Current Students

CURRENT STUDENTS
The Department of Communication prides itself on a high-quality program with 35 to 45 master’s students in the program per year. Because students can pursue the master’s degree part-time or full-time, this translates into approximately 16-20 slots per year for new students.

Requirements
All Department course work must be at the 500 or 600 levels. 36 credit hours are required for the Master of Science in Organizational Communication. The minimum number of semester credit hours in Communication is 27. Up to 9 hours may be taken outside the department with approval of the graduate advisor. Students must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0 to remain in the program at the end of each academic year. No student will be allowed to continue in the program after earning two grades of "C."

Transfer Credit
No more than 9 semester credit hours may be accepted for transfer. Courses submitted for transfer are subject to approval of the graduate advisor.

Time Limitations
Students will be expected to complete the program in two years if enrolled full time. Part-time students generally take longer. Students not completing their degree after seven years from the date of first enrollment will be dropped from the program.

Comprehensive Exams
In your last semester of study, you will take the comprehensive exams. This includes a written comprehensive exam covering all coursework and an oral exam following the written. Thus, as you complete each course each semester, it is important to file notes, major papers or projects, syllabi, and texts so that you can retrieve them for use in studying for exams. Some students are eager to sell textbooks directly after the semester ends, but before doing so, you should consider whether you will need the books for exam preparation (or to take to your future job or doctoral program).

Students must complete each exam with a passing grade as determined by the student's advisory committee. A student may retake the written and the oral comprehensives once.

Other Requirements
Students will be required to complete 9 hours in Communication Theory, 6 hours in Communication Research Methods, and 12 hours in Applied Communication courses. Students will also be required to complete 9 hours as electives. These may be chosen from among the previous three groups of courses or, with approval of the graduate advisor, up to 9 of the elective hours may be taken outside the Department.

There is no language or research tool requirement, although 6 hours of research methods courses are required of all students.

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COURSES
Following is the basic outline of course requirements and sequencing:
THEORY (9 hours required): COM 522 Critical Approaches to Organizational Communication OR COM 556 Seminar In Organizational Communication, COM 561 Human Communication Theory , COM 562 Communication and Social Change

RESEARCH (6 hours required): COM 541 Quantitative Research Methods, COM 542 Qualitative Research Methods

APPLICATION (12 total hours required -- see below **):
COM 521 Communication and Globalization
COM 523 International and Intercultural Communication
COM 524 Political Communication in Organizations
COM 526 Media Ownership
COM 527 Seminar in Organizational Conflict Management
COM 528 Communication Culture and Technology
COM 529 Communication Campaigns
COM 546 Nonprofit Marketing and Public Relations
COM 566 Seminar in Crisis Communication
**Students must take at least 12 hours from this area within the department.

OTHER COMMUNICATION CLASSES:
COM(ENG) 514 History of Rhetoric
COM(ENG) 516 Rhetorical Criticism: Theory and Practice
COM 520
COM 525 Communication and Decision Making
COM 585 Teaching College Communication
COM 598 Special Topics in Communication
COM 630 Independent Study
COM 685 Master's Supervised Teaching
COM 688 Non-Thesis Master's Continuous Registration - Half-Time Registration
COM 689 Non-Thesis Master's Continuous Registration - Full-Time Registration
COM 690 Master's Examination
COM 693 Master's Supervised Research

ELECTIVES:
Other elective courses, to complete 36 hours, may include up to 9 hours of course work in departments outside Communication, including the following:

ENG 512 Theory and Research in Professional Writing
ENG 515 Rhetoric of Science and Technology
ENG 519 Online Information Design and Evaluation
ENG 520 Science Writing for the Media
PA 511 Public Policy Analysis
PA 513 Public Organization Behavior
PA 514 Management Systems
PA 525 Organization Design
SOC 752 Work and Industry
SOC 753 Formal Organizations