Communication
Chair: Lisa B. Keränen
Graduate Director: Amy Hasinoff
Undergraduate Director: Stephen J. Hartnett
Program Assistant: Michelle A. Médal
Undergraduate Advisors: e. j. Yoder and Yvette Bueno Olson
Internship Director: Megan Hurson
Office: Student Commons Building, 1201 Larimer Street, 3rd Floor, Room 3014
Telephone: 303-315-1919
Overview
The Department of Communication at the University of Colorado Denver enriches understanding of the roles of communication in everyday life, organizational settings and public affairs. While the roots of the study of communication trace back to the ancient arts of philosophy, rhetoric, and aesthetics, its contemporary practices speak to the opportunities and dilemmas of participating in a globalized, mediated and multicultural society. A major in communication develops knowledge and skills that are required for many different fields, including advertising, business, international relations, education, public service, government and politics, health care and public relations. Because college graduates are expected to change careers approximately seven times over the course of their lives, and because employers across a wide variety of fields seek applicants with strong oral and written communication skills, a degree in communication is a versatile and timely choice.
The department’s classes are organized in five pathways, including community service and public affairs, global and intercultural communication, health communication, media and cultural studies, and strategic communication. In addition, we offer a number of Inquiry and Analysis classes that bridge these areas. Across these pathways, students are encouraged to merge theoretical studies with practical applications, including in-service learning courses, travel study, internships, social justice projects and other experiential modes of learning. The Department of Communication seeks to cultivate the knowledge and ability to use communication to create a more equitable and humane world.
Undergraduate Information
Communication Major
Click here to learn about the requirements for a major in Communication.
Academic Honors
Academic honors are conferred at graduation on students whose achievements are above those required for the bachelor’s degree. Three levels of honors are available to students. Cum laude honors are automatically earned by communication majors with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 and a GPA of 3.5 in 39 hours of communication courses. Magna cum laude and summa cum laude honors require the completion of COMM 4700 Thesis and Project Practicum. Additional information about academic honors may be obtained from the undergraduate advisor in communication.
Undergraduate Internships
Internships are opportunities for students to work in communication-related positions in the community and to receive academic credit for that work. These internships provide a way for students to maximize their communication background and their understanding of concepts, theories, models and frameworks within the communication discipline.
Students typically receive 3 hours of academic credit for a one-semester internship in which they work between 15 and 30 hours a week.
For further information about internships, contact Megan Hurson at megan.hurson@ucdenver.edu.
Communication Minor
Click here to learn about the requirements for a minor in Communication.
Undergraduate Certificates
Click here to learn about the requirements for an Undergraduate Certificate in Strategic Communication.
Click here to learn about the requirements for an Undergraduate Certificate in Health Communication.
Click here to learn about the requirements for an Undergraduate Certificate in Mediation.
Click here to learn about the requirements for an Undergraduate Certificate in Digital Studies.
Click here to learn about the requirements for an Undergraduate Certificate in Global and Intercultural Communication.
Graduate Information
Please go to the Graduate catalog to read about our graduate programs.
Faculty
Professors:
Sarah Fields, PhD, University of Iowa
Stephen J. Hartnett, PhD, University of California at San Diego
Associate Professors:
Hamilton Bean, PhD, University of Colorado at Boulder
Larry Erbert, PhD, University of Iowa
Amy Hasinoff, PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Lisa B. Keränen, PhD, University of Pittsburgh
Associate Professors (Clinical Track):
Patrick Shaou-Whea Dodge, PhD, University of Denver
Xiyuan Liu, PhD, University of Illinois at Chicago
Assistant Professors:
Soumia Bardhan, PhD, University of New Mexico
Catalina M. de Onis, PhD, Indiana University
Mia Fischer, PhD, University of Minnesota
Senior Instructors:
Kristy Frie, MA, Regis University
Yvette Bueno Olson, PhD, University of Miami
e. j. Yoder, PhD, University of Denver
Instructors:
Megan Hurson, PhD, University of Colorado Boulder
Diann Logan, MA, University of Colorado Denver
James McNeil, MA, University of Colorado Denver
Ali Nassiri, MA, University of Colorado Denver
Tamara Powell, PhD, University of California San Diego
Emeritus:
Brenda J. Allen, PhD, Howard University
Sonja K. Foss, PhD, Northwestern University
James F. Stratman, PhD, Carnegie-Mellon University
Barbara J. Walkosz, PhD, University of Arizona
Communication (COMM)
Theory and practice of presentational speaking in a variety of contexts to accomplish goals of asserting individuality, building community, securing adherence, discovering knowledge and belief, and offering perspectives. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Studies communication theory and application. Topics include communication models, interpersonal communication and the concept of self, nonverbal communication, message preparation and analysis, and decision making. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Max hours: 3 Credits. GT: Course is approved by the Colorado Dept of Higher Education for statewide guaranteed transfer, GT-SS3.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Additional Information: GT courses GT Pathways, GT-SS3, Soc Behav Sci:Hmn Behav, Cul; Denver Core Requirement, Behavioral Sciences.
