Why study communication?
Symbolic communication is a defining human characteristic, yet its mysteries often elude us. How do messages lead to meaning—or misunderstanding or manipulation? How has public discourse influenced culture? What are the implications of mediated or visual communication?

These and other questions are explored in the Communication Studies major. Our symbol-making nature is considered in all its manifestations – from how we define ourselves in and through communication to how we define the worlds and cultures we live in.

As part of this orientation, students develop facility in communication, gain an understanding of rhetoric as part of the human experience, and bring Christian values to bear on communication as a moral act. Topics include the role of persuasion and propaganda in social movements, the increasing power of the media, and the difficulty of interpersonal faithfulness in a transient culture.

Besides completing the required core of 20 units, students are able to select 24 units from various options to create a particular emphasis, such as media, rhetorical, or conflict studies. The curriculum is designed more to aid the student in being transformed intellectually according to the study of communication than to teach technique. Even so, the major is developed practically so that students learn to think, speak, and write better.

The Communication Studies major leads to many opportunities which may include: