Communication Arts (CA)

CA 2050 Effective Communication (4 Credits)

In this course, students develop communication competence while applying communication skills that are both effective and appropriate in diverse contexts. The focus of the course is on developing skills that lead to improved collaborations, organizations, and relationships as well as improved presentation of persuasive arguments using credible supporting evidence. By fostering understanding of communication competency, as well as how communication shapes identity, perception, and culture, the course strives to enable students to better navigate complex personal and professional worlds.

CA 2100 Creativity and Innovation (4 Credits)

Everyone has a creative core. It can become hidden or lost, but the ability to recognize one’s creative source and tap into it provides an increased range of communication options. This course focuses on analyzing approaches to the creative process, as well as cultivating best creativity practices for use in professional and personal life. Students will learn about the significant creativity theories of prominent creativity scholars. Also, course participants will explore the association between adult playful personality and individual, as well as organizational creativity. The experiences and activities of this course build skills and confidence in using creativity and innovative thought in a variety of disciplines.

CA 3050 Media and Society (4 Credits)

This course provides a critical examination of media forms and their impact on society. The representation of culture through print media (books, magazines, newspapers, and online media) and through various visual media (film, television, Internet) is explored. Students learn how informational, entertainment, literary, and commercial messages are crafted and transmitted. The focus is on messages, the institutions behind the messages, and their impact on society.

CA 3100 Cross-Cultural Communication (4 Credits)

In an increasingly global society and a world of growing international interaction, communicating effectively with people of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds becomes a challenge but also an opportunity. The ability to accept and transcend differences has personal and professional transformative powers. This course explores a range of communication concepts and theories such as cultural competency, identity theory salience, and the nature of prejudice and its impact on communication. Students have the opportunity to develop and practice skills and abilities that enhance sincere, sensitive, and effective communication across differences.

CA 3150 Effective Presentations (4 Credits)

Researching and refining ideas and then representing them effectively are indispensable skills. This course focuses on crafting effective written and spoken presentations that employ appropriate organizational, visual, and physical elements. Students have opportunities to select visual elements such as images, graphs, and charts; to address physical considerations such as voice, gesture, and body language; and to relate text, movement, and visuals in effective professional presentations. Students learn to use PowerPoint and other graphic presentation software in crafting and supporting presentations.

CA 3200 Art and Interpretation (4 Credits)

Students will learn to describe, analyze, and interpret visual imagery with a specific focus placed on understanding and examining various forms of contemporary art and digital media. Students will cultivate expanded visual literacy skills for understanding and evaluating digital culture and become critical consumers of visual media. Students will leave this course with tools and concepts for art interpretation and its application that can be applied to new and emerging media, across fields, and in everyday life.

CA 3250 Visual & Physical Communication (4 Credits)

How does body language reveal or conceal true intent? Humans appear to be "hard-wired" to assess, examine, and respond to the physical language of others. Although this process is often automatic or unconscious, people can learn to identify visual signs and employ the elements of physical rhetoric (posture, stance, bearing, expression, and gait) in conscious ways to persuade others. This course will explore the body’s physical response to certain triggers like anxiety, anger, and stress and how those triggers manifest outwardly. Students will examine strategies for reading physical signs in others and for managing their own physical and visual language. Students will learn techniques for performing nonverbal language, gaining tools for communicating leadership, power, acceptance, openness, and other nonverbal behaviors that impact communication in professional settings.

CA 3300 Communication for Challenging Situations (4 Credits)

This course moves beyond core communication mechanics to applying communication skills in interpersonal and professional settings that reflect a culturally complex and global world. Students will explore communication constructs relative to a variety of audiences and use this knowledge to achieve the desired communication outcomes. In addition, the ability to lead and participate effectively in individual and group conversations requires the knowledge and selection of communication processes including strategies and techniques such as conflict resolution, facilitation, dialogue, debate, and negotiations. Students will become better prepared to manage difficult conversations in multiple settings.