Explores the role of contemporary media in shaping our sense of ourselves and our world. The class surveys a broad array of critical approaches to understanding media. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Max hours: 3 Credits. GT: Course is approved by the Colorado Dept of Higher Education for statewide guaranteed transfer, GT-SS3.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Additional Information: Denver Core Requirement, Behavioral Sciences; GT courses GT Pathways, GT-SS3, Soc Behav Sci:Hmn Behav, Cul.
Focuses on the theory and development of interpersonal relationships. Issues covered include the communication process, self versus others, self-esteem, person perception, the attraction process, nonverbal communication, relationship development and family communication. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Special classes for faculty-directed experiences examining communication issues and problems not generally covered in the curriculum. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Introduction to Journalism provides students a broad overview of the histories of, debates within, and best practices for journalism in print, digital, and other media. This is a writing intensive course. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Restriction: Restricted to Freshman level students. Term offered: fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Restriction: Restricted to Freshman level students
Cultivates academic American English knowledge/skills merging cultural, rhetorical, and linguistic theories with experiential learning. The course is designed for bilingual and non-native English speakers. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Introduction to debates about and means of practicing citizenship and social justice. Issues may include democratic participation, electoral politics, community engagement, and civil rights. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Constant technological innovation means most Americans experience democracy in online formats; this class equips students with tools for living in our digital age. Topics include analyzing websites, studying online political organizing, and learning how to produce materials for online advocacy. Term offered: spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Focuses on theories and practices of leadership, teambuilding, relationship development and other workplace communication skills. The goal of the course is to help students develop advanced communication strategies for managing workplace challenges. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Development of communication skills often used in business and professional settings, with an emphasis on various kinds of presentations. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Provides students foundational skills of marketing & public relations, targeted political messaging, and organizational communication, merging theory & practices to study how strategic communication works in different media environments. Students will not receive credit for this class if they have already received credit for COMM 4635. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
A survey course covering the major media writing types including: hard or straight news, features, review, editorials, web content, and social media, plus notetaking, interviewing, and editing skills, and an examination of media bias. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
This on-line class enables students to learn the research and writing skills that will enable them to excel in the rest of the classes they take to complete the Communication major. Because the course is intended for Communication majors, our readings and modes of analysis provide students an overview of the discipline in general and of the “Pathways” that structure our major. The class is writing intensive. Term offered: spring, summer, fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.
This course develops knowledge and skills in producing, distributing, and managing engaging new media content using the latest digital communication platforms. Term offered: fall, spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Intro to Environmental Communication provides students with the foundations for analyzing public debates about environmental sustainability, global warming, economic development, corporate responsibility, and activist movements. Emphasis is placed on representations of these issues in TV, films, music, blogs, and public deliberation. Term offered: fall, spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Examines classical through contemporary theories, with special attention to types of propositions, burden of proof, analysis of issues, evidence, reasoning, fallacies, case construction, refutation and ethics. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Health industries are among the fastest growing sectors of the U.S. economy; this class enables students to begin thinking about their health, the health of their communities, and the health of the nation as systems of language and power. Term offered: fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
This class builds upon the skills learned in COMM 1071, Introduction to Journalism, and COMM 2071, Media Writing Skills, by focusing on long-form writing that is suitable for magazines and websites. Prereq: Students must have completed COMM 2071 with a C- or higher, or receive permission from the instructor, to enroll in this course. Term offered: spring. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: COMM 2071 with a C- or higher, or receive permission from the instructor, to enroll in this course.
Typically Offered: Spring.
This course is designed for CU Denver students studying at the ICB program in Beijing. For such students, the course introduces Chinese communication practices & cultural expectations, easing the student's transition into life in Beijing. Field trips are required & will be announced 1st day of class. Term offered: fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
This introduction to the history of the U.S. trial court system will contextualize significant trials in historic and cultural moments. The course will explore the roles of legal communication and mass communication in contemporary and subsequent representations of the trial. Cross-list HIST 3231. Term offered: spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Explores the complexities of communication across diverse identities such as race, ethnicity, and gender. Course attempts to seek solutions via sharing meaning and discovering common ground. Note: This course may count for the International Studies major or minor. See your INTS advisor for more information. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Additional Information: Denver Core Requirement, Cultural Diversity.
Explores family communication processes in traditional and nontraditional families through examination of theories and research on the family. Topics include conflict, family secrets, decision-making, and practical guidelines for improved communication in families. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
This course examines television theories and histories, from broadcast TV to internet streaming. Investigating TV industries and representations, students will gain an understanding of TV's role in contemporary culture. Term offered: spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Approaches communication from a historical perspective, examining how major revolutions in communication technologies have influenced and impacted society over time. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Prereq: COMM 1021 with a C- or higher or permission from the instructor. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: COMM 1021 with a C- or higher.
Students analyze new social media platforms in terms of their textual and visual content, their software structure, and their interactive features, thus learning how to analyze and produce online content intended to spur social change. Prereq: Students must have completed COMM 1011 and COMM 2020 with a C- or higher, or receive permission from the instructor, to enroll in this course. Term offered: fall, spring. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: Students must have completed COMM 1011 and COMM 2020 with a C- or higher.
Note: Students must submit a special processing form completely filled out and signed by the student and faculty member, describing the course expectations, assignments and outcomes, to the CLAS undergraduate advising office for approval. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Repeatable. Max Hours: 6 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 6.
Applies communication or technical communication concepts and skills in supervised employment situations. Note: This course fulfills the communication department's exit class requirement. Prereq: Students must havecompleted 15 credit hours at CU Denver and have a 2.75 GPA overall and must work with the Experiential Learning Center advising to complete a course contract and gain approval. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Repeatable. Max Hours: 9 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 9.
Examines the language and imagery used in sporting discourse. Considers how sports reflect and refract culture, both positively and negatively. Cross-list COMM 5000. Term offered: fall, spring. Restriction: Restricted to students with junior standing or higher or permission from the instructor. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring.
Examines the central role of communication in the creation of a civil and humane society. The definition, understanding, and practices of civility in public discourse and in professional, social, and personal relationships are explored. Film, literature, music, and other texts are utilized to illustrate key concepts and serve as catalysts for discussion. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Introduces the communication theories of major feminist theorists such as Mary Daly, Bell Hooks, and Sonia Johnson, with a focus on how their theories challenge and transform current understandings of communication. Cross-listed with COMM 5020. Restriction: Restricted to students with junior standing or higher or permission from the instructor. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Introduces major theories of rhetoric from classical through contemporary times, including the theories of Aristotle, Cicero, I. A. Richards, Kenneth Burke, Michel Foucault and Jurgen Habermas. Cross-listed with COMM 5021. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Restriction: Restricted to students with junior standing or higher or permission from the instructor. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.
Surveys research methods used to analyze messages from rhetorical and critical perspectives. Cross-listed with COMM 5022. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Overview of major theories and literature in the communication field that serve as the foundation for the study of communication. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Examines the U.S. prison-industrial complex and enables students to envision ways of reducing crime and improving democracy by engaging in community service. Note: This course fulfills the communication department's exit class requirement. Strongly Recommended: Students complete COMM 2020 or COMM 2030 prior to taking this class. Cross-listed with COMM 5040. Term offered: fall, spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Provides senior-level training in hands-on communication environments where targeted messaging seeks specific outcomes. All students complete projects for community group, media outlet or corporation they choose. Students will not receive credit for this class if they have already received credit for COMM 4640. Note: This course fulfills the communication department's exit class requirement. Prereq: Students must have completed COMM 2051 or COMM 2071 or COMM 3680 with a C- or higher, or receive permission from the instructor, to enroll in this course. Cross-listed with COMM 5051. Term offered: fall, spring. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: Students must have completed COMM 2051 or COMM 2071 or COMM 3680 with a C- or higher.
