Communication Major B.A.

Program Overview
What is communication?
Communication is about understanding how written, verbal and non-verbal meanings are constructed by speakers and audiences, and becoming critical consumers of information. Students explore connections and interrelationships among the people, environments, technologies and messages that comprise the social world. In this degree program, you’ll take courses in media studies, language and social interaction, and rhetoric, learning how different modes of communication shape understanding and social relations. Our goal is to have you graduate as a thoughtful and proficient communication decision-maker, prepared for work in a wide variety of fields, from business and marketing to community organizing and government.
Why study communication at UNH?
Students in communication study real-world political issues, news events, cultural phenomena and communication between friends, family members, colleagues, community members and strangers. To enhance their coursework, students may also learn digital media production in the state-of-the-art CMN Media Lab; engage in multi-modal digital, film, audio, and web-based research and scholarship with the student and faculty group UNH CAMRA; facilitate meaningful conversations and collaborate with our local communities on topics important to civil society through the Civil Discourse Lab; host social, educational and networking events with the honor society Lambda Pi Eta; and gain experience and expertise through a communication internship.
Potential careers
- Academic counselor
- Human resources administrator
- Journalist
- Marketing specialist
- Media writer
- Non-profit director
- Producer
- Public relations professional
- Social media analyst
Curriculum & Requirements
The purpose of the communication major is to prepare students to engage more knowingly with the communicative patterns, problems, and practices that they will encounter in their personal, professional, and civic lives. This purpose requires that students learn to move beyond commonplace and conventional understandings of "communication" and acquire sophisticated perspectives—workable orientations—for describing, analyzing, reflecting upon, and engaging with those patterns, problems, and practices. Accordingly, the major not only acquaints students with a variety of empirical, critical, historical, theoretical, and pragmatic perspectives on communication phenomena, but encourages them to formulate workable orientations of their own for engaging with communication issues and questions. Students who graduate with a communication major are prepared to become thoughtful and proficient "communication decision-makers" during their postgraduate lives.
Students wishing to declare communication as a major should contact the department's academic adviser, Andrew Sharp, for application information and requirements.
Majors must complete ten courses (40 credits) with a 2.0 overall average in the major. The distribution of required courses for the major is as follows:
Code | Title | Credits |
---|---|---|
Complete the following three introductory courses: 1 | ||
CMN 455 | Introduction to Media Studies | 4 |
CMN 456 | Propaganda and Persuasion | 4 |
CMN 457 | Introduction to Language and Social Interaction | 4 |
Select three 500-level communication analysis courses 2 | 12 | |
Select four upper-division courses 3 | 16 | |
Total Credits | 40 |
1 |
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2 |
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3 |
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Thematic Concentrations
1. Histories and Traditions in Communication
Students who pursue this concentration examine the history of thought about communication and its practices with attention to its applicability in the contemporary world. Select from:
Code | Title | Credits |
---|---|---|
CMN 607 | Persuasion in American Politics | 4 |
CMN 615 | Public Opinion and Mass Communication | 4 |
CMN 627 | Great Speakers and Speeches | 4 |
CMN 630 | Psychology of Communication | 4 |
CMN 696 | Seminar in Media Studies (topics: Crit Appr Media, Hist Surv Media) | 4 |
CMN 697 | Seminar in Rhetorical Study (topics: Rhet Crit Media, Controv Reas Law) | 4 |
CMN #732 | Communication Theory | 4 |
CMN 757 | Public Address and the American Experience | 4 |
CMN 772 | Seminar in Media Theory | 4 |
2. Political Communication and Public Space
Courses in this concentration invite critical and historical inquiry into the forms and expressions of public opinion, political advocacy, and social or political reformation, maintenance, and change. Select from:
Code | Title | Credits |
---|---|---|
CMN 607 | Persuasion in American Politics | 4 |
CMN 615 | Public Opinion and Mass Communication | 4 |
CMN 627 | Great Speakers and Speeches | 4 |
CMN 634 | Media and Politics | 4 |
