Undergraduate Courses - Fall 2012

Course Number: COMM 1780
Title: Intro to Human Communication
Instructor: TBA
Days/Time: TBA
Course Description: See catalog
Proposed Text: Communication Mosaics, Julia Wood 6th edition. 

Course Number: COMM 2381
Title: Oral Communication
Instructor: TBA
Days/Time: TBA
Course Description: See catalog
Proposed text: The Osborne text. 9th edition. 

Course Number: COMM 3001
Title: Rhetoric and Civic Controversy
Instructor: Antonio de Velasco
Days/Time: M 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Course Description: This course introduces you to rhetoric study. We dedicate each session to learning key terms in rhetoric. Then, drawing from different cases in civic controversy, we explore how to use these terms to think through the complexities and ambiguities of real world argument. Taking various paths, we strive to answer a single question: In the midst of controversy, how do people use rhetoric to invent ways for audiences to think, feel, and act about the choices before them? The course aims to sharpen and balance your existing rhetorical skills, and thus to empower you for civic judgment in a world of conflicting claims and provisional resolutions.
Proposed Texts: All texts on electronic reserve.
Particulars: Weekly quizzes and three essay exams.

Course Number: COMM 3002
Title: Theories of Human Communication
Instructor: Lori Stallings
Days/Time: TR 8:00-9:25 a.m.
Course Description: Theories and models that describe and explain human communication processes ranging from interpersonal to mass communication contexts; use of analytical tools to critically analyze communication environments.
Proposed Text: A First Look at Communication Theory, Em Griffin, 8th edition.
Particulars: Prerequisites: COMM 1780. COMM 2381. Course emphasizes class discussion. Regular take home quizzes emphasize application of the theories. At least one formal class presentation. Comprehensive final exam.

Course Number: COMM 3003
Title: Television and Culture
Instructor: Allison Graham
Days/Time: MW 2:20-3:45 p.m.
Course Description: Social, political, and aesthetic dimensions of television in contemporary culture.
Proposed Texts: TBA

Course Number: COMM 3322
Title: Theories of Persuasion
Instructor: Craig Stewart
Days/Times: TR 1:00-2:25 p.m.
Course Description: Principles underlying communication designed to influence attitudes or behavior; approaches to motivation, perception, message structure, attention, reasoning, audience analysis, persuasibility, and attitude change; items for analysis drawn from speeches, advertising, radio, television, and film.
Proposed Texts: Herbert W. Simons & Jean G. Jones, Persuasion in Society, 2nd Edition

Course Number: COMM 3330
Title: Communication Research Methods
Instructor: Dr. Gretchen Norling Holmes
Days/Time: M/W 2:20-3:45 p.m.
Course Description: This course will introduce you to the major approaches and methods used in the field to study human communication. We will explore both qualitative and quantitative approaches to researching communication in a variety of contexts. You will learn to locate, read, and critique communication research, and you will develop a proposal for your own research investigation. The assignments and activities in this course are designed to help you achieve the following learning goals:

• You will be able to describe and distinguish between qualitative and
quantitative research and become familiar with specific methods of each type.
• You will become familiar with the different paradigms and
philosophical assumptions of qualitative and quantitative research.
• You will be able to read and critically evaluate research reports
and critical essays.
• You will be able to develop communication research questions and/or
hypotheses, identify appropriate methods for addressing these questions/hypotheses, and develop a formal research proposal.

Course Number: COMM 3821
Title: Audio Narratives
Instructor: Stephen Hildreth
Days/Time: TR 2:40–4:05 p.m.
Course Description: This course is an introduction to the theory and practice of audio production, providing both hands-on experience with equipment and techniques as well as discussions of the principles and ethics underlying the writing, recording, and editing of creative audio presentations. Students will be required to work outside class time, producing projects on the Macintosh/Pro Tools Digital Audio Workstations in the Department of Communication audio labs.
Required Text:
Audio Basics by Stanley R. Alten; Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Boston, 2012.
Particulars: Students will write, record, and edit productions, such as a Commercial/Public Service Announcement; a Music Program with DJ; an Interview Program ("My Favorite Song"); and a Documentary Profile.

Course Number: COMM 3823
Title: Film and Video Production I
Instructor: David Appleby
Days/Times: TR 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Course Description: Basic production skills and theory; still and 16 mm motion picture photography; film editing and audio; hands-on production exercises.
Text: On-line production guide.

