Communication Studies Major, B.A. (Old)

“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships – marriages, families, organizations of every kind – together.”

~ from First Things First by Steven R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill, and Rebecca R. Merrill

In the Communication Studies degree program at MSU Denver, you’ll learn essential skills for work and family life – from trust building to persuading, from negotiating to resolving conflict, from training others to crafting memorable messages. Our majors and minors excel in five ways demanded by employers, needed in communities, and essential to thriving relationships: communicating effectively in speech and writing, thinking critically, practicing ethics and respect for diversity, understanding new communication technologies, and collaborating successfully with others.

Communication Studies students go on to careers in organizational leadership, counseling and training, marketing and public information management, sales and customer relations, nonprofit advocacy and education. Our team of passionate, expert faculty will teach you how to excel in almost any situation. In Business and Professional Speaking, you’ll practice how to land a job thanks to your first-rate personal brand and interviewing skills. In Mediating Conflict, you’ll apply strategies for bringing people together to solve difficult, sometimes personal problems. In Techniques of Persuasion, you’ll learn communication techniques that motivate, inspire, and change others. Across the curriculum, you’ll get the applied learning and personal attention that makes our program so valuable.

… while at MSU Denver

Communication Studies faculty design high-impact classes and educational experiences. These include, unique campus-based internships, original undergraduate research, applied service learning, and meaningful teamwork. Our chapter of the Lambda Pi Eta honors society showcases our students’ leadership, creativity, and involvement in the department and beyond.

Communication Studies students also regularly present their original research and service projects at the MSU Denver Undergraduate Research Conference and Student Impact and Innovation Showcase. Communication Studies is the “What can’t you do with that?” major (or minor).

… And Beyond

Communication Studies students go on to careers in organizational leadership, counseling and training, marketing and public information management, sales and customer relations, nonprofit advocacy, and education. Our team of passionate, expert faculty will teach you how to excel in almost any situation. For example, in Business and Professional Speaking, you’ll practice how to land a job thanks to your first-rate personal brand and interviewing skills. In Mediating Conflict, you’ll apply strategies for bringing people together to solve difficult, sometimes personal problems. In Techniques of Persuasion, you’ll learn communication techniques that motivate, inspire, and change others. Across the curriculum, you’ll get the applied learning and personal attention that makes our program so valuable.

MSU Denver’s degree in Communications Studies can help you build the communication skills necessary to succeed in today’s competitive job market. The career possibilities for Communication Studies majors is nearly endless and includes these sectors: advertising, business and nonprofits, communication and health care, government/politics, international relations and negotiations, law and social and human services.

Samuel Jay

Assistant Professor Samuel Jay’s research examines how digital communication technologies and their users generate and circulate emotional energy and how that energy adds rhetoric effectiveness to disparate discourses including politics, sports and economics.

Brenden Kendall

Assistant Professor Brenden Kendall has studied communication’s role in promoting environmentally related organizational change and is the co-author of the book, “Just a Job? Communication, Ethics, and Professional Life”.

Katia Campbell

Professor Katia Campbell is the co-author of the book, “Neo-pragmatism, Communication and the Culture of Creative Democracy”. She teaches Nonverbal Communication, Rhetorical Foundations of Communication, Techniques of Persuasion and Freedom of Speech.

A small sample of the organizations that have hired graduates of MSU Denver’s Communication Studies program includes:

• ABC News
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Bank of America
• Better Business Bureau
• Asian Pacific Development Center
• ESPN Radio
• Boulder Community Hospital
• InnovAge Long Term Care Options
• Broker Knowledge Group
• El Paso Times
• Gateway Battered Women’s Shelter
• D. