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		Communication Studies Southwestern University P.O. Box 770 Georgetown, TX 78627-0770

COMMUNICATION STUDIES DEPARTMENT

Faculty Information

Division of Social Sciences

Associate Professor Robert Bednar, PhD, Chair
Assistant Professor Hector Amaya, PhD
Assistant Professor Davi Johnson, PhD
Assistant Professor Julia Johnson, PhD
Assistant Professor David Olson, MA
Assistant Professor Paige Schilt, PhD (part-time)
Instructor Marnie Binfield, MA (part-time)
Instructor Jennifer Dickinson, MA (part-time)

The Communication Studies Department focuses on critical inquiry into the performative, relational, rhetorical, social, cultural and ideological functions of language, performance and media. The department offers a range of courses bound together by an interest in investigating the complex relationships among and between communication, culture and identity. Students learn a variety of methodologies for the qualitative analysis of communication: ethnographic and historical approaches, as well as approaches located in contemporary feminist theory, critical race theory, queer theory, critical media and cultural studies, and performance studies. The Communication Studies Department thus provides students with a strong critical and theoretical understanding of the ways in which social reality is constructed and challenged in and through communication patterns and practices.

The Communication Studies major requires a total of 11 courses (33 hours), comprised of 7 required courses (21 hours) and 4 elective courses (12 hours) in the major. The departmental curriculum is organized around three cognate areas that represent the distinct, yet interrelated areas of focus in the major: Rhetorical Traditions, Performing Culture, and Media & Culture. Each of these three areas is represented by one of the three COM Core Courses (75-203, 403, and 603) as well as a group of courses that represent further interventions into the cognate areas. Rhetorical Traditions Courses are located in the 75-200s and 75-300s (with the exception of 75-303, the general COM Special Topics course number). Performing Culture courses are located in the 75-400s and 75-500s. Media & Culture Courses are located in the 75-600s and 75-700s. Many students take an Academic Internship as one of their upper-level Communication Studies elective courses. Special Topics courses (75-303) and Independent Studies (75-95x) are also available.

All of the courses in the Communication Studies major involve a significant amount of writing, research, and creative work, but several courses even more explicitly engage in the teaching of writing, research, and creative methods and are designated as COM Writing Intensive Courses. In addition to two COM Foundation courses, three COM Core Courses, and four COM major electives, students also must complete at least one COM Writing Intensive Course and the COM Capstone Research Seminar.

Major in Communication Studies: 33 semester hours, including Communication Studies 75-133, 153, 203, 403, 603; one from 75-213, 413, 613, 783; 75-963 (Capstone); 12 additional hours of Communication Studies, five hours of which must be above the introductory level.

Minor in Communication Studies: 18 semester hours of Communication Studies, 12 hours of which must be above the introductory level.

See the Education Department for information regarding teacher certification in communication studies.