Master of Arts in Strategic Communication

Explores the major theories in the field of communication with an emphasis on the workplace, focusing on the ability to communicate with others in professional interactions. Covers the development of professional relationships between people with different characteristics, cultures, and backgrounds to provide learners with tools for encoding and decoding verbal, nonverbal, and mediated messages.

Explores communication technology focusing on the history, theoretical implications, and strategic uses of social media and new media. Provides theoretical and practical understanding of how engagement works in new media platforms. Engages with the toolkits necessary to plan and develop social media marketing campaigns.

Covers IMC process for creating and fostering relationships with customers and public through strategically controlling or influencing messages sent to and exchanged with these groups. Course teaches effective integration of an organization’s marketing communication initiatives. Through case analysis, students learn how IMC has become critical to marketing efforts.

Presents fundamentals of research underlying communication campaigns and programs. Covers qualitative and quantitative methodologies, secondary research, internal market intelligence, and data analysis. Offers practical experience with techniques to identify and reach audiences and publics and to track results of campaigns. Teaches research strategies to develop communications that fulfill organizational goals.

Provides learners with principles and procedures for handling multiple stakeholders and publics under crisis conditions. Offers training to deal with media in less-than-optimal situations, when they may be faced with indifference or even hostility. Looks at case studies of strategies and tactics of organizations that have dealt with crises.

Provides learners with knowledge to manage communication campaigns by covering theories and processes of campaign development and implementation. Covers best practices project management techniques, communication audits, budgets, and resource allocation. Offers hands-on experience creating, writing, and presenting communication campaign implementation plans.

Prerequisite: COM 610; COM 615

Course covers communication campaign evaluation, before during and after the campaign period. Focuses on systematic qualitative, quantitative, and observational methods appropriate to guide campaign planning, make mid-course corrections to messages and media mix and to assess post-campaign effectiveness.

Exploration of theories of persuasion that guide the preparation of messages intended to influence others. Focuses on use of persuasion techniques to develop decisions about creative and production implementation. Uses case studies to analyze persuasive messages in contemporary media and to compare techniques used in alternative media platforms.

Provides students with a clear understanding of the legal environment for public communications and the ethical considerations that must be taken into account. Examines international regulation of copyright and intellectual property protection and legal and regulatory provisions in the U.S. Teaches skills in assessing ethical risk and following ethical guidelines.

Presentation of skills the learner has acquired in the program. Their research, analysis, strategic thinking, message shaping, and evaluation skills will all come together in the final project: The preparation of a digital, web-based e-portfolio that will be an asset in the search for an appropriate post-graduation position. Grading is by H, S, or U only.