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ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION

COLLEGE OF ARTS, HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

LEADING TO THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS (M.A.)

 

Purposes

The purposes of the Department of Communication and Media Studies are:

  1. To prepare students for the modern workplace or doctoral study.
  2. To provide training in communication theory and skills.
  3. To acquaint students with the latest communication technologies.
  4. To provide students with training in interpersonal communication skills.
  5. To provide students with knowledge about how communication works within an organizational context.

The Master of Arts in Organizational Communication with concentrations in health communication, public relations, journalism, and sociology is designed to give communications students' insights into communication problems and issues as they exist in those organizational settings and provide the knowledge, skills and tools to allow such to be addressed.

 

Admission Requirements

To be considered for admission to the Master's in Organizational Communication, an applicant must:

  1. Meet all University admission requirements.
  2. Have a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science degree from an accredited university. It is not essential that the undergraduate degree be in communication. For more information, please contact the department.
  3. Possess a cumulative grade point average that was used to attain a bachelor's degree of no lower than 2.5.
  4. For Regular Admission, take the GRE (Graduate Record Exam) and attain the following minimum scores: At least 148 (55th percentile) on the Verbal section and at least a 3.5 on the Written section. 
  5. For Provisional Admission, take the GRE (Graduate Records Exam) and attain the following scores: A Verbal section score of 140-147 and a Written section score of at least a 2.0 – 3.0. Provisional admission students become Regular Admission students when they complete 9 graduate hours with a 3.0 GPA or higher.
  6. For international students, when required, a minimum TOEFL scores of 525 or a minimum Internet-based TOEFL score of 75 must be attained.
  7. Participate in an advising meeting with the graduate coordinator after completing the above requirements.
  8. Obtain approval by the graduate coordinator, the Department Head, and/or the graduate faculty.

 

Requirements for Degree

The Master of Organizational Communication is a non-thesis degree, requiring a total of 36 semester hours of graduate credit. Twenty-seven hours make up the program’s core requirements and nine additional hours are to be taken as electives. The variety of courses included will allow the student to focus on a single area of interest. On the other hand, some students might wish to take a more general approach, spreading the electives over several areas.

 

A student who enters the program on a provisional basis may NOT receive a grade below a “B” while on provisional status in his or her first 9 hours (3 classes) or the student will be dismissed from the program. Furthermore, the provisional student’s first 9 hours must all be at the 600 level. If the provisional student receives at least a “B” grade in each class through his or her first 9 hours, that student will be granted regular status.

 

All students must pass both a written comprehensive exam and a separate oral comprehensive examination. Successful completion of the exams will require the student pull together in a meaningful way the major theories, knowledge base, technologies, and practices covered in the required courses. A committee of graduate faculty members will determine whether the student passes or fails the exams.

 

Communication Core Requirements

Twenty-Seven (27) semester hours are required, which must include completion of COMM 626, 627, 671, and 691 and any 15 hours to be chosen from COMM 616, 619, 620, 621, 631, 633, 648, 649.

 

COMM 616: Communication Training, Assessment and Development 3 hours
COMM 619: Advanced Interpersonal Communication 3 hours
COMM 620: Organizational Culture and Diversity Issues 3 hours
COMM 621: Organizational Communication Campaigns 3 hours
COMM 626: Legal Issues in Organizational Communication 3 hours
COMM 631: New Technologies and Organizational Communication 3 hours
COMM 633: Communicating Leadership 3 hours
COMM 648: Writing for Special Interest and New Media 3 hours
COMM 649: Editing & Design of Organizational Communication Materials 3 hours
COMM 671: Theories of Organizational Communication 3 hours
COMM 691: Research Methods in Organizational Communication 3 hours
   
Total 27 hours

 

Electives

Students must take 9 semester hours, chosen from the following courses. The student may elect to take 9 hours in one of the concentrations listed below, or to spread the 9 hours over two or three areas. Credit will not be accepted toward graduation if a student has completed a similar or companion 400-level course for any elective.

COMM 501: Scholastic Journalism 3 hours
COMM 510: Intercultural Communication 3 hours
COMM 513: Advanced Professional Speaking 3 hours
COMM 518: Small Group Communication 3 hours
COMM 551: Media Management and Economics 3 hours
COMM 556: Ethical Issues in Mass Communication 3 hours
COMM 558: International Communication and Media 3 hours
COMM 561: Media Criticism 3 hours
COMM 563: Writing for Public Relations 3 hours
COMM 569: Video Documentary Production 3 hours
COMM 593: History of Mass Communication 3 hours
COMM 595: Opinion Writing: Editorials and Critical Reviews 3 hours
COMM 617: Communication Culture and Health 3 hours
COMM 633: Communicating Leadership 3 hours
COMM 648: Leadership Management/Health Care Org 3 hours
COMM 656: Global Organizational Communication 3 hours
COMM 659: Communication Internship 3 hours
COMM 665: Strategic Public Relations 3 hours
COMM 667: Public Relations Theory and Practice 3 hours
COMM 675: Health Communication 3 hours
COMM 669: Public Relations Issue and Crisis Management 3 hours
COMM 699: Special Topics in Communication 3 hours
ENGL 548: Advanced Professional and Technical Writing 3 hours
ENGL 647: Writing for a Professional Audience 3 hours
HS 622: Stress Management Programming 3 hours
HS 635: Worksite Health Promotion 3 hours
HS 638: Program Planning and Evaluation 3 hours
HUM 501: Special Topics in Humanities 3 hours
NURS 656: Global Organizational Communication 3 hours
PSYC 575: Industrial/Organizational Psychology 3 hours

 

Concentrations 

Health Communication

COMM 617: Communication Culture and Health 3 hours
COMM 675: Health Communication 3 hours
HS 622: Stress Management Programming 3 hours
HS 635: Worksite Health Promotion 3 hours
HS 638: Program Planning and Evaluation 3 hours
NURS 656: Global Organizational Communication 3 hours

 

Journalism

COMM 501: Scholastic Journalism 3 hours
COMM 551: Media Management and Economics 3 hours
COMM 556: Ethical Issues in Mass Communication 3 hours
COMM 561: Media Criticism 3 hours
COMM 593: History of Mass Communication 3 hours
COMM 595: Opinion Writing: Editorials and Critical Reviews 3 hours

 

Public Relations

COMM 558: International Communication and Media 3 hours
COMM 563: Writing for Public Relations 3 hours
COMM 565: Public Relations Campaigns 3 hours
COMM 567: Public Relations Crisis Communication 3 hours

 

Sociology

SOC 601: Complex Organizations 3 hours
SOC 602: Social Stratification/Structured Inequality 3 hours
SOC 607: Social Policy I 3 hours
SOC 698: Special Topics in Applied Sociology 3 hours