Baccalaureate in Communication

The B.A. in Communication is a flexible degree program that exposes students to mainstream communication research and theory while allowing the student to emphasize his or her specific area of interest. After completing the core requirements, students may tailor their course selection to meet their personal aspirations and career goals. Selecting Communication as a major is recommended for students interested in interdisciplinary fields such as organizational communication, mass communication, information science, public relations, marketing, advertising, training and development, as well as other fields heavily influenced by the need for effective communication strategies and skills. The faculty encourage all students to meet early and often with his/her advisor to select a meaningful group of courses for a coherent, career-oriented academic program.

Core Requirements and Curricular Changes

The Department recently has undergone significant restructuring over the last few years. Importantly, the film and production courses have been moved to the new department of Theatre, Dance, and Media Arts. In addition, we have updated the core requirements of our undergraduate program to reflect a mainstream and contemporary approach to the study of communication. The specializations of Mass Communication and Theory/Rhetoric have been streamlined to create a stronger foundation for all majors, while allowing students to emphasize an interest area by selecting elective courses relating to their interest areas. In addition, the department will begin the onorous task of revising and updating our course offerings to complement the new structure. Students who declared Communication as their major prior to these changes may elect to complete the original curricular requirements, although new majors must now comply with the updated curriculum changes.

Communication Majors

Majors must satisfy the unversity and college general education requirements. The college's foreign language requirement may be taken in any language. Communication courses may not be taken on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis. Majors must complete a minimum of 36 hours (no more than 45) in communication courses. At least 18 of these hours must be taken at UM-St. Louis. Each major must take at least 6 hours of 2000-level (2000-2999) and 6 hours of 3000-level (3000-3999) courses. In addition, all majors must complete the new core requirements:

Core Requirements

• COMM 1030: Interpersonal Communication
• COMM 1050: Introduction to Mass Communication
• COMM 1135: Communication Theory
• COMM 2231: Organizational Communication
• COMM 3332: Intercultural Communication
• At least 3 credit hours of Practicum (COMM 1193, COMM 1194, COMM 1196, COMM 1197, COM 198)
  -or- Internship courses (COMM 3393, COMM 3394, COMM 3396, COMM 3397).

Communication Minors

Due to the recent developments in our department, the requirements for a Minor in Communication are currently unavailable. Please visit this page again at another time to learn more about minoring in Communication.

This page was constructed by Alan Heisel and Robert Lewis for the Department of Communication at UM-St. Louis. Last update: May 1, 2007