Undergraduate Courses

A systematic study of the mass media and their support industries. Content includes historical and critical perspectives of legal, ethical and social issues surrounding the influence of the mass media on audiences, characteristics and functions of the mass media, career options, employment trends, and competencies required of mass media professionals.

Investigates elements of effective communication, including the dimensions of sensory perception, meaning, environment, attitude, and technology. Requires students to apply theoretical concepts to practical problems. Each semester.

Develops fundamental skills in writing and/or visualizing for a variety of media forms.  Emphasizes print and broadcast news writing, advertising copywriting, and public relations writing. Prerequisite: ENG 111 or consent of instructor. Each semester.

This course provides initial instruction on communicating via motion and passing of time.  Topics include the syntax of motion, and production techniques in video and animation.  Prerequisites: COMM 101, MMAJ 140, MMAJ 170.  Each semester.

This course teaches principles of visual communication in print and electronic publications.  Student gain design and production skills through extensive application of these principles to a wide variety of publications.  Prerequisites: MMAJ 101, 140, and 170.

An overview of the broadcasting industry, including history, technical aspects, station and network organization, sales, ratings, programming, and social influences.  A foundation course for radio-TV career preparation, related fields of communication, and the development of knowledgeable consumers of broadcast media.

Provides fundamental instruction in public relations practices, including program planning and evaluation, working with the media, writing for public relations, and coordinating special events and functions.  Explores the structure and process of public relations in business, institutions, and American society through readings and discussion. 

This course examines the history and theory of the practice of journalism; it pays particular attention to First Amendment issues, the language of the media, changing conditions of information gathering, and close examination of the role and organization of a democratic press. Prerequisite: MMAJ 100. Annually.

Introduces students to media strategies, creative development, and budgeting of advertising plans for international/national, regional, major-market media and local media. Includes a review of basic concepts in advertising. No prerequisite. Spring, even years.

Introduces students to quantitative research principles guiding mass communication professionals working in areas such as broadcasting, public relations, advertising, and journalism. Topics include audience measurement principles, polling research, survey construction and analysis, focus group research, mass media content analysis, and statistical analysis. Calculator required. Prerequisites: MMAJ 100,101.

Introduces students to the new mass media technologies that are changing the role of mass communication professionals working in areas such as broadcasting, public relations, advertising, and journalism. Topics include evolving mass media implementations of the internet to reach audiences, evolving copyright issues and their impact on the mass media, discussion of new world wide web technologies such as animation formats, streaming media, and digital video production, new digital technologies and formats for broadcasting, and new multimedia technologies. Developing careers and challenges to older professions will be discussed in the context of mass media industry trends. Prerequisite: MMAJ 100. On demand

Explores the principles and practice of evaluating, gathering, and writing the fundamental news story and news feature. Includes preparation of copy for publication, interviewing, and laboratory experience. No prerequisites. Fall, annually.

Provides fundamental instruction in editing skills, copy editing, headline writing, typography, photographs, copy control, and layout. Examines the role and responsibilities of the editor. Prerequisite: MMAJ 271.  Fall, annually.

Provides the student with training in television production and experience in the application of communication theory and production techniques. Integrates skills in writing, photography, audio, and graphics in a total production context.  Prerequisite: MMAJ 270.

This course covers planning for productions in media such as television, web design, and multimedia.  Topics include preparing budgets and timetables, establishing work teams, and meeting client expectations.  Students will develop preliminary production design for actual prospective clients. Prerequisite:  MMAJ 270.  Every semester.

Provides basic principles of photography and intermediate principles of photojournalism. Study of camera and darkroom techniques; the production of photographs for news, advertising, scientific, and instructional use. 

Introduces students to legal principles guiding mass communication professionals working in areas such as broadcasting, public relations, advertising, and journalism. Topics include legal principles related to freedom of the press, libel, privacy, copyright, access to government documents, the rules and regulations of the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, and the impact of new media technologies on legal principles concerning First Amendment, copyright, privacy, and mass media industry regulations. Prerequisites: MMAJ 100, 101. Each semester.

Develops skills in devising communication strategies to design and develop an organization's media programs for training purposes. Skill areas include drafting communication objectives, developing plans for using communication media for training, and evaluating communication media used for effectiveness. Emphasizes applying skills to produce communication media for training programs. Prerequisite: MMAJ 320 or permission of instructor.

Extensive work in research, writing, and marketing of written products for magazines, newspapers, and other publications. Requires the selection and acquisition of appropriate photographs and graphics to complement the articles. Prerequisites: MMAJ 140 and 170. Spring, annually.

Provides students with advanced instruction and experience in writing and reporting news for radio, television and world wide web media. Topics include rewriting wire copy, using actualities, broadcast news interview techniques, broadcast news feature writing, rewriting and reformatting copy for web media, and investigative reporting and research techniques. Prerequisites: MMAJ 100, 101, and 140.

Provides students with advanced instruction and experience in public relations and advertising writing. Prerequisites: MMAJ 100, 101, and 140.

Develops competencies in writing and editing copy for world wide web media. Students will learn to structure web sites, layout copy, use color and text effectively, position images, and deploy sound and video. Students develop skills in editing public relations, advertising, and news oriented web sites.  Prerequisite:  MMAJ 271 or permission of instructor.  On demand.

Develops the skills needed to direct a variety of television studio productions, including news, interview, demonstration, and dramatic programs. Emphasizes technical and aesthetic directing skills. Prerequisites: MMAJ 351 or other television production experience and permission of the instructor. Four contact hours. Spring, alternate years.

Provides students with advanced design strategies and techniques for implementing world wide web sites. Topics include advanced strategies for structuring web sites aimed at journalism, broadcasting, corporate, and public relations functions, structural designs to meet a variety of audience needs, working with advanced web design layout strategies and techniques, and implementing web-based multimedia formats. Prerequisite: MMAJ 444. On demand.

Students apply theory and techniques to communication tasks of a cooperating business, industry, agency, or institution.  Students must obtain approval of a detailed proposal before registering for the course. The determination of credit hour production is to be made in consultation with the internship advisor, in compliance with the media organization's policies, and in consideration of the intensity of the internship experience. Prerequisites: MMAJ 320, 80 credits completed, and a minimum of 2.5 QPA.

Allows the imaginative student to structure an independent research project in the area of communication with a minimum of faculty supervision. A proposal specifying objectives, methods, and evaluation techniques must be submitted to and approved by the student's advisor and dean.

Focuses on a single, broad contemporary topic of current interest in communication and related fields. Course content varies from semester to semester. Topics to be considered will be announced in advance. May be taken three times for credit.

Last updated 04/06/07 Susan Hilton, webmaster.