Communication is central to every aspect of our lives and social interactions. Communication is immensely powerful because it shapes everything we think, feel, and do – even when we think we aren’t communicating. The words and symbols we choose, the media and advertising we consume, the ways we dress or decorate our rooms, the speeches public figures deliver—all these and more create powerful meanings about who we are, how we think, and what kind of world we live in. The mission of the Communication Studies Department at Gonzaga University is to cultivate a sophisticated understanding of the process of communication as symbolic action by providing a theoretically grounded and experiential education. Students in the Communication Studies program are prepared to analyze and critique human communication in its many forms, and to create and deliver content across multiple modalities.