CMN 696 | Seminar in Media Studies (topic: Media Effects) | 4 |
CMN 697 | Seminar in Rhetorical Study (topics: Spec, Scand; Gend & Pub Cult; Rhet Crit Media; Controv Reason Law) | 4 |
CMN 737 | Principles of Rhetorial Crit | 4 |
CMN 756 | Rhetorics of Display | 4 |
CMN 757 | Public Address and the American Experience | 4 |
CMN 758 | Media Analysis and Criticism | 4 |
3. Communication, Community and Everyday Life
Courses in this concentration explore our taken-for-granted ways of being in the world and how they emerge from our routine communicative interactions with each other. Select from:
Code | Title | Credits |
---|---|---|
CMN 600 | Public Speaking as a Civic Art | 4 |
CMN 602 | Theories of Interpersonal Communication | 4 |
CMN 630 | Psychology of Communication | 4 |
CMN 696 | Seminar in Media Studies (topics: Yth Cult; New Media & Soc; Media & Consumer Cult; Kids, Corps & Media) | 4 |
CMN 697 | Seminar in Rhetorical Study (topics: Rhet Photo, Rhet Crit Med) | 4 |
CMN 698 | Seminar Interpersonal Studies (topics: Opens Everyday, Comm & Body, Children's Comm) | 4 |
CMN 730 | Family Communication | 4 |
CMN #732 | Communication Theory | 4 |
CMN 737 | Principles of Rhetorial Crit | 4 |
CMN 742 | Dialogue and Teamwork | 4 |
CMN 756 | Rhetorics of Display | 4 |
CMN 760 | Mediation | 4 |
CMN #765 | Police Talk | 4 |
CMN 772 | Seminar in Media Theory | 4 |
4. Culture and Identities
Courses in this concentration offer a critical examination of the cultural and communicative practices that shape our sense of ourselves, our pasts, and our relationships with others. Select from:
Code | Title | Credits |
---|---|---|
CMN 602 | Theories of Interpersonal Communication | 4 |
CMN 630 | Psychology of Communication | 4 |
CMN 680 | Perspectives on Culture and Communication | 4 |
CMN 696 | Seminar in Media Studies (topics: Hist Surv Media; Yth Cult; New Media & Soc; Media & Consumer Cult; Crit Appr New Media; Gend & Sex Media; Kids, Corps, & Media) | 4 |
CMN 697 | Seminar in Rhetorical Study (topics: Spec, Scand; Gend & Pub Cult) | 4 |
CMN 698 | Seminar Interpersonal Studies (topics: Children's Comm, Comm & Body, Open Everyday) | 4 |
CMN 730 | Family Communication | 4 |
CMN #732 | Communication Theory | 4 |
CMN 742 | Dialogue and Teamwork | 4 |
CMN 760 | Mediation | 4 |
CMN #765 | Police Talk | 4 |
CMN 772 | Seminar in Media Theory | 4 |
5. Citizenship and Advocacy
Courses in this concentration explore the language practices, interpersonal understandings, oratorical skills, and writing strategies that enable people to formulate their identities as citizens and to engage discussions directed toward public and political advocacy. Select from:
Code | Title | Credits |
---|---|---|
CMN 600 | Public Speaking as a Civic Art | 4 |
CMN 607 | Persuasion in American Politics | 4 |
CMN 615 | Public Opinion and Mass Communication | 4 |
CMN 627 | Great Speakers and Speeches | 4 |
CMN 634 | Media and Politics | 4 |
CMN 697 | Seminar in Rhetorical Study (topics: Gender & Pub Cult, Controv Reason Law) | 4 |
CMN 742 | Dialogue and Teamwork | 4 |
CMN 757 | Public Address and the American Experience | 4 |
CMN 758 | Media Analysis and Criticism | 4 |
CMN 760 | Mediation | 4 |
6. Visual Communication
Courses in this concentration demonstrate how iconography, symbolism, and representations in art, photography, motion pictures, television and digitalized forms of communication have worked to create meaning. Select from:
Code | Title | Credits |
---|---|---|
CMN 650 | Critical Perspectives on Film | 4 |
CMN 696 | Seminar in Media Studies (topics: Yth Cult; Kids, Corps, & Media) | 4 |
CMN 697 | Seminar in Rhetorical Study (topics: Spec, Scand; Rhet of Photo) | 4 |
CMN 756 | Rhetorics of Display | 4 |
CMN 758 | Media Analysis and Criticism | 4 |
A maximum of 8 credits of independent study (CMN 795 Independent Study) may be counted toward the major. CMN 799H Honors Thesis and CMN 796 Comm-Entary Journal cannot be used to fulfill an advanced course requirement. The Discovery Program Capstone requirement may be fulfilled by completing any 700-level communication course except CMN 796 Comm-Entary Journal. CMN 795 Independent Study can only fulfill the capstone requirement with department approval and can be repeated for a maximum of 8 credits.
Transfer students must complete 20 credits of their communication coursework at UNH to complete the major satisfactorily. Exchange students may transfer no more than 10 approved credits from another institution to be applied toward completion of the communication major at UNH.
Candidates for a degree must satisfy all of the University Discovery Program requirements in addition to satisfying the requirements of each individual major program. Bachelor of arts candidates must also satisfy the foreign language proficiency requirement.
Major department courses may not be used to satisfy Discovery category requirements except in the case of a second or dual major.