| Communication Arts |
CA 450 - Introduction to Public Speaking
Credits:
4.00
Theories of rhetoric applied to the practice of speech
composition, oral performance, and critical evaluation.
Focus on student speeches for a variety of situations and
audiences. Not for credit if credit earned for CMN 500.
CA 500 - Media Writing
Credits:
4.00
An introduction to business, creative and freelance writing
for a variety of media. Writing, editing and rewriting in
areas such as video scripts, short magazine articles, audio
scripts, ads, press releases, news, short one-act plays,
blogs and more. Prereq: ENG 401. Writing intensive.
CA 501 - Internship/Communication in the Urban Community
Credits:
1.00 to 4.00
Field-based learning experiences. Connects students to the
urban community and integrates their classroom education
within a business or organizational setting. Students work
under the direction of a faculty advisor and workplace
supervisor to fulfill the obligations of the workplace
internship plan and to complete individually-designed
academic projects. Projects must be approved in advance by
the faculty advisor. Open to matriculated students with a
GPA of 2.50 or better and junior standing. Permission of
instructor required. May be repeated for up to 8 credits,
with 4 credits maximum accepted toward satisfaction of
requirements for the CA major. Cr/F.
CA 502 - Image and Sound
Credits:
4.00
Image and Sound is a foundation course in the aesthetics
of motion picture and sound production. This course
explores the aesthetic principles that are used to
communicate stories, emotions and messages in popular
media. Students will study film, television and new media
and survey production methods. This is not a production
course per se, but is particularly helpful to students
interested in video and film production. No credit for
students who have completed CA 444.
CA 503 - Techniques for News Reporting
Credits:
4.00
Focuses on the essential elements of fact-based reporting
and discussion of the principles and ethics of independent
journalism. Techniques include determining the different
perspectives and voices that belong in a story, developing
research skills for locating information, strategies for
reconciling conflicting information, and procedures for
effective interviewing. Prereq: ENGL 401 plus CMN 455; or
permission.
CA #504 - Film Criticism
Credits:
4.00
An introduction to the practice of film criticism.
Critique of film as both art form and medium of
communication. Examines the process of film production,
basic principles of film form, techniques of film style,
and major approaches to film criticism. Prereq: ENGL 401
and CMN 455 or permission. Special fee.
CA 506 - Gender
Credits:
4.00
How gender is created, maintained, repaired, and
transformed through communication in particular
historical, cultural, and relational contexts. Examines a
variety of topics including the relationship between sex
and gender, language, cultural mythologies, identity,
health care, sexuality, and strategies for resisting
conventional gender definitions. Prereq: CMN 457 or
permission.
CA 508 - Conflict in Relational Communication
Credits:
4.00
Introduces communication theories relevant to the study of
conflict interaction in interpersonal relationships.
Considers interpersonal concerns contributing to conflict
such as power, face-saving, and goals. Examines behaviors
that affect our ability to resolve conflict, and
strategies, such as mediation, to resolve conflict.
Develops the ability to diagnose productive and destructive
conflict patterns in relationships. The course is both
theoretical and practical in orientation. A combination of
lecture, discussion, case studies, and in-class group
assignments are employed. Prereq: CMN 457.
CA 512 - Scriptwriting
Credits:
4.00
Examines the preproduction phase of moving image media,
focusing especially on the art and business of writing for
the screen. Covers the process of developing student work
from original story idea to completed, first draft
screenplay. Topics include script formats, narrative
structure, plot development, characterization, style, and
marketing strategies. Prereq: ENGL 401,CMN 455 or 456; or
permission. Cannot receive credit if credit received for CA
512 Scriptwriting. Writing intensive.
CA #513 - Radio News Production
Credits:
4.00
Theory and practice of producing news stories for radio.
Covers the research, organization, and technical skills
necessary to produce a basic three-and-half to four-minute
radio piece that includes three interviews, a scene created
with sound, instructions for a studio mix, and a host
introduction. Intended for beginning and intermediate
students who have a strong interest in news writing and
news production. Prereq: ENGL 401, plus CMN 455; or
permission. Special fee. Writing intensive.
CA 514 - Fundamentals of Video Production
Credits:
4.00
Beginning electronic field production using digital video
and nonlinear editing formats. Covers basic aesthetic
principles and practices of video communication. Introduces
techniques for effective image and sound recording in the
field, fundamentals of shot and sequence construction, and
basic postproduction practices on nonlinear editing
systems. Prereq: ENGL 401, CA 502 or CA 444, CMN 455, or
permission. Preference given to CA majors. Special fee.
CA 515 - Advanced Video Production
Credits:
4.00
Advanced electronic field production and post production
using digital video and nonlinear editing formats.
Emphasizes original student work of increasing conceptual,
formal, and technical complexity that begins to incorporate
a wider range of images, sounds, and editing techniques.
Prereq: CA 514 or permission. Preference given to CA
majors. May be repeated, with permission, to a maximum of 8
credits. Special fee.
CA #516 - Speechwriting
Credits:
4.00
The strategies of art and persuasion in the craft of
professional speechwriting for a variety of modes,
audiences, and exigencies. Examines a wide array of famous
speeches from political, literary and cinematic sources to
uncover the fundamental theories of rhetoric and persuasion
at work in these texts. Application of these theories and
strategies of persuasion in original speechwriting
projects. Prereq: ENGL 401 plus CMN 456; or permission.
CA 517 - Fundamentals of Audio Prod
Credits:
4.00
This course provides students with an introduction to the
history, principles, and techniques of audio production.
Through hands-on experience, class projects, and homework
assignments, student learn how to use voice, music,
writing, sound effects, and audio hardware and software to
design sound and tell a story. This class will also look at
the radio industry and how sound design is being used by a
variety of industries. Special fee.
CA 519 - Advanced Screenwriting
Credits:
4.00
Advanced examination of the preproduction phase of moving
image media, focusing on the art ans business of
screenwriting. Develops students works from original idea
through the numerous steps to completed, second draft
screenplay. Advanced topics and genres may vary. Prereq: CA
512. May be repeated, with permission, to a maximum of 8
credits. Cannot receive credit if credit earned for CA 520
Special Topics in Communication: Advanced Screenwriting.
CA 520 - Special Topics in Applied Communication
Credits:
1.00 to 4.00
New or specialized topics in applied communication not
covered in regular course offerings. Topics vary;
descriptions listing course content and any prerequisites
are available during preregistration. May be repeated for
credit if topics differ for a maximum of 12 credits.
Prereq: contingent on topic. Writing intensive when topic
is advanced feature scriptwriting.
CA #525 - Media Programming
Credits:
4.00
Process of program planning for electronic media. Covers
the contexts -- social, cultural, institutional, economic,
technical, regulatory -- within which decisions concerning
program selection, form, content, and scheduling are made.
Prereq: CMN 455 or permission.
CA 526 - Organization of Newswork
Credits:
4.00
Examines news as socially situated discourse. The
professional norms, work routines, representational
practices, ideologies, and ethics of news producing
organizations. Prereq: CMN 455 or permission.
CA 527 - History of Film
Credits:
4.00
The history of film since 1948. Historical analysis of the
development of cinema since the emergence of television,
both in the United States and abroad. Selected topics
include cinema and the cold war, international stylistic
movements, film exhibition, the decline of the studio
system, new technologies, third cinema, globalization and
economic consolidation. Prereq: CMN 455 or permission.
Special fee.
CA 531 - History and Organization of Advertising
Credits:
4.00
Examines the development of advertising in historical
context, focusing on the evolving structure and function
of advertising agencies, market research practices,
advertising design, anthropological approaches to
advertising and consumer culture, and contemporary policy
issues. Prereq: CMN 455 or permission.
CA #535 - Marital Communication
Credits:
4.00
Introduces students to the study of communication in
marital relationships. Examines the major theoretical
orientations that characterize the marriage field and
investigates the processes by which communication
facilitates or hinders marital adjustment and stability:
understanding, and relationship satisfaction. Also explores
popular cultural constructions of marriage and intimacy and
how these influence personal expectations for marital
relationships. Students need not be married to take or
benefit from this course. Prereq: CMN 457, or permission.
Writing intensive.
CA 539 - Communicating in Families
Credits:
4.00
Explores the role of communication in the creation,
maintenance, and transformation of family systems. Focus
on how meanings of "family" are constructed through
familial and popular discourses, and the consequences these
communication practices have for lived experience. Prereq:
CMN 457 or permission.
CA 540 - Public Relations
Credits:
4.00
This course provides students with an overview of the field
of public relations, including its history, ethics, and
current practices. Will include case studies of major
public relations issues that have occurred both
historically and in recent years; individual and class
projects that enable students to determine how best to plan
for and respond to public relations issues; and quest
practitioners who work in various fields, including
business, government, the non-profit sector, and education.
Prereq: CMN 456 or CMN 455 or permission.
CA 550 - Special Topics in Communication Organization, History, and Policy
Credits:
1.00 to 4.00
New or specialized topics in the organization, history,
and policy of communication practices not covered in
regular course offerings. Topics vary; descriptions of
course content and any prerequisites are available during
preregistration. May be repeated for a maximum of 12
credits if topics differ. Prereq: contingent on topic.
