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Duluth Campus

Communication Minor

Communication
College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
  • Program Type: Undergraduate minor related to major
  • Requirements for this program are current for Fall 2024
  • Required credits in this minor: 24
The communication minor emphasizes the breadth and diversity of the communication field (interpersonal communication, mass media, and rhetorical theory and practice).
Program Delivery
This program is available:
  • via classroom (the majority of instruction is face-to-face)
Minor Requirements
Core (6 cr)
Students must complete the following courses with a C or better.
COMM 1000 - Human Communication Theory [LE CAT, SOC SCI] (3.0 cr)
COMM 1020 - Communicating Difference: An Introduction to Race, Power, and Identity in Communication (3.0 cr)
Public Speaking (3 cr)
Students must complete one of the the following courses with a C or better.
COMM 1112 - Public Speaking [LE CAT, COMM & LAN] (3.0 cr)
or COMM 1511 - Honors: Public Speaking [LE CAT3, COMM & LAN] (3.0 cr)
Distributed Electives (9 cr)
Take at least one course from each of the following areas. Additional courses taken will be applied to the Electives area.
Interpersonal Communication
Take 1 or more course(s) from the following:
· COMM 3200 - Interpersonal Communication Theory (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3205 - Relationship Communication (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3210 - Group Communication (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3225 - Listening Across Difference (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3230 - Mindful Communication (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3270 - Emotion and Relationships (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3295 - Special Topics: Interpersonal Communication (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3400 - Health Communication (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3535 - Intercultural Communication [LE CAT6, LEIP CAT06, CDIVERSITY] (4.0 cr)
· COMM 3700 - Interpersonal Influence (3.0 cr)
· COMM 4210 - Theories of Intercultural Communication (3.0 cr)
· COMM 4220 - Interpersonal Communication & Health Outcomes (3.0 cr)
or Media Studies
Take 1 or more course(s) from the following:
· COMM 2101 - Foundations of Mass Communication [LE CAT8, SOC SCI] (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3211 - Communication and Technology in the Information Age (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3405 - Health Campaigns (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3505 - Media Communications (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3515 - Communication and Popular Culture (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3520 - Media Effects [SOC SCI] (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3530 - Dark Side of Media and Communication (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3540 - Media in Africa (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3550 - Children and Media (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3560 - Video Game Entertainment (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3595 - Special Topics: Media Communication (3.0 cr)
· COMM 4505 - Media Theory and Research (3.0 cr)
or Rhetoric
Take 1 or more course(s) from the following:
· COMM 3115 - Persuasion and Argumentation in Public Speaking (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3510 - Ethics in Human Communication (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3610 - Philosophy and Rhetoric [HUMANITIES] (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3612 - Rhetorical Criticism (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3615 - Analysis of Public Discourse (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3620 - Controversy in the Boundary Waters [SUSTAIN] (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3625 - Rhetoric of Globalization [GLOBAL PER] (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3665 - Communication and Religion (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3695 - Special Topics: Rhetoric Communication (3.0 cr)
· COMM 4500 - History of Rhetoric (3.0 cr)
Electives (6 cr)
Additional courses taken within the Distributed Electives areas will apply to this area. To satisfy this requirement, students may take 1 course at the COMM 1xxx-2xxx level. Students must take a minimum of 1 course/3 credits from COMM 3xxx level or above courses. Students have the option to complete this requirement by taking all courses at the COMM 3xxx level or above.
Optional Elective
Take 0 - 1 course(s) from the following:
· COMM 1222 - Interpersonal Communication [LE CAT, LECD C, COMM & LAN] (3.0 cr)
· COMM 1500 - Media and Society [LE CAT8, HUMANITIES] (3.0 cr)
· COMM 1600 - Argumentation and Debate: A Practical Approach [LOGIC & QR] (3.0 cr)
· COMM 2025 - Communication Inquiry: Rhetorical and Historical Methods (3.0 cr)
· COMM 2030 - Communication Inquiry: Social Scientific Methods (3.0 cr)
· COMM 1xxx-2xxx
Required Electives
NOTE: COMM 3300, 3310, 4394, 4397, 4399, 4999 & 5391 do not apply to the minor, but do apply as elective credit(s) toward the degree.
