The Communication Studies major is designed for students interested in the creation, expression, and analysis of messages in their personal, professional, and public lives. The department offers a variety of programs centered on a diverse curriculum teaching marketable skills in areas such as verbal and nonverbal communication, organizational and professional communication, rhetoric and criticism, argumentation and persuasion, and communication technology. Courses that focus on persuasion, advocacy, and civic engagement examine messages that are designed to create change. Courses address topics such as rhetoric, public address, and argumentation. This area of interest is appropriate for students planning careers in business and industry, non-profit organizations, sales and marketing, the ministry, law, politics or other careers in which persuasion, rhetorical, and analytical skills are important.<br>The concentration is ideal for those who want to communicatively engage the public sphere. Whether you are running for public office, protesting on an issue of social justice, representing your company at a press conference, speaking at a town hall meeting, organizing your nonprofit's lobbying efforts, submitting an opinion piece for the local newspaper, or analyzing the impact of the latest Hollywood blockbuster, being able to ethically develop, present, interrogate, evaluate, and respond to public messages is fundamental to critical citizenship.