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During this course, students will edit and distribute the film they shot during COM 212A: Social Justice Documentary Abroad. Student production teams will work under the careful guidance of their professor as they complete their films and create an outreach campaign to get the film seen by its target audience. There are no language or production prerequisites for this course. If not used for student’s major, can fulfill the Non-Western and International/Global Awareness (NW/IG) components of their Baccalaureate Experience Requirements. Offered every other spring.

This faculty-led travel course takes students abroad over winter term to make documentary films about non-profit organizations and social justice entrepreneurs. Destinations vary and past versions have included Ecuador, Morocco, and Thailand. While in-country, student production teams will conduct background research, write an outline, create a shot list, conduct interviews, and capture b-roll footage on location. There are no language or production prerequisites for this course. If not used for student’s major, can fulfill the Non-Western and International/Global Awareness (NW/IG) components of their Baccalaureate Experience Requirements.

Through a thematic and largely chronological approach, this class explores the revolutionary in relation to TV. The bulk of the course focuses on the people who pushed TV in new directions and the programs that directly challenged social norms. The course introduces students to the historical and ongoing revolutions in the technology of TV in addition to social, cultural and technological theory. Students will do close readings of TV “texts” and read key and classic works in the field of television studies. May be used to satisfy general distribution requirements in the humanities if not used for the major.

In this class, students will be asked to explore their own creative processes and develop identities as creative thinkers and producers of media. Students will research theories about creativity; explore aesthetic principles relating to two-dimensional, interactive and time-based media; and experiment with traditional and experimental narrative techniques. The focus will be on developing creative concepts in pre-production phases (e.g., sketching, storyboarding, storytelling, writing treatments and artist statements, experimenting with electronic media). Students will work both individually and in groups; research and synthesize substantive ideas from outside influences; and effectively present ideas in oral, visual and written forms.

Studies the fundamentals of communication theory to provide a foundation for understanding how the mass media work, how they influence us, how we can analyze them and how we can effectively use them. Students can apply these critical skills to their roles as responsible consumers and communication professionals. May be used to fulfill the general distribution requirements for the social sciences if not used for the major. 

This is a CORE foundation course for all communication majors.

An introduction to the principles and practices of writing for major types of mass communication media, with an emphasis on content, engagement, organization, conciseness and clarity. Students learn various styles of writing for print media, social media, broadcast media, the Web, advertising and public relations. This course also discusses the ethical and legal implications of writing for the media.

Students learn and practice the principles behind the art and craft of scriptwriting for short, single-camera "motion picture" format, and multi-camera, live audience television (such as situation comedies). May not be used to satisfy general distribution requirements.

Media in the Americas travels abroad to engage with Latin American media producers, regulators, scholars, and audiences. Students will experience first-hand how media policies, institutions, and technologies intersect with the politics and processes of media production, distribution, and consumption. If not used for student's major, this course can be counted towards fulfilling the Social Science (SS) and Non-Western and International/Global Awareness (NW/IG) requirements of the Baccalaureate Experience requirement.

It is one of the great ironies of contemporary existence that we are beset, informed, controlled and constructed by images, yet we receive almost no formal training in understanding and creating visual communication. Visual Literacy addresses this issue through interdisciplinary study of the terminology and theory of visual communication, with special emphasis on the relationship of visuality and cultural practice. Considering ideas from art history, photography, film, mass media and cultural studies, students are asked to analyze visual rhetoric, begin to see critically, articulate meaning and author visual rhetoric of their own. May be used to fulfill the general distribution requirements for the humanities if not used for the major.

This is a CORE foundation course for all communication majors.

This faculty-led framework allows students to operate their own on-campus television channel, exercising full creative control over both the format and content of the programming. In addition to writing, producing, and editing packages in the field and studio, students attend weekly meetings of the UTTV: Spartan Television club, receive feedback and mentoring from the club’s Executive Committee, and collaborate with other members of UTTV. At the end of the semester, each student compiles a reel (e-portfolio) that highlights their best work while demonstrating their skills in writing, producing, and editing.

Digital Citizenship teaches digital media production as a means of identity exploration, ethical formation, and civic engagement. Through sound and image capture, editing, and distribution, students will learn to better recognize and more effectively advocate solutions to social problems and thereby develop the necessary skills to go from casual users of contemporary technologies to digital rhetoricians practicing active, engaged citizenship.

This is a CORE foundation course for all communication majors. Laboratory fee required.

Students are responsible for the programming and management of WUTV and WUTZ, the University's closed-circuit television and radio stations. Students are encouraged to register for 1 to 2 credit hours initially and to save 4 credit hours for officer positions. Students also may participate as volunteers for either station. (Limited to 6 credit hours total.)

A basic introduction to film studies. Surveys the history of American narrative film with an emphasis on the cultural impact of film in society. May be used to fulfill the general distribution requirements for the humanities if not used for the major.

An examination of world cinema movements. May be used to fulfill the Art/Aesthetics (A), the Humanities and Fine Arts (HFA), and International/Global Awareness (IG) and Non-Western (NW) requirements if not used for the major.

This course introduces students to the historical, cultural, economic, and social aspects of advertising. Students will discusses advertising’s relationship to marketing as well as its role in traditional and new media landscapes. This course also provides an overview of advertising management, advertising planning, advertising creativity and concepts, global advertising, and laws affecting advertising.

This is an introductory course to public relations communication. The primary objectives of this course are to help students recognize the basic concepts and principles of public relations, to help them gain an understanding of the social importance of public relations in our community and organizations, and to help students personalize these concepts to their professional career interests.