Take 1 - 2 course(s) from the following:
· COMM 3116 - Professional Communication (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3215 - Conflict Management (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3223 - Communication and Creativity (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3395 - Special Topics: (Various Titles to be Assigned) (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3525 - Deciding What's News (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3555 - Mass Media Addiction (3.0 cr)
· COMM 4100 - Environmental Communication (3.0 cr)
· COMM 3xxx-4xxx
 
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COMM 1000 - Human Communication Theory (LE CAT, SOC SCI)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Introduction to fundamental concepts, models, and theories of human communication. Issues concerning verbal and nonverbal symbolic processes, language and meaning, and the relationship between communication and understanding. Communication processes and problems in various contexts.
COMM 1020 - Communicating Difference: An Introduction to Race, Power, and Identity in Communication
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
This course provides a basic overview of eight social identity categories dominant in the United States today: race, gender, social class, sexuality, nationality, religion, ability, and age. Within each category, the relationships between communication, social identity, and power will be interrogated. The course is grounded in ?social constructionism?, which contends that humans create reality through social interaction, which in turn shapes environments and structures in a recursive manner. The course will examine ?difference? as a socially-constructed and communicative phenomenon, but one with material and embodied consequences. While the course calls attention to oppressive systems, it will resist narratives of victimhood, instead amplifying survival and resistance; how individuals and groups resist and transform systems through communication and social action. pre-req: Comm major or minor
COMM 1112 - Public Speaking (LE CAT, COMM & LAN)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Comm 1112/1511
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Application of the theoretical bases of rhetoric to the public speaking situation.
COMM 1511 - Honors: Public Speaking (LE CAT3, COMM & LAN)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Comm 1112/1511
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Application of the theoretical bases of rhetoric to the public speaking situation. prereq: Honors student
COMM 3200 - Interpersonal Communication Theory
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Role of communication in developing, maintaining, and changing personal relationships. prereq: 1000 or 1222
COMM 3205 - Relationship Communication
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Study of advanced interpersonal communication skills in context of family and gender issues. prereq: 1222
COMM 3210 - Group Communication
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Small group approaches to problem management. Useful for anyone intending to participate in decision-making groups. prereq: Minimum 30 credit, communication major or minor or instructor consent
COMM 3225 - Listening Across Difference
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Examines the art and science of listening strategies across different contexts, including relational, rhetorical, and digital situations. Review, analysis, evaluation, and development of listening approaches and skills to constitutively create better social worlds.
COMM 3230 - Mindful Communication
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Mindfulness consists of the capacity to maintain present-centered, nonjudgmental, awareness in everyday life. This discussion and application-based course covers theoretical and practical implications associated with the use of mindfulness techniques for intrapersonal and interpersonal communication. Students have the opportunity to implement mindfulness practices throughout the semester as an experiential way of observing how mindfulness enhances self- and relational well-being via an enhanced ability to communicate effectively across a variety of contexts.
COMM 3270 - Emotion and Relationships
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
This course examines the impact that emotion has on relationship processes and outcomes. Students will be introduced to the history of emotion, how emotion is measured, and the ways in which emotion facilitates/hinders relational development, decision-making, maintenance, and dissolution.
COMM 3295 - Special Topics: Interpersonal Communication
Credits: 3.0 [max 12.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Interpersonal communication topics not included in regular curriculum.
COMM 3400 - Health Communication
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Survey course examines the critical role communication plays in health promotion, specifically in the area of doctor-patient interaction and health campaigns. Important communicative issues such as the social construction of health, the role of culture in health and healing, health disparities, media literacy, and social support are addressed.
COMM 3535 - Intercultural Communication (LE CAT6, LEIP CAT06, CDIVERSITY)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
This is a skills course in which students learn how to engage in effective intercultural communication and relationships. Students apply what they are learning by participating in intercultural communication with classmates from a wide variety of cultures. Students learn about variations in cultural practices and values and how social, political and economic forces have both been influenced by and influence those cultures. prereq: credit will not be granted if already received for 2929
COMM 3700 - Interpersonal Influence
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Review of social scientific theories and research on person-to-person persuasion techniques used to influence attitudes, perceptions, knowledge, and behavior of others. Focus is on theoretical processes and effects on individuals and society in a variety of contexts.