The primary goal of this course is to engage issues of wilderness, communication, and environmental sustainability. Students will read philosophical, theoretical, and academic literature on human symbolic constructions of wilderness. Cross-listed with COMM 5082. Term offered: summer, fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Typically Offered: Fall, Summer.
Examines research and applications related to the major theories of leadership. Emphasizes a critical reading of research confirming or denying various theories, and stresses the historical development of theories of leadership behavior and characteristics. Cross-listed with COMM 5111. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
This course focuses on the relational/coconstitutive dynamics between religion, culture, and communication and how that shapes the world in which people live; how the legacy of political religious conflict, in conjunction with international culture wars, instigate socio-cultural conflict and change; and how an in-depth study of the dynamics of religion, culture, and communication can improve intergroup/intercultural/international relations or even negotiation/conflict resolution processes. Students will develop capacity to critically analyze the socio-cultural and political implication of religious ideology (radical and moderate), ways in which these ideologies are performed and communicated, and their (studentsʼ) agency/ability to contribute to intercultural/international understanding, conflict resolution, civic engagement, and/or social justice efforts. In addition, upon completion, students should be prepared to engage in complex conversations about the idea of religion, itʼs role and relevance in human lives, and recognize several commonalities and differences between their (studentsʼ) and non-Western/other societiesʼ worldviews, cultures, and communicative dynamics. We will engage these topics through multiple and diverse readings, examples from television, film, and social media, reflexive writing assignments, research and analytical activities, critical discussions, and experiential learning activities. Cross-listed with INTS 4152, RLST 4152, COMM 5152, INTS 5152, and RLST 5152. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Designed to help students identify and address the daily ethical challenges that occur in private, social, and professional contexts. Focus is on recognizing, analyzing, and resolving real-world ethical dilemmas using diverse approaches to ethical decision making. Cross-listed with COMM 5215. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Applies qualitative research methods to human communication practices, including the processes of designing qualitative studies, collecting data, analyzing and interpreting data, and reporting results. Cross-listed with COMM 5221. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Studies nonverbal behaviors that accompany or replace verbal communication, including macrospace, proxemics, kinesics, facial expression, eye contact, gestures, vocal characteristics, touch and personal adornment. Cross-listed with COMM 5230. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Addresses the relationships among such communication factors as flow, media, channel, diversity, information delivery and organization functioning, morale, and productivity. Stresses functional workplace skills and practices. Cross-listed with COMM 5240. Term offered: fall, spring. Restriction: Restricted to students with junior standing or higher or permission from the instructor. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Explores critical theoretical perspectives on communication in complex organizations, including issues and standpoints that have not been included in mainstream theory and research. Analyzes assumptions and pragmatic solutions associated with these theories. Cross-listed with COMM 5245. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Designed to allow students to study theories and apply concepts that explain the influences of various forms of mediating, reducing, and/or resolving conflict among individuals, groups, organizations, nations and cultures. Cross-listed with COMM 5255. Term offered: summer. Restriction: Restricted to students with junior standing or higher or permission from the instructor. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Typically Offered: Summer.
Studies the influence of communication on intrapersonal, interpersonal, intragroup and intergroup conflict situations. Cross-listed with COMM 5260. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Restriction: Restricted to students with junior standing or higher or permission from the instructor. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Explores theoretical and practical aspects of mediation in a variety of contexts ranging from divorce mediation to labor-management disputes. Cross-listed with COMM 5262. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Restriction: Restricted to students with junior standing or higher or permission from the instructor. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Examines gender as it is constructed, performed, evaluated, and negotiated through communication. Topics covered include the nature of gender, the gender binary, scientific research on gender, gender stories in popular culture, the process of crafting and performing gender stories, and responses to gender performances. Cross-listed with COMM 5265. Restriction: Restricted to students with junior standing or higher or permission from the instructor. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Explores issues of diversity and community in the construction of U.S. culture. Emphasis on legal and historical texts that codify or challenge majoritarian notions of difference and systems of social control. Cross-listed with COMM 5268. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Examines the philosophy, process, problems, and potentials unique to communication across cultural boundaries. Note: This course may count for the International Studies major or minor. See your INTS advisor for more information. Term offered: fall, spring. Restriction: Restricted to students with junior standing or higher or permission from the instructor. Cross-listed with COMM 5270 and INTB 6270. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Examines the role of communication in change processes of various kinds, including social change and diffusion of innovations. Cross-listed with COMM 5280. Prereq: COMM 2082 with a C- or higher or permission from the instructor. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: COMM 2082 with a C- or higher.
