three, or four conference hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

CMS 081M. Introduction to Graduate Studies in Human Communication.

Discussion of communication research, theory, and professional development. One lecture hour a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Admission to the graduate program in communication studies.

CMS 383K. Communication Theory.

Survey of philosophical and language-based approaches to communication; theory construction, research practices, scholarly writing. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing. Some sections also require consent of instructor or the graduate adviser; these are identified in the Course Schedule.

CMS 384K. Communication and Ethnography.

Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

Topic 3: Microethnography of Interaction. Introduction to the study of details of human interaction: the moment-by-moment organization of speech and embodied communication; the roles of different media of communication, such as language, gesture, and space; the construction of context; uses of the material environment; and the distribution of information in collaborative work settings.
Topic 4: Communication and Ethnography. Studies the use of language and communication in ethnographic methods, data collected, and in final reports in a broad range of approaches such as observation and participant-observation, field notes, surveys, interviews of various kinds, textual analysis, and experimental interventions.

CMS 386H. Seminar in Health Communication.

Theory and research in health communication. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Graduate standing. Some sections may also require consent of instructor or the graduate adviser.

Topic 1: Managing Health Information. Introduction to research and theories that examine why and how people exchange, conceal, and otherwise interact with health-related information. Explores the antecedents, processes, and outcomes of communicating about matters of health and illness, with a focus on implications for personal well-being, relational quality, and public health. Communication Studies 386H (Topic 1) and 386P (Topic: Managing Health Information) may not both be counted.
Topic 2: Interdisciplinary Seminar in Health Communication. Exploration of the interdisciplinary nature of health communication from an ecological perspective, ranging from intra-personal and interpersonal factors through the roles of populations and policies. Examination of the contributions to health communication from diverse disciplines including healthcare, public health, communication, and psychology. Explores issues related to research, practice, leadership, and partnerships. Additional prerequisite: For masters students, consent of instructor.

CMS 386K. Theories of Interpersonal Communication.

Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Graduate standing. Some sections also require consent of instructor or the graduate adviser; these are identified in the Course Schedule.

Topic 1: Interpersonal Communication Theory. Exploration of theoretical perspectives such as general systems theory; symbolic interactionism; rules theory; theories of language and nonverbal coding; theories of meaning; theories of information processing; and theories of persuasion. Theories pertinent to interpersonal, group, and mass interaction.
Topic 4: Discourse Analysis. Examines similarities and differences in the main kinds of discourse analysis and their basic assumptions and typical questions. Designed to develop skills at examining a piece of text or lecture to produce persuasive scholarly analysis.

CMS 386L. Group Communication.

Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Graduate standing. Some sections also require consent of instructor or the graduate adviser; these are identified in the Course Schedule.

Topic 1: Group Communication Processes. Study of theory and research in the dynamics of small groups, with emphasis on the interaction of message variables with other variables such as leadership, affiliation, cohesiveness, and social power.
Topic 3: Communicating in Groups and Teams. Focuses on the concepts and theories of communicative processes in task-oriented groups and work teams. Readings cover theory and research related to communication problems, dynamics, and practices in group and team settings. May also include the study of team development, decision making, and trends in group communication research.

CMS 386N. Research in Communication Studies.

Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

Topic 1: Quantitative Research Methods. Broad coverage of social scientific techniques for collecting and analyzing communication data; includes measurement, design, and other areas. Some sections focus on organizational research.
Topic 2: Qualitative Research Methods. The use of observational and interviewing research techniques for studying human communication.

CMS 386P. Issues in Interpersonal Communication.

Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Graduate standing. Some sections also require consent of instructor or the graduate adviser.

