Our Mission and Vision

Among the humanities traditions of philosophy, literature, and art, the mission of communication studies is to encourage students to better understand culture, meaning, and symbolic activity for the purposes of producing more enlightened citizens. By equipping students with the accumulated knowledge of the discipline, it is our intent to foster mindful, competent, ethical, and responsible communicators and message consumers. Specifically, we accomplish this by cultivating in students an awareness of the role language, interaction, and symbol usage play in the ways we constitute and assign meaning to the world in which we live.

We aspire to offer the premiere small college experience. As the nexus within our discipline and among disciplines in the Humanities, we endeavor to integrate diverse components of the communication discipline, as well as maintain a strong and unique commitment to supporting general education. Communication & Media Studies adopts a scholarly approach to teaching and learning, and distinctively balances and integrates research and theory with practice. We embrace diversity in epistemological and theoretical perspectives and value interdisciplinary scholarship.

We pursue the leading edge in teaching and learning content and methods and strive to be responsive to changes in individual and community needs and societal trends.

Our Focus

We offer an array courses that help our students learn how to be effective creators and critics of communication in relationships, the workplace, the media, thepolitical and legalspheres, and a variety of organizations (both non-profit and for-profit). Our students learn through dynamic,discussion richclasses as well as in internships, field experiences, andour capstone seniorresearch project.

Our graduates go on to work in media, public relations, journalism, business, education, ministry, law, medicine, and other pursuits. In addition, we have an excellent record of placing students in graduate programs in communication or public relations as well as in law school.

If you would like to learn more about our program, please feel welcome to stop by our offices on the second floor of Elizabeth Hall or e-mail one of our faculty members for more information or to schedule an appointment.