Mission Statement

The Department of Communication mission is to create and disseminate knowledge about human and mass-mediated communication processes through high-quality teaching, research, and service to the community. Our ambition is to develop leaders as well as to be leaders in public, professional, and academic communities.

To this end, the department strives to

• create excellent programs and courses in a wide range of communication styles, techniques, and technologies, including transformational learning opportunities and innovative pedagogy necessary for an educated and responsible global, multicultural citizenry.

• focus resources on advancing teaching, scholarship, service, and outreach designed to foster a lively environment of intellectual exchange and growth.

• develop programs having immediate and lifelong relevance to the intellectual, economic, social, ethical, and cultural needs of the profession, students, and discipline.

• continue to gather and reflect on information intended to further programmatic and instructional development.

• develop stronger ties to regional communication professionals and to articulate our sense of departmental identity to faculty, students, alumni, and the larger community.

• develop courses that enhance students’ awareness and appreciation of diversity and cross-cultural issues, such as the relationship between culture and the mass media, the practice of international communication, and globalization.

The department provides instruction in a range of communication platforms from the Internet to wireless communications to converged technologies. Remaining current in these areas requires constant program assessment, revision of existing courses, and development of new courses to meet ever-changing demands. The Communication faculty offers applied and theoretical studies to the practice of mass-mediated and interpersonal communication.