Course Number: COMM 4012/6012
Title: Health Communication
Instructor: Amanda Young
Days/Times: MW 12:40 – 2:05 p.m.
Course Description: Health Communication is designed for students with an interest in how medical and healthcare information is constructed and disseminated among experts, the lay public, and individual patients, many of whom have developed their own expertise in dealing with illness. The course is appropriate for you if you are planning a career in any health-care related profession or if, as a communication professional, you want to build your writing and communication skills in a specific area. Topics include patient/provider interactions, ethical issues in health communication, health literacy, and health disparities.
Proposed Text: to be decided

Course Number: COMM 4013
Title: Political Communication
Instructor: Antonio de Velasco
Days/Time: TR 9:40-11:05 a.m.
Course Description: How are the major stakes of presidential contests in the contemporary United States drawn? How are opposing "sides" of national issues constructed and interpreted by candidates, media outlets and the rest of us? What rhetorical strategies dopolitical campaigns use to discredit, embarrass and humble their foes? Citizens frequently turn away from such questions, lamenting the drama, division, and distortion that clearly mark the language of electoral politics. This course, however, turns that lament on its head by asking you to work with – rather than against – such qualities in the interest of greater civic discernment. Since the nation will be in the midst of a presidential campaign, the focus of the course will be on a final project in which students construct "citizen narratives" that appraise campaign controversies from various different perspectives. Drawing from a range of practical examples and studies of political rhetoric, we will explore how political power circulates and becomes manifest in the words and images we use to make sense of public life.
Proposed Texts: Murray J. Edelman, Constructing the Political Spectacle; Frank Luntz, Words the Work; David Perlmutter, The Manship School Guide to Political Communication; and additional texts to be announced.
Particulars: Weekly quizzes; two exams; final project.

Course Number: COMM 4223/6223
Title: Special Topics in Film: Monster Films
Instructor: Marina Levina
Days/Time: M 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Course Description: In her famous book, Our Vampires, Ourselves (1997), Nina Auerbach writes that each age embraces the vampire it needs. This statement speaks to the essential role that monster narratives play in culture. They offer a space where society can safely represent and address anxieties of its time. This course will survey classic and contemporary monster films. As a whole, it argues that monstrous narratives of the past decade have become omnipresent specifically because they represent social collective anxieties over resisting and embracing change. They can be read as a response to a rapidly changing cultural, social, political, economic, and moral landscape. And while monsters always tapped into anxieties over a changing world, they have never been as popular, or as needed, as in the past decade. This course explores monstrosity as a social and cultural category for organizing, classifying, and managing change. Based in the field of media studies and critical theory, it will provide film case studies that explore monstrous discourse and representation in film.
Proposed Texts: David J. Skal, The Monster Show: Cultural History of Horror, Revised Edition, 2001
Barry Grant (Ed.), The Dread of Difference; other readings will be posted on Ecourseware
Particulars: Graduate students will be expected to complete a longer research paper and longer exams

Course Number: COMM 4340/6340
Title: Listening
Instructor: Gray Matthews
Days/Time: TR 11:20-12:45 p.m.
Course Description: Exploration of communication theory and practice from perspective of listening; philosophical, practical, personal dimensions of listening will be explored as an art of being as well as a mode of doing.
Proposed Text: The Lost Art of Listening, Michael P. Nichols. For Graduate Students: The Other Side of Language, Gemma Corradi Fiumara.
Particulars: Course emphasizes engaged communication. Two exams, four one-page experiential reports, one "readings" journal.

Course Number: COMM 4341/6341
Title: Interpersonal Communication
Instructor: Katherine G. Hendrix
Days/Times: TR 11:20 am – 12:45pm
Course Description: This course in interpersonal communication emphasizes both communication theory and real life applications of the course content. Class material will be explored through exercises and discussion designed to develop and/or enhance skills such as: perception, the effective presentation of ideas and emotions, and maintaining healthy relationships.

Practical application within the classroom should increase the likelihood of retention and use of the concepts outside of the classroom as part of a life-long process. This life-long process should include growth and movement toward quality-based, satisfying interaction with others as well as recognizing circumstances where interpersonal behavior is inappropriate.
Undergraduate Texts:
Stewart, J., Zediker, K. E., & Witteborn, S. (2005). Together: Communicating interpersonally (6th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Oxford University Press.
Graduate Texts (same as above plus):
Spitzberg, B.H., & Cupach, W.R. (Eds.). (1998). The dark side of close relationships. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Spitzberg, B.H., & Cupach, W.R. (Eds.). (2010). The dark side of close relationships II. Mahwah, NJ:Routledge.

Course Number: COMM 4381
Title: Seminar/Rhetoric/Communication
Instructor: Gray Matthews
Days/Time: TR 1:00-2:25 p.m.
Course Description: The senior seminar explores the presentation of public issues in political and entertainment forms and how we construct collective meaning, social structures, communal action and personal advocacy. In general, the goal of this course is to provide you with decision-making and critical thinking tools for self-understanding, philosophical perspective and for guiding ethical practices in your everyday interactions and relations. Specific themes and issues to be treated in the course will be announced in early class meetings.
Proposed Texts: TBA
Particulars: Intensive class discussion, reflection essays, term project.

Course Number: COMM 4811/6811
Title: Media 2.0
Instructor: Kris M. Markman
Days/Time: TR 11:20am-12:45 p.m.
Course Description: While traditional media outlets continue to be the main source for news and entertainment content, the internet has become a secondary, decentralized network for the distribution of a wide variety of content. Key to this explosion in creative output is that the internet allows producers to supplement and bypass (though not necessarily replace) traditional media gatekeepers. Bloggers, podcasters, filmmakers, musicians and a host of other creative artists can get their work directly to the hands of their audiences. Low cost technology means that many more people can create work that can rival the quality of traditional media. This contributes to what Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson has described as "the long tail" theory: selling less (in quantity) of more, diverse, products. This course will examine the long tail phenomenon and other theories behind media 2.0 and look at cases of actual media 2.0 artists. We will talk directly to people who are producing and distributing their work on the Internet and other alternative channels and explore how these new distribution forms challenge assumptions about how mass media should/does work.
Proposed Texts: The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More, Revised and Updated Edition (July, 2008), by Chris Anderson, ISBN: 1401309666.
Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (2006), by Henry Jenkins, ISBN: 0814742815.
Particulars: Two papers, weekly blog participation, major project

Course Number: COMM 4824/6824
Title: Cinematography/Videography
Instructor: David Appleby
Days/Times: W 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Course Description: Art of visual interpretation with strong concentration in theory and techniques of lighting. Experience with professional film and video cameras and lighting equipment.
Text: Brown, Blain. Cinematography, Focal Press

Course Number: COMM 4850/6850
Title: Film History I
Instructor: Nicholas Simpson
Day/time: T 1:00-5:00 p.m.
Course Description: A survey of world cinema from its pre-history through 1940 Proposed Texts: 'Film History' by David Bordwell & Kristin Thompson.

Course Number: COMM 4858/6858
Title: Contemporary Cinema
Instructor: Nicholas Simpson
Day/Time: R 9-12
Course Description: From Watergate to 9/11: An analytical study of history, culture and ideology as they are represented in mainstream, contemporary American cinema. Focus on fiction films.

Course Number: COMM 4960/6960
Title: Documentary Writing
Instructor: Craig Leake
Days/Time: MW11:30 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
Course Description: The course will examine the theory, techniques, and ethics of documentary storytelling in film and television, exploring the special nature of documentary writing that distinguishes the form from fictional programs. Students will be expected to develop the skills and standards they need to be effective creators and critical viewers of documentaries and to understand the importance of the form in the functioning of an educated democracy.
Proposed Texts: "Documentary Storytelling: Creative Nonfiction on Screen" by Sheila Curran Bernard; Third Edition
Particulars: The course is about conceiving and planning documentaries -- all the work that must be done before one turns on the camera. Although this is not a production course, students often use the semester to plan films that they go on to produce later. The course also has value for those who have no filmmaking ambitions, because case studies of documentaries and the filmmakers' decision processes can shed light on many different forms of writing and editing.

Course Number: COMM 4970/6970
Title: Screenwriting
Instructor: Craig Leake
Days/Time: MW 10:20 a.m.- 12:25 p.m.
Course Description: An introduction to writing fiction for the film medium
Proposed Texts: TBA