CA 600 - Research Methods in Media
Credits:
4.00
Qualitative research practices for the study of mass
communication. Tools for investigating the production
contexts of media institutions, the cultural and
ideological meanings of media texts, and the social
dimensions of media consumption in home and family.
Emphasis on how to review literature, develop a research
question, define a unit of analysis, select and apply
method, interpret data, and draw conclusions grounded in
theory. Prereq: any two 500 level CA courses (excluding CA
501), one of which must have CMN 455 is prerequisite or
permission. Writing intensive.
CA 601 - Exploring Relationships
Credits:
4.00
Critically examines the myriad ways qualitative
researchers approach the study of interpersonal
communication. With an emphasis on the artistic practice of
fieldwork, the course considers the process of research
design, the relationship between researcher and researched,
the moral and ethical aspects of research, issues of
representation and audience, and evaluation strategies.
Students design, conduct, and present original qualitative
research projects. Prereq: any two 500 level CA courses
(excluding CA 501), one of which must have CMN 457 as a
prerequisite or permission. Writing intensive.
CA 610 - Communication Technologies and Culture
Credits:
4.00
The role of communication technologies in shaping cultural
meanings and human consciousness. Covers the work of
Innis, McLuhan, Ong, Postman, Carey and others to
understand the historical development of shifting
communication technologies and patterns of culture from
orality to computer communication. Also explores the
dynamic between mass culture and sub-cultural
appropriations of media forms and content. Prereq: any two
CA courses (excluding CA 501), one of which must have CMN
455 as a prerequisite or permission. Writing intensive.
CA #611 - Theories of Relational Communication
Credits:
4.00
Critically examines a variety of theories which seek to
explain the dynamics of interpersonal relationships
including performance theory, social construction theory,
systems theory, feminist theory, and narrative theory.
Prereq: any two 500 level courses (excluding CA 501), one
of which must have CMN 457 as a prerequisite, or
permission. Writing intensive.
CA 612 - Narrative
Credits:
4.00
Considers the ways humans make sense of experience through
the stories we construct within particular relational,
cultural, and historical contexts. Explores a variety of
topics including narrative conventions, canonical stories,
subjectivity and reflexivity, the relationship between
story and audience, space and time, memory and imagination,
and narrative truth. Each student will conduct an original
narrative research project. Prereq: any two 500 level CA
courses (excluding CA 501), one of which must have CMN 457
as a prerequisite, or permission. Writing intensive.
CA 614 - Communication and Power
Credits:
4.00
Explores the concept of power -- how we conceive of power,
how we enact power, and the effects of power in our
interpersonal relationships. Using a variety of theoretical
approaches such as relational theory, feminist theory, and
social constructionist, we will consider the idea that the
expression of power is an act of self-definition, that
power resides in the ability to define one's reality while
identifying and choosing courses of action, and that
disempowerment is the end result of the loss of freedom of
action. Prereq: Any two 500 level CA courses (excluding CA
501), one of which must have CMN 457 as a prerequisite, or
permission. Writing intensive.
CA 615 - Film History/Theory and Method
Credits:
4.00
Intensive study of philosophical, rhetorical, and
methodological issues in film history research. Examines a
series of selected historical problems in the areas of
social, aesthetic, industrial, and technological film
history up to 1948 and reviews existing historiography on
these problems. Focus is on original student research.
Prereq: any two 500 level CA courses (excluding CA 501),
one of which must have CMN 455 as a prerequisite, or
permission. Special fee. Writing intensive.
CA 618 - Documentary
Credits:
4.00
Exploration of the historical development, ethics,
funding, socio-cultural significance, and communication
strategies of documentary film and video. May focus on a
particular genre or genres. Prereq: any two 500 level CA
courses (excluding CA 501), one of which must have CMN 455
as a prerequisite, or permission. Special fee. Writing
intensive.
CA 720 - Seminar
Credits:
4.00
Intensive readings and research course in a highly focused
area of study. Topics vary. Descriptions of course content
and any prerequisites are available during preregistration.
May be repeated for credit to a maximum of 12 credits if
topics differ. Prereq: contingent on topic. Writing
intensive.
CA 795 - Independent Study
Credits:
1.00 to 4.00
Advanced individual study under the direction of a faculty
member. Content area and research project to be developed
in consultation with faculty supervisor. Prereq:
permission. May be repeated for up to 8 credits, with 4
credits maximum accepted toward satisfaction of
requirements for the CA major.