Study how people create shared meanings and interpretations of the world.

Communication studies focuses both on the practice and developing skills for competent communication, as well as analyzing and studying how people create shared meanings and interpretations of the world around them. As a discipline, communication studies focuses on how political, cultural and social discourses create meaning, distribute resources and organize behavior. Students with communication competency can find success in a variety of careers and more enriching personal lives. Effective communicators seek solutions to conflict through dialogue; thus the department advances listening, negotiation and conflict resolution competencies in communication students. In the spirit of the liberal arts, the study of communication cultivates the qualities necessary to be effective citizens by developing problem-solving and advocacy skills, as well as fostering an understanding and appreciation of the multiple perspectives, cultures and individuals that constitute democracy.