Communication, B.A.

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Program Chair: Tamara Burk, Ph.D

Available in the Day College.

The Communication program at Columbia College is designed to provide students with a strong foundation in message design, critical thinking, and oral communication for personal and professional development. Our program recognizes that technology is changing the nature of communication, but the need to be confident, prepared, organized, and thoughtful in communication has remained. Consistently, employers rank communication as one of the competencies they desire most in new hires. We work to prepare students to meet these expectations with practice and study in a range of communication areas-social media, public speaking, conflict resolution, leadership and ethics, and more. Our program graduates have found success in a variety of fields (public service, law, marketing, public relations, nonprofit leadership, higher education, etc.) as well as gone on to pursue master’s and doctoral degrees in communication and related fields.

Mission: The B.A. in Communication program provides students with extensive knowledge of the communication process as dynamic, content-driven, and context-dependent. The communication program will offer opportunities for students to develop knowledge and skills needed to research, prepare, create, perform, and interpret messages in face-to-face and mediated contexts. Students will also have the opportunity to explore the field of communication from interdisciplinary perspectives, and intern in a potential career option. Students will graduate with a deeper understanding of themselves as communicators equipped to effectively represent their ideas and the ideas of others in their lives, professions, and communities.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Students will engage in communication inquiry.
Students will evaluate and apply ethical communication principles and practices in order to engage across diverse communication contexts.
Students will utilize communication for an appropriate audience, purpose, and condition.
Students will advocate a course of action to address local, national, and/or global issues from a communication perspective.
Students will demonstrate the role of communication in the workplace as well as a future career.