Studies the communication processes involved in policies and practices affecting natural and human environments. Cross-listed with COMM 5282. Term offered: spring. Prereq: COMM 2082 with a C- or higher permission from the instructor. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: COMM 2082 with a C- or higher.
Covers writing web pages in HTML, beginning Photoshop, style sheets, bitmapped animations, issues of usable layout, navigability, structure, typography, and color on the web. Projects require students to develop static web sites. Cross-listed with COMM 5290. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Analysis and evaluation of components of multimedia development and hands-on instruction featuring computer animation for advertising, training, and educational projects. Cross-listed with COMM 5300. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
This course provides a senior-level opportunity to study how China & the USA have spoken about and to each other, from the Opium War through the Cyber Wars, thus situating this nation in a world of globalizing communication. Note: this course fulfills the communication department's exit class requirement. Note: This course may count for the International Studies major or minor. See your INTS advisor for more information. Cross-listed with COMM 5430. Term offered: fall. Restriction: Restricted to students with junior standing or higher or permission from the instructor. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Examines the role of communication in a wide range of health contexts. Topics include cultural constructions of health and illness, public health communication campaigns, client-provider interactions, telemedicine, community-based health programs and medical journalism. Note: This course fulfills the communication department's exit class requirement. Cross-listed with COMM 5500. Term offered: fall, spring. Restriction: Restricted to students with junior standing or higher or permission from the instructor. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
This course provides a broad knowledge base about health disparities and culturally competent frameworks in healthcare by enabling students to engage in service learning projects with local health-related community groups. Note: this course fulfills the communication department's exit class requirement. Term offered: spring. Prereq: COMM 2020 or COMM 2030 or COMM 2050 with a C- or higher or permission from the instructor. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: COMM 2020 or COMM 2030 or COMM 2050 with a C- or higher.
Typically Offered: Spring.
This senior seminar/bridge class investigates persuasion in contemporary medicine/health care from clinical settings through mass media. Case studies explore contagion, health policy, the body, death, and biopower. The course requires extensive discussion of readings and an original research project. Note: This course fulfills the communication department's exit class requirement. Cross-listed with COMM 5550. Restriction: Restricted to students with junior standing or higher or permission from the instructor. Term offered: fall. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Typically Offered: Fall.
This course blends readings, discussions and activities about health narratives with digital media production skills to teach students how to create compelling digital stories about health-related topics. Note: this course fulfills the communication department's exit class requirement. Cross-listed with COMM 5558. Restriction: Restricted to students with junior standing or higher or permission from the instructor. Term offered: spring. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Typically Offered: Spring.
Examines the roles of communication in the design and impact of health messages/campaigns. We will design and assess health communication messages/campaigns in a participatory, process‐oriented way using varied communication tools. Prereq: COMM 2500 with a C- or higher or instructor permission. Cross-listed with COMM 5575. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: COMM 2500 with a C- or higher or instructor permission.
Surveys a broad array of critical and interpretive approaches to the study of media. Approaches include political economic, semiotic, rhetorical, psychoanalytic, feminist, and cultural. Cross-listed with COMM 5600. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Because food provides a communication channel for much of who we are as individuals, as a community and as a society this course analyzes food as a form of communication. Note: This course may count for the International Studies major or minor. See your INTS advisor for more information. Cross-listed with COMM 5601. Restriction: Restricted to students with junior standing or higher or permission from the instructor. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Develop the tools to think critically about representations of sexuality and to understand the social construction of sexuality, the role of sexual representations in mass media and society, and the complex relationships between sexual acts, identities, and desires. Restriction: Restricted to class level Junior, Senior, or permission of instructor. Cross-listed with WGST 4610. Term offered: fall, spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
This course examines stakeholder relations, agendas, and debates about global food policy using rhetorical concepts and analysis. Topics include the framing of debates about agriculture, hunger and obesity, the greening of food governance, sustainable food systems, and more. This course fulfills the communication department's pathway course requirement. Cross-listed with INTS 4611. Prereq: Junior standing or higher. Term offered: spring, fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring.
Explores the social, cultural, and behavioral effects of visual images in a variety of contexts, including graffiti, film, advertising, art and architecture. Cross-listed with COMM 5621. Prereq: COMM 1021 with a C- or higher. Term offered: spring. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: COMM 1021 with a C- or higher.
