Department Overview

Communication affects our lives at multiple levels. At one level, it can be thought of as the way we construct knowledge and information through human interaction — whether face to face or mediated. At another level, it is the process through which we continually negotiate the meaning and purpose of our lives. At no level is this process transparent or innocent. Rather, it is influenced by the various ways in which we identify ourselves as individuals and as groups. The Communication Department believes that both a theoretical understanding of these processes as well as the ability to apply that understanding in real-life situations are essential.
We prepare students to live and work in the 21st century, a dynamic time shaped by new technologies, media and cultural convergence, a global economy, and a rich diversity of racial and ethnic cultures, encompassing nationality, religion, language, gender, sexual orientation, social class, physical disabilities, and age. The Department offers several different sequences of study: Contemporary Media, Human Interaction, Organizational Communication, and Public Relations. Students also have the option of developing individualized and integrated courses of study. They may also seek Teaching Certification. The Communication Department’s faculty and staff welcome working with students to meet their professional and personal interests.

Studies indicate that, in the future, students will have jobs that currently do not exist. What is important for students to learn, then, is how to remain nimble and flexible in an ever-changing global society. The Communication Department prepares students for a complex and uncertain future by developing skills and competencies that apply to multiple work situations. These communication skills include writing, speaking, listening, and interacting across and within different cultures whether face-to-face or mediated. Inherent in these skills are analyzing, problem-solving, and self-reflecting.

By the end of their program of study, Communication majors are expected to be able to demonstrate two levels of cultural competence: professional and theoretical. Six learning objectives state the assumptions common to courses in the major and its various course sequences. Student understanding of the learning objectives is demonstrated through a portfolio of their work assembled during a capstone course in the last semester of college.

Departmental Learning Objectives

The Communication Department curriculum is grounded in the assumption that the 21st-century lifestyle calls for a broad range of communication skills, often used in combination with one another. Therefore we expect our graduates to be practiced readers, writers, speakers, listeners, producers, observers, and performers. Each course taken toward the B.A. in Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside will emphasize one or more of the six learning objectives listed below:

Identity: Analyzing and critiquing how human identity is constructed, reinforced, and transformed through the ways we communicate.
Social justice: Promoting social justice in ways that acknowledge and celebrate a diverse global culture.
Knowledge: Understanding how knowledge is constructed within systemic and historically situated processes.
Messages: Creating and critiquing messages in ways that reflect both professional competence and ethical decision-making.
Texts: Interpreting and explaining a range of texts in ways that question cultural assumptions.
Groups and organizations: Identifying and practicing multiple roles within groups and organizations.

Demonstrating successful completion of the Communication major as a whole is the goal of the Senior Seminar capstone course (COMM 495), taken in a student’s final semester.

It is the student’s responsibility to be aware of the requirements of the major at the time it is declared, as well as any changes in the major instituted by the faculty. It is also the student’s responsibility to consult regularly with his/her adviser regarding the program of study.