Our graduate-level program in communication offers a diverse, flexible curriculum that prepares students to lead and/or advocate for others in multiple career and academic fields.
Students take 33 credits of diverse, flexible curriculum preparing them to lead and/or advocate for others in a variety of settings. Students gain an understanding of theoretical approaches in the field of communication, develop research skills, create and critique messages in a variety of interpersonal and mediated contexts, and explore principles of ethical responsibility. The program prepares students to succeed in professional positions involving leadership and advocacy in both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations or for continued study in a Ph.D. program.
In addition, the program offers special topics courses in areas such as communication in health contexts, persuasion, creating communication campaigns, and the effects of and uses for media messages.
Foundation (9 credits) • COMM 500 - Foundations of the Communication Discipline - (3 credits) • COMM 575 - Communication Theory - (3 credits) • COMM 576 - Graduate Communication Research - (3 credits)
Courses in Social Change and Leadership (12 credits) • COMM 501 - Communication Leadership - (3 credits) • COMM 502 - Communication Activism - (3 credits) • COMM 519 - Communication & Media Campaigns - (3 credits) • COMM 530 - Communication Across Differences - (3 credits)
Choose any two courses (6 credits) • COMM 509 - Public Relations - (3 credits) • COMM 511 - Communication in Health Contexts - (3 credits) • COMM 531 - Communicating with Diverse and Targeted Audiences - (3 credits) • COMM 540 - Media Uses and Effects - (3 credits) • COMM 560 - Persuasion - (3 credits) • Any additional COMM elective at the 500, 600 or 700 level
Capstone (6 credits) • COMM 691 - Applied Communication Capstone - (1-6 credits)
Graduates' Thesis Topics
Fall 2023
Alana Leath (advisor: Dr. Christina Selby) - "'Sharing Moments and Supporting Each Other': The Impact of Social Media on Intercultural Adaptation"
Lilie Steryous (advisor: Dr. James Ndone) - "Is Silence Golden During a Crisis? The Effects of Planned and Forced Silence on Crisis Outcomes"
Spring 2022
Ian Livingston Brooking (advisor: Dr. Jeffrey Ranta) - “Changing the Game: How Twitter has Affected the Field of Sports Journalism”
Dahlia DeHaan (advisor: Dr. Linsay M. Cramer) - “‘Ramifications that you, quite simply, will never understand’: The Colorblind White Savior in HBO's Gossip Girl”
Krystal Dotson (advisor: Dr. Corinne Dalelio) - “All Eyes on Me: An Autoethnographic Story of Prayer”
Kate Federico (advisor: Dr. Wendy Weinhold) - “Lost Life”
Dannie Johnson (advisor: Dr. Kyle J. Holody) - “The Lord is My Shepherd; I Shall Want: An Autoethnography of Desire in Southern Funeral Rituals”
Dominique Pennisi (advisor: Dr. Linsay M. Cramer) - “‘It has taught me how to make myself more relatable’: An Exploratory Study of How Media Use Influences International Students' Adjustment to Living and Studying in the U.S.
Ben Rutherford (advisor: Dr. Andrea Bergstrom) - “The Power of Clubs: The Clubs and Organization Experience”
Gregory Stephens (advisor: Dr. Wendy Weinhold) - “Flipping the Switch: Creation, Implementation, & Importance of Chosen Names and Pronouns”
Sydney Suddreth (advisor: Dr. Corinne Dalelio) - “Seeking God During Hard Times: A Qualitative Content Analysis of Popular 2020 Sermons on YouTube”
Fall 2021
Kendra Lukacs (advisor: Dr. Corinne Dalelio) - “Shared Territory: A Close Analysis of Intercultural Communication Between In-Group and Out-Group Members on a Professional Volleyball Team in Cyprus”
Summer 2021
Sarah Jackson (advisor: Dr. Corrine Dalelio) - “Reducing Undergraduates’ Uncertainty for Enrolling in a Graduate Program”
Briana Marino (advisor: Dr. Cassandra Hill) - “(Un)Certainty in Mystery: Reducing Patient Uncertainty in Diagnosis of a Mystery Illness”
Spring 2021
Madison Dunn (advisor: Dr. Kyle J. Holody) - “The Identity of Cult: A Look at Viewer Identification Through Cult Classic Films”
Fall 2020
Rachel Abarbanell (advisor: Dr. Kyle J. Holody) - “Mandatory Furloughs in the Wake of COVID-19: An Impact Analysis of the Communication Announcing Coastal Carolina’s Mandatory Furlough Plan”