Typically Offered: Spring.
Queer Media Studies is a discussion-based, writing-intensive seminar that examines the history and development of U.S. LGBTQI media by focusing on media texts and production, sociocultural context, and media reception. Cross-listed with COMM 5660, WGST 4660, WGST 5660. Restriction: Restricted to students with junior standing or higher or permission from the instructor. Term offered: fall, spring. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring.
Provides a fundamental understanding and appreciation of advertising in today's global society, including consumer motivation, buying behavior, research, creative development and media planning. Cross-listed with COMM 5665. Prereq: COMM 1021 with a C- or higher. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: COMM 1021 with a C- or higher.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.
Covers issues of mass communication and the law and ethics, including issues of the First and Fourth Amendments, communication regulations, intellectual property, public access and obscenity. Cross-listed with COMM 5680. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Introduces students to communication and language research aimed at improving the fairness, reliability, and validity of court and judicial processes, including lawyer-client interviews, interrogatories, jury selection, jury instructions, witness examination, and the use of language evidence in court. Strongly Recommended: ENGL 2030. Cross-listed with COMM 5681. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Examines the communication processes involved in mediated political events. Topics include the stages of the campaign process, media coverage of the political campaign process, and literacy skills needed to understand political advertising. Cross-listed with COMM 5682. Prereq: COMM 2020 or COMM 2030 with a C- or higher. Term offered: fall. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Critically examines the complex issues raised by media involvement in criminal court cases, including effects of pre-trial publicity, cameras in the courtroom, participants who argue their stories to the media, the CSI effect, and other phenomena relevant to media influence. Repeatable. Max Hours: 6 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 6.
Synthesis experience for communication majors designed to prepare students to enter the job market and to integrate and reflect on their experience in communication. Must have senior standing. This course fulfills the communications department's exit course requirement. Restrictions: Restricted to students with senior standing.Term offered: spring, fall. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Restrictions: Restricted to Senior standing.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring.
Focuses on strategies of research design and writing for undergraduate students working on theses for Latin honors and for master's students seeking to complete a major research paper or thesis. Note: This course fulfills the communication department's exit class requirement. Cross-listed with COMM 6700. To be eligible to enroll in this course you must be a senior majoring in communication, have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 and have a GPA in your communication coursework of 3.5. Term offered: fall, spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Special classes for faculty-directed experiences examining communication issues and problems not generally covered in the curriculum. Cross-listed with COMM 6710. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Repeatable. Max hours: 15 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 15.
Explores the word "global" in a communication context by analyzing the relationships between world media, international events, economics and the geopolitics of culture. This analysis is supported by the application of mass, human and cultural communication theory. Note: This course may count for the International Studies major or minor. See your INTS advisor for more information. Cross-listed with COMM 5720. Restriction: Restricted to students with junior standing or higher or permission from the instructor. Term offered: fall, spring. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring.
Introduces the fundamentals of legal reasoning and legal argumentation through intensive class discussion, formal debate and writing. Attention is given to the relationship between case and statutory law and their application in trial and appeals courts in the United States. Strongly Recommended: ENGL 1020, ENGL 2030 and any 3000 level English course. Cross-listed with COMM 5750, PSCI 4757, 5747. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
This course examines the relationship between new media (such as the internet and mobile phones) and society. Students will investigate the social and cultural aspects of communication technologies. Cross-listed with COMM 5760. Prereq: COMM 1021 and COMM 2020 with a C- or higher. Term offered: fall, spring. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: COMM 1021 and COMM 2020 with a C- or higher.
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring.
Note: Students must submit a special processing form completely filled out and signed by the student and faculty member, describing the course expectations, assignments and outcomes, to the CLAS undergraduate advising office for approval. Prereq: Permission of instructor. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Repeatable. Max Hours: 12 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 12.
Students will engage in original research projects supervised and mentored by faculty. Students must work with faculty prior to registration to develop a proposal for their project and receive permission to take this course. Note: Students must submit a special processing form completely filled out and signed by the student and faculty member, describing the course expectations, assignments and outcomes, to the CLAS undergraduate advising office for approval. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Repeatable. Max Hours: 6 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 6.
This course is reserved for CU Denver faculty-led study abroad experiences. The course topic will vary based on the location and course content. Students register through the Office of Global Education. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Repeatable. Max hours: 15 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 15.