COMM 4210 - Theories of Intercultural Communication
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Study major theories and concepts of intercultural communication, including national, racial, and ethnic similarities and differences in communication practices; cultural beliefs and values; issues of identity, power, conflict, and control.
COMM 4220 - Interpersonal Communication & Health Outcomes
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
This course explores how interpersonal communication choices can impact physical and health outcomes, how physical and psychological states can influence our communication tendencies, and what therapeutic practices currently exist to enhance interpersonal relationships.
COMM 2101 - Foundations of Mass Communication (LE CAT8, SOC SCI)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall, Spring & Summer
Theories, research, regulation, and ethical concerns surrounding contemporary mass media. Identifies U.S. media's role within the international marketplace. Survey of contemporary media content, industry structures, technology, and delivery systems.
COMM 3211 - Communication and Technology in the Information Age
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Explores communication technologies in the information society; introduces students to new technologies used in contemporary organizations; explores implications of those technologies for human communication; and provides hands-on experience within a theoretical framework.
COMM 3405 - Health Campaigns
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Spring
Survey course examines how individual and community models of health behavior change are used to design, implement, and evaluate campaigns that promote healthy behaviors and reduce high-risk health behaviors.
COMM 3505 - Media Communications
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Survey of journalistic, critical, public relations and advertising writing techniques. Students write radio essays, newsletter articles, news stories, press releases. They also prepare communication strategies for a mini advertising campaign, write a movie review and develop a feature article for a newspaper. prereq: WRIT 1120
COMM 3515 - Communication and Popular Culture
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Critical examination of the relationships between communication and popular culture focusing on the products of various mass media (films, music recording, television shows, comic books, etc.).
COMM 3520 - Media Effects (SOC SCI)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Theory and research on the effects of media. Topics include media violence effects, sexual media content, fight reactions to media, news and political content effects, the impact of stereotyping, advertising effects, and the impact of new media technologies. prereq: credit will not be granted if already received for COMM 2102
COMM 3530 - Dark Side of Media and Communication
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall, Spring & Summer
While various media and technologies have made some significant positive contributions to modern society, some have chosen to use them as tools for dark purposes. This course was designed to investigate how certain uses of media and technology lead to unfortunate outcomes. These outcomes are grouped around 1) Commodification, 2) Exploitation, 3) Threats to individual health and privacy, and 4) Threats to Democracy
COMM 3540 - Media in Africa
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
This course examines a range of related topics and themes about media in Africa. The course provides a wide-ranging inquiry into the role played by the media in Africa's social, economic, and political development. The aim of this course is to develop conceptual and theoretical tools that ground informed discussions of the media in Africa.
COMM 3550 - Children and Media
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Theory and research on the impact of media on children.
COMM 3560 - Video Game Entertainment
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Summer
Research and theory on video games, including work on content, uses, and effects. Overviews of game history, industry economics, design, and policy. Hands-on exposure to game technologies. Information about careers in video games.
COMM 3595 - Special Topics: Media Communication
Credits: 3.0 [max 12.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Media communication topics not included in regular curriculum
COMM 4505 - Media Theory and Research
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Theoretical concepts and research perspectives currently used to understand intricacies of a mediated society. Introduction and application of basic research methods to study questions concerning impact of media on society and individuals.
COMM 3115 - Persuasion and Argumentation in Public Speaking
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Advanced theories. Developing persuasive strategies, carefully managing logical and argumentational structures within the speech, and fostering critical thinking tools in creation, analysis, and evaluation of persuasive speech. prereq: 1112 or 1511
COMM 3510 - Ethics in Human Communication
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Examination of the recurring ethical questions faced by people as we communicate both in interpersonal/non-professional contexts and as practitioners in communication professions. prereq: 1112 or 1511
COMM 3610 - Philosophy and Rhetoric (HUMANITIES)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall
Introduction to the philosophy and history of rhetoric from ancient to modern times, including rhetoric's role in reasoning about values, defining the duties and methods of citizenship, and shaping self-awareness. Aims at a philosophical appreciation of the problem of communication from Babel to the Electronic Age. prereq: credit will not be granted if already received for COMM 1625
COMM 3612 - Rhetorical Criticism
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Survey of approaches to rhetorical analysis of communicative acts, events, and artifacts. prereq: 1112 or 1511, minimum 60 credits
COMM 3615 - Analysis of Public Discourse
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Guided historical, critical, and theoretical investigation of public discourse, examining the rhetorical practice manifest in traditional models of public oratory, mass media texts, and messages that address us via new media. Topics and periods vary. prereq: credit will not be granted if already received for COMM 2505
COMM 3620 - Controversy in the Boundary Waters (SUSTAIN)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Summer
Considers the rhetorical and political processes conditioning the debate over the Boundary Waters Canoe Area's wilderness designation. Culminates in a class field trip to the BWCA, and a group project pertaining to contemporary environmental rhetoric.
