Communication and Culture Major

Requirements for the Major (11 course units minimum)

Each student selects, in consultation with her or his adviser, a path of emphasis from the three available options. Within that path, students concentrate their elective courses and build further specialization through choices of advanced seminars and internships. No exceptions will be made to the structure listed below.

PATH 1: Media Dimensions

Electives in Media Dimensions:

PATH 2: Discourse Dimensions

Electives in Discourse Dimensions:

PATH 3: Global Dimensions

Electives in Global Dimensions:

Integrative Seminars

Integrative seminars are courses at the 200 level that treat a particular topic through different disciplinary perspectives or that bring together two or more topics from different domains of communication and cultural analysis. These seminars are listed separately below. At least one integrative seminar is offered each semester and new topics may be added. Interested students may petition the director of the program to substitute a second integrative seminar for an elective course.

Senior Capstone

The senior capstone in communication and culture requires that each student participate in original research or creative activity or produce an individual project related to some aspect of his or her path emphasis. At the end of the junior year, majors receive information about options available for the senior capstone. Based on this information, each student selects one of the senior capstone seminars, proposes an independent study project or, if qualified, proposes an honors thesis project. All projects and theses must be supervised by a member of the communication and culture faculty. For honors theses, a second faculty member, who will serve as an evaluator, is selected through a consultation process between the student and his or her thesis adviser. Information regarding honors theses, which are yearlong projects, is contained in the Majors’ Handbook.

Courses that have been offered as senior capstone seminars are listed below. New courses are added from time to time. Note that a student who takes a designated capstone seminar earlier than the senior year may count this course toward major elective requirements but may not use the course to fulfill the capstone requirement.