Topic 1: Nonverbal Communication. Current theory and research in such areas as involvement and intimacy, gender, touch, space, environment, nonverbal behavior in children, appearance, and lying. Various methods and measurement techniques for assessing eye gaze, body motion, facial actions, vocal signals, and multichannel events.
Topic 5: Negative Interpersonal Communication. An overview of negative features of communication in interpersonal relationships. Examines avoidance, secrets, conflict, relational transgressions, negative emotions, and aggression and abuse.
Topic 6: Dark Side of Interpersonal Communication. Provides an overview of issues related to the "dark side" of communication in interpersonal relationships. Subjects include undesired features of interpersonal relationships, seemingly productive communication patterns that are dysfunctional, as well as seemingly destructive patterns that are functional. Communication Studies 386P (Topic: Dark Side of Interpersonal Communication) and 386P (Topic 6) may not both be counted.
Topic 7: Stereotyping and Prejudice in Interpersonal Communication. Examines problems posed by stereotyping and prejudice in interpersonal communication, and the research and theory aimed at reducing their impact. Designed to provide opportunities to seek constructive ways of defining and addressing stereotyping and prejudice; emphasis on recent research in the formation, maintenance, and application of stereotypes.
Topic 8: Metaphor in Communication. Examines the conceptual structure and expressive forms of the metaphor. Includes the study of classical and contemporary treatment of metaphor in linguistics, philosophy, and rhetoric. Also includes recent social scientific research on the use of figurative devices, such as metaphor, analogy, idiom, hyperbole, and euphemism, in strategic communication, specifically in managerial communication, political speeches, and religious discourse.
Topic 9: Perspective Taking. Examines social scientific research and theories that illuminate human ability to understand or adopt the perspective of others.
Topic 10: Stress and Coping. Exploration of how people interact with each other and with their environments during times of change and stress, including the emotions, cognitions, and behaviors that occur when people talk about upsetting or traumatic events and circumstances. Communication Studies 386P (Topic: Stress & Coping) and 386P (Topic 10) may not both be counted.

CMS 386R. Issues in Relational Communication.

Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

Topic 1: Communication in Relationships. Theories of development and change; research methods; relationship types; gender and roles; emotion; self-disclosure; secrets; lying; compliments; conflict; complaints; persuasion; dissolution processes; rejuvenating, repairing, and maintaining relationships.
Topic 2: Family Communication. Communication and attraction, courtship, marriage, the role of children in the marital relationship, sibling relationships, the effect of spouses' occupations on the family, and dysfunctional families.

CMS 386S. Communication, Cognition, and Emotion.

The cognitive elements involved in social interaction, such as memory, comprehension, plans, decision making, and schemas. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing. Some sections also require consent of instructor or the graduate adviser; these are identified in the Course Schedule.

CMS 388C, 688C, 988C. Doctoral Comprehensive Examination Preparation.

Restricted enrollment; contact the department for permission to register. Research and reading in preparation for doctoral comprehensive examinations in communication studies. May be repeated for credit. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

CMS 389C. Seminar in Peace and Conflict.

A survey of the literature and research in the communication of peace and conflict. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Graduate standing. Some topics also require consent of instructor or the graduate adviser.

Topic 1: Conflict and Communication. Focus on the relationships between social structures and communication as they relate to conflict. Explores research on interpersonal conflict, theory and research on intercultural/-social communication, identity, and language. Analyze how gender, race, culture, region, age, class & sexual orientation, national identities, and so on are developed & reflected in communication. Only one of the following may be counted: Communication Studies 386P (Topic: Conflict and Communication), 389C (Topic: Communication & Conflict), 389C (Topic 1).

CMS 090F. Research Internship.

Participation in faculty-supervised research during the second full year of doctoral study. The equivalent of one lecture hour a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and eighteen semester hours of graduate credit at the doctoral level.

CMS 390M. Seminar in Language, Culture, and Interaction.

Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Graduate standing; some sections also require consent of instructor or the graduate adviser.

