Communication

By enrolling in the Communication degree program you will engage with fellow students who are keenly interested in understanding more about how we use language in a variety of specific social contexts: the Environment, Healthcare and Business/Nonprofit.

Coordinating our actions with others can be challenging and this degree will enhance your communication skills. By working in diverse small and large groups, making presentations, and using a variety of channels – from face-to-face to telephone, email to internet – you will become prepared to take responsibility for interactions within your community and the workplace of your choosing.

The courses all focus on cultural communication and take a language and social interaction perspective. The foundational courses give students background in communication theory and practice and the upper division courses demonstrate a commitment to interdisciplinary studies with three emphases: environment, health and business/nonprofit.

Careers

Major career opportunities include environmental advocacy, nonprofit and business management, and health services.

Additional employment avenues include: mediation, counseling, public affairs, government, entrepreneurship, sales, community relations, employee relations, teaching (education), consulting, event planning, media entertainment, law, international relations, social and human services, advertising, journalism, marketing, and public relations.

Program Objectives

After having completed the requirements for the degree, students will be able to:

• Interact with others in one-on-one and small/large group settings, and with audiences of diverse memberships
• Collaborate effectively with others
• Analyze messages critically for content, purpose, organization, argument, style and meaning
• Analyze conflicts and work through resolutions
• Differentiate ethical dimensions of health, environmental or organizational messages and estimate their impact upon a given community
• Choose an optimal means to communicate depending upon the audience, situation and by understanding the relevance, limitations and effectiveness of different communication technologies

Links

To learn more about the discipline of Communication, visit our professional societies:
National Communication Association www.natcom.org
International Communication Association www.icahdq.org
Association for Business Communication http://www.businesscommunication.org/
Environmental Communication Network http://www.esf.edu/ecn/
Western States Communication Association http://www.westcomm.org/

Contact

FACULTY
Trudy Milburn, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Communication
East Bell Tower 2838
(805) 437 - 3128
trudy.milburn@csuci.edu