Registration information for Fall, 2009

For classes taught in Williams Hall, students can add their names to force add/wait lists posted in room 120 WIH from April 20 through May 1 between 7:00am and 4:00 pm.

For classes taught in Bachelor Hall, waiting lists will be posted April 27 and will remain posted until the first day of classes in August.

Pre-communication Majors who have been closed out of COM 135 should see Janet Lowitz or Larry Nadler as soon as possible.

The Academic Discipline of Communication
The roots of the communication discipline can be traced back for thousands of years to the study of oratory and later included discourse, speaking, persuasion, meanings, and rhetoric. Contemporary students of communication draw on theories and practices originating with the Classical writers and extending to paradigms that are also common in other social sciences and humanities. Communication as a discipline now includes many emphasis areas including, for example: interpersonal, group, organizational, intercultural and international, public, mass, and mediated communication. Today the field considers how people communicate as individuals, in society, and in various cultures.

The Centrality of Communication
Communication is the process in which individuals shape society and culture by interacting with, and through symbols to create meaning. The study of communication is relevant and central to both liberal arts education and a wide variety of professional training. Faculty in the discipline are focusing their research and their teaching efforts on the challenges of communicating in a diverse and often technology-mediated society. They also are emphasizing the role of communication and citizenship in a democratic society.

Understanding human communication and the exchange of messages to create meaning is an area of academic investigation that is fundamental to other approaches to intellectual inquiry. Knowledge, appreciation, and mastery of communication processes are necessary to effectively disseminate and share our intellectual observations or disciplinary discoveries with others. Finally, because communication impacts every aspect of the human condition, the study of communication is often described as the uniquely "pragmatic discipline."

The Study of Communication at Miami University
The curriculum prepares students to create, transmit and critically evaluate the nature and effects of mediated and non-mediated messages. The options in our major are designed to entice students to find intellectual passion in new areas of inquiry (knowledge acquisition), discovery (knowledge generation), and practice (knowledge application) while also learning new modes of creative thought and expression.

The liberal arts based curriculum combines wide-ranging intellectual exploration in Miami Plan courses with mastery of the communication discipline by advanced study in the major that stretches students' minds and talents. Students will be taught to evaluate information critically, work collaboratively, apply creativity to problems, and communicate clearly and effectively. Specifically, students will learn about communication theories and contexts, research and reasoning, and individual and social responsibility. The curriculum is designed to prepare students to go on to professional or graduate school, or to seek employment and become contributing members to society.

The National Communication Association's website includes information on careers in communication.

About Us
The Department of Communication is composed of Speech Communication and Mass Communication. Each area has its own baccalaureate degrees. In addition, both areas collaborate to offer an undergraduate department major in strategic communication. Admission to each of the undergraduate major programs in communication is limited (see Pre-Major link for details).

The department has about 600 undergraduate majors. The Department of Communication is one of the largest departments in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Areas collaborate and share resources, providing students with a broad exposure to the discipline of communication. The faculty are committed to both scholarship and teaching, so in addition to being active scholars, several are also award winning teachers.