Topic 2: Intercultural Communication. A selective and critical overview of current approaches to intercultural communication in disciplines such as communication studies, sociology, sociolinguistics, conversation analysis, and anthropology. Only one of the following may be counted: Communication Studies 383L (Topic: Intercultural Communication), 390M (Topic: Intercultural Communication), 390M (Topic 2).
Topic 3: The Body in Communication. Exploration of embodied interaction as 'intercorporeality' and provides students with a methodology for research on bodily practices of communication and social action. Communication Studies 390M (Topic: Body in Communication) and 390M (Topic 3) may not both be counted.
Topic 4: Conversation Analysis. The foundations of an interaction-based understanding of language. Texts reflect the evolution of the conversation-analytic paradigm of interaction and language study, and students explore the core organizations that conversation analysts have investigated: turn-taking, repair, turn-construction/action-design, recipient-design, and others. Only one of the following may be counted: Communication Studies 390M (Topic: Conversation Analysis), 390M (Topic 1), 390M (Topic 4).
Topic 5: Language. Introduction to the evolution, structure, and cultural foundations of human language, grounded in advanced contemporary work in anthropology, communication studies, and linguistics.
Topic 6: Analyzing Embodied Communication. Exploration of embodied interaction as 'intercorporeality' and provides students with a methodology for research on bodily practices of communication and social action. Communication Studies 390M (Topic: Analyzing Embodied Communication) and 390M (Topic 6) may not both be counted.

CMS 390N. Political Discourse.

Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

Topic 2: Rhetoric of Social Movements. Philosophies, strategies, and effects of modern sociopolitical and religious movements designed to produce change.
Topic 3: Campaign Communication. An introduction to research surrounding the actors and texts of political campaigns. Covers voters, candidates, consultants, new constituencies, advertisements, debates, speeches, news coverage, party conventions, and new media environments. Focuses on how political discourse affects political life in the United States.
Topic 4: Politics, Media, and Society. Examines political life in the United States in relation to television and new media.
Topic 5: Politics, Media, and the Individual. Current research and theory in the area of media and politics with particular emphasis on individual-level effects.
Topic 6: Communication and Public Opinion. Explores questions concerning communication, the media, and public opinion. Theoretical and empirical research from sociology, political science, social psychology, and mass communication may be discussed. Communication Studies 390N (Topic: Communication & Public Opinion) and 390N (Topic 6) may not both be counted.
Topic 7: Political Language. Explore an overview of political language, including questions such as: What makes political language "political?" Has such language changed in character over time? Do political styles differ from culture to culture? Do the mass media change how politicians talk? How are social media affecting citizens' patterns of political engagement? Communication Studies 390N (Topic: Political Language) and 390N (Topic 7) may not both be counted.

CMS 390P. Rhetorical Theory.

Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

Topic 1: Contemporary Rhetorical Theory. Investigation of recent definitions, issues, and trends in rhetorical theory, with emphasis on the philosophical bases of rhetoric and the relationship of rhetoric to other disciplines.
Topic 4: Burke and Symbolic Form. Covers a selection of books by rhetorical theorist Kenneth Burke, as well as books and articles by recent scholars that use his ideas.
Topic 5: Foundations of Rhetorical Theory. Examines historical writings about rhetoric in the Western tradition, up through the Enlightenment. Covers various important figures in the history of rhetoric, including Plato, the sophists, Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, Augustine, Christine de Pizan, Vico, and Ramus.
Topic 6: Rhetoric of Style. A consideration of social style, including dress, entertainment, vehicles, and living arrangements as a system of communication. Special emphasis on the expressive and practical functions of such symbolic displays.
Topic 7: Rhetoric and Ideology. Explores Marxist contributions to rhetorical theory and criticism, with emphasis on ideology and hegemony.
Topic 8: Rhetoric of Publics and Counterpublics. Investigation of the role of rhetoric in public life in capitalism in history and today. Covers the roles of rhetoric and rhetorical criticism in the production and maintenance of publics, and discusses the formation and activities of social movements.
Topic 9: Narrative, Myth, and Rhetoric. Engages two important and interrelated areas of study in rhetoric: narrative and myth. Explores the psychological foundations of myths, how mythic criticism might proceed, as well as critiques of mythic criticism from a variety of disciplines.
Topic 10: History of Communicative Inquiry. Explore the conceptual and disciplinary history of "the object" of a given academic field and the various ways in which subjects have conceived of the object, from the "reason" of philosophers to what counts as knowledge in the humanities and social sciences. Communication Studies 390P (Topic: History of Comm Inquiry) and 390P (Topic 10) may not both be counted.

CMS 390R. Seminar in Rhetorical Criticism.

Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

Topic 1: Basic Rhetorical Criticism. Elementary methods of analyzing public discourse, including the ways and the reasons that rhetorical analysis is attempted.
Topic 2: Advanced Rhetorical Criticism. Survey of six popular schools of thought, including dramatism, Marxism, and structuralism, and their implications for textual analysis.
Topic 3: Feminist Theory and Rhetorical Criticism. In-depth consideration of the premises underlying American and European feminism and the effects of such premises on critical experience. Special attention to the ways contemporary texts become gendered.
Topic 4: Rhetoric and Popular Culture. Survey of the ways film, television, popular literature, and consumer culture influence our attitudes and values. Consideration of a wide variety of contemporary theorists as well as experience in analyzing contemporary textual artifacts.
Topic 6: The Object. Investigation of conceptual and disciplinary anxieties about the object of speech in relation to the history of communication studies, and the deliberate jettisoning of the object in relationship to the history of cultural studies.
Topic 7: The Subject. Survey of contemporary theory with attention to subjectivity. Authors may include Alain Badiou, Judith Butler, Jodi Dean, Gilles Deleuze, Rene Descartes, Michel Foucault, Immanuel Levinas, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Slavoj Zizek.
Topic 8: Idiom of Haunting. Examines haunting as a central experience of modern subjectivity rooted in the ontotheological concept of communication. Explores, through the idiom of haunting and ghosts, how the arrival of postmodernity (particularly in respect to mass media technology) has altered how we think about communication and subjectivity in both popular and scholarly ways.
Topic 9: Rhetoric and Psychoanalysis. A survey of the various schools of psychoanalysis, and the ways scholars have related psychoanalysis to the object of rhetoric.
Topic 10: Theories of Subjectivity. Survey of contemporary theory with attention to subjectivity. Authors may include Alain Badiou, Judith Butler, Jodi Dean, Gilles Deleuze, Rene Descartes, Michel Foucault, Immanuel Levinas, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Slavoj Zizek. Only one of the following may be counted: Communication Studies 390R (Topic: The Subject), 390R (Topic 7), 390R (Topic 10).

CMS 390S. Seminar in Organizational Communication.

Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Graduate standing; additional prerequisites vary with the topic.

Topic 1: Narrative Communication in Organizations. Current theories of narrative and their applications to organizations. Topics include gossip, day-to-day news, and dramatic enactments of organizational communication.
Topic 2: Power and Politics in Organizational Communication. The communication implications of sociological and managerial approaches to the study of power and politics, with emphasis on ideas about structure, culture, ideology, information, conformity, voice, and dissent.
Topic 6: Social Network Analysis. Focus on quantitatively and qualitatively mapping and measuring the connections, relationships, and flows between entities, such as individuals, teams, groups, organizations, and other information sources. Communication Studies 390S (Topic: Social Network Analysis) and 390S (Topic 6) may not both be counted.
Topic 7: On Time. Introduction to the field of chronemics, the study of time as it is bound with communication, via a broad survey of literature across several disciplines. A range of contemporary communication challenges, as well as opportunities for positive communication and organizational scholarship will be interrogated. Communication Studies 390S (Topic: Time Matters) and 390S (Topic 7) may not both be counted.
Topic 8: Communicating Knowledge. A broad range of theoretical approaches and empirical research related to the communication of knowledge, including the study of both organizations and processes of organizing among workers. Subjects include: communities of practice, boundary objects, innovation, knowledge management, transactive memory, expertise, and ICT use. Communication Studies 390S (Topic: Communicating Knowledge) and 390S (Topic 8) may not both be counted.
Topic 9: Health, Safety, and Technology in Organizations. Examination of the theoretical and empirical research that bridges between organizational, health, and emergency communication with a focus on the role technology plays in these contexts. Communication Studies 390S (Topic 9) and 392P (Topic: Health, Safety, and Technology in Organizations) may not both be counted.
Topic 10: Survey of Organizational Communication. Explores contemporary issues and processes in organizational communication. Graduate students summarize research and conduct original research in an organization. Communication Studies 390S (Topic: Survey of Organizational Communication) and 390S (Topic 10) may not both be counted.
Topic 11: Measurement Workshop: Scale Development and Instrument Design. Provides in-depth instruction on issues related to scale development and questionnaire design, ranging from establishing validity to increasing response rate.
Topic 12: Engaged Communication Scholarship. Explore the theories and methods helpful during engaged research projects. Includes practical theory (e.g., action research, communication design, grounded practical theory) and research methods common to consulting and engaged scholarship (e.g., ethnographic interviewing, survey design, organizational shadowing, and natural experiments). Communication Studies 390S (Topic: Engaged Commnictn Scholrshp) and 390S (Topic 12) may not both be counted.

CMS 390T. Organizational Communication Theory.

Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Graduate standing; some topics may require consent of instructor or the graduate adviser.

Topic 2: Organizational Communication: Macro. An introduction to selected macro-level or systemic variables in organizations, such as structure, technology, and environments, and to the ways these variables relate to organizational communication processes.
Topic 3: Postmodern Organizational Communication Theory. An attempt to integrate the concern in cultural studies for structure with the stream of organizational theory that focuses on chaos. Readings include Clifford and Markus, Clifford, Deleuze and Guattari, March and Olsen, Weick.
Topic 4: Foundations of Organizational Communication Theory. Introduction to the major approaches of understanding organizational communication. Examines the theoretical background and analytic skills to navigate tensions among varied approaches at micro-and-macro-levels; explores contemporary scholarship in organizational communication research in a historical context. Communication Studies 390T (Topic: Foundations of Organizational Communication Theory) and 390T (Topic 4) may not both be counted.
Topic 5: Careers: Theory and Practice. Examination of the current interdisciplinary definitions, theories, and practices regarding careers and work in contemporary society. Addresses subjects such as employability and/or entrepreneurship, the effect of contemporary technologies, internal/subjective v external/objective success, and work/life balance. Communication Studies 390T (Topic: Careers: Theory and Practice) and 390T (Topic 5) may not both be counted.

CMS 390U. Consultation in Organizations.

A review of social science literature and its application to problem solving and organizational development in field settings. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing. Some sections also require consent of instructor or the graduate adviser; these are identified in the Course Schedule.

CMS 392P. Seminar in Communication Technology.

Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Graduate standing. Some sections also require consent of instructor or the graduate adviser; these are identified in the Course Schedule.

Topic 3: Communication in Virtual Groups. Examines how people think, feel, and communicate in geographically distributed groups using new technologies. Covers impression formation, impression management, anonymity and social identity, group norms, liking, conformity, trust, conflict, building common ground, and social influence processes.
Topic 4: Communication Technology Use in Organizations. Examines the theoretical and empirical work on the communicative functions of technology in the workplace.
Topic 5: Computer-Mediated Communication Models and Methods. Examines the theoretical and methodological assumptions of computer-mediated communication research. Topics include online impression formation and impression management, online romantic relationships, digital deception, online identity shift effects, and the effects of perceived anonymity when using new communication technologies.
Topic 6: Grant Writing in Communication. Discussion of the grant writing process, including reviewing actual grant proposals for analysis and critique.

CMS 698. Thesis.

The equivalent of three lecture hours a week for two semesters. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: For 698A, graduate standing in communication studies and consent of the graduate adviser; for 698B, Communication Studies 698A.

CMS 398R. Master's Report.

Preparation of a report to fulfill the requirement for the master's degree under the report option. The equivalent of three lecture hours a week for one semester. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: Graduate standing in communication studies and consent of the graduate adviser.

CMS 398T. Supervised Teaching in Communication Studies.

Teaching communication studies under supervision. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Offered on the letter-grade basis only. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

CMS 399W, 699W, 999W. Dissertation.

May be repeated for credit. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: Admission to candidacy for the doctoral degree.