Courses
COMM 401 Special Topics in Communication
Recent topics have included Public Relations, Conflict Resolution, American Theatre and the Vietnam War, Human Communication Theory, American Film and Culture and Writing for Stage, Screen and TV. This course number may be repeated for credit with different topics.
Credits
1/2-1 course
Fall Semester information
Kevin Howley401A: Topics:Social Justice Media
This course considers the impact and efficacy of social justice media in the 21st century. Tracing the historical development of documentary media and activist practice, the course aims to demonstrate the theoretical and practical dimensions of social change communication including, but not limited to networked cultural production, distribution, and reception. Drawing on literature in cultural theory, communication, and conflict studies the course explores documentary's potential for resisting neoliberal orthodoxies in higher education, public policy, and film theory. Throughout the semester, we explore the intersection of social justice movements, past and present, and social change media.
Spring Semester information
Matthew Meier401A: Special Topics:Rhetoric and Popular Culture
This course engages the rhetorical tradition as a way of understanding and interrogating popular culture. Unlike other courses in rhetoric, this course is not concerned with the obviously important; rather, it regards the everyday, the ordinary, and the mundane as significant sources of persuasion and influence. The overarching concern for the course is not popular culture for its own sake. Instead, the course seeks to understand what popular culture does and how it contributes to the construction of our social reality.