Undergraduate
Public Advocacy & Rhetoric Concentration
Background & Expectations
This concentration of Communication Studies includes the study of the skills, critical methods and communication theories necessary to effective leadership, citizenship, and professional engagement in a functioning democracy.
Students of Public Advocacy and Rhetoric will develop competencies that enable them to think critically, understand the value of a variety of theoretical perspectives, make persuasive arguments, and gain the skills and confidence necessary for successful participation in their workplaces, their communities, and their nation.
The Public Advocacy and Rhetoric curriculum requires coursework in Persuasion & Rhetoric and in Classical Rhetorical Theory, with the flexibility to choose among courses in Argumentation, Rhetorical Criticism, Television, Advertising, Political, and Legal Communication, Persuasive Speaking, and other courses.
Connection to the Work World
Our students will find training in Public Advocacy & Rhetoric useful as they move on to careers in law, public service, education, public relations, non-profit advocacy, and advertising. Our graduates regularly go on to law school and graduate school, or find jobs with public interest organizations, corporations, small businesses, and government.
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Organizational Communication Concentration
Background
Communication is a central, pervasive, and multifaceted component of organizational activity. While it is a truism to say that we all exist within organizations of one sort or another, organizations are not static entities. Rather, they are created, sustained, and can deteriorate through our communication practices. Students of organizational communication examine why communication is central to organizational activity and how organizational women and men can become more effective communicators. The organizational communication concentration incorporates general principles of human communication as foundational to its study.
Expectations
Through their participation in this concentration, students should be able to:
- understand and apply various theoretical perspectives on organizations;
- develop practical communication-based skills to participate effectively in organizational settings;
- reflect upon and critique dominant forms of organizing.
Connection to the Work World
Broadly speaking, the Organizational Communication concentration prepares students to think critically and creatively about communication activities in a range of organizational and institutional contexts. More specifically, students develop a repertoire of skills that can be applied in various career fields, such as corporate communication, communication consulting, as well as advertising and public relations. These skills include:
- the ability to assess organizational strengths and weaknesses through an examination of communication practices
- the ability to create and disseminate rhetorically effective messages to a variety of audiences, both internal and external to the organization
- the ability to make ethical judgments about communication practices that take into consideration multiple stakeholders.
Additionally, other students go on to further study in graduate school.
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Media Studies Concentration
Background
The Media Studies concentration takes a liberal arts approach to the analysis of media and the information economy, acknowledging that media is one of the most significant factors in contemporary democratic society. Our courses develop students’ analytical and expressive skills by challenging them to think about the media theoretically, critically, and contextually. By studying media institutions and media texts, both locally and globally, students are empowered to question fundamental assumptions of what is real, valued and significant in our culture—and theorize alternatives. The concentration emphasizes critical engagement with complex ideas and arguments to explore the assumptions behind the organization of media, the development of technologies, and the way people and ideas are represented (or left out) by the media. Through courses such as Global Media, New Media Culture, Popular Music, TV: Text and Context, Theories of Media and Culture, and Media and Democracy the concentration prepares students to comprehend and work in our media-saturated society, while becoming active citizens in an increasingly globalized world. To this end Media Studies works to further the important goals of social responsibility and active citizenship highlighted in Northeastern University’s academic plan.
Connection to Work World:
Students in Media Studies develop the keys skills that prepare them to work in the rapidly evolving information based economy: analytical assessment, expressive clarity, and intellectual flexibility. These skills allow students to succeed in many media based industries, including, but not limited to: advertising, television, radio, publishing, public relations, and the Internet. In addition students can also pursue careers in corporate communications, management (especially content management), non-profit advocacy, community organizing, politics, public service, and urban development. Students in the concentration also go onto post-graduate studies in the fields of media studies, cultural studies, sociology, law, business administration, and education among a variety of other programs.
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