COMM 3625 - Rhetoric of Globalization (GLOBAL PER)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Periodic Fall, Spring & Summer
Study and reflection of global civil society, with special focus on the ways that new and changing forms of communication have altered the meaning of a democratic press, civic participation, human rights and shared experience.
COMM 3665 - Communication and Religion
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
The aim of this class is to provide understanding of the role of religion in American public discourse. Students will learn to analyze and critique religious rhetoric, to evaluate the rhetorical strategies of notable religious works, and to understand the diversity of religious expression in American public culture.
COMM 3695 - Special Topics: Rhetoric Communication
Credits: 3.0 [max 12.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Rhetoric topics not included in regular curriculum.
COMM 4500 - History of Rhetoric
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Rhetoric has a long and storied history. This course surveys that rich history from ancient to contemporary times. The course aims at developing understanding of key figures, events, and concepts in rhetoric's history to reflect on the role that all kinds of symbolic action play in the lives of societies, polities, and individuals. Together we will examine enduring philosophical issues in the study of public argument. Students will gain practical tools for understanding public communication and the analysis of rhetorical texts.
COMM 1222 - Interpersonal Communication (LE CAT, LECD C, COMM & LAN)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Analysis of the role communication plays in interpersonal relationships.
COMM 1500 - Media and Society (LE CAT8, HUMANITIES)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall, Spring & Summer
Historical survey of media genres, and examination of influence of contemporary media on society.
COMM 1600 - Argumentation and Debate: A Practical Approach (LOGIC & QR)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Utilizes a symbolic action approach to introduce the theory and practice of argumentation, particularly within practical contexts; aiming at the related goals of making students more effective arguers, more critical consumers of arguments, and more critical thinkers generally.
COMM 2025 - Communication Inquiry: Rhetorical and Historical Methods
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Exploration/survey of rhetorical and historical approaches to understanding the role that communication plays in social influence. prereq: Communication major, minimum 30 credits
COMM 2030 - Communication Inquiry: Social Scientific Methods
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Introduction to social scientific inquiry related to the study of communication, and will provide an overview of research methods and an introduction to statistics. prereq: Comm major, minimum 30 credits
COMM 3116 - Professional Communication
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Theory and practice of communication skills related to the workplace. Skill development in presentational speaking and vocational interviewing.
COMM 3215 - Conflict Management
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Application of interpersonal conflict management theory and skills to small group, organizational, and community conflicts.
COMM 3223 - Communication and Creativity
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall, Spring & Summer
Examines the relationship between communication and creative processes in an array of contexts, including artistic, professional, social, interpersonal and civic arenas. Content includes techniques of deliberate creativity; analysis of cognitive theory as it relates to creativity, addressing both "rational" (critical) and "non-rational" (intuitive) approaches to risk-taking and exploration. prereq: Minimum 30 credits or instructor consent
COMM 3395 - Special Topics: (Various Titles to be Assigned)
Credits: 3.0 [max 15.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Topics not included in regular curriculum.
COMM 3525 - Deciding What's News
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Review history of news in the United States, examine definitions of news, engage in critical evaluations of news in its various genres (news magazines, infotainment, investigative journalism, checkbook journalism, tabloid journalism, etc.).
COMM 3555 - Mass Media Addiction
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Summer
Examines the research and theory related to the social, psychological, and communicative rationales for becoming addicted to the mass media, centering on tele-visual media, including the internet.
COMM 4100 - Environmental Communication
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
This course explores the dynamic relationship between communication and the natural environment. The course considers how the natural world is manifested within human language and culture, and the nexus between environmental communication and environmental policy. The course explores environmental communication within international, national and local contexts, with particular emphasis on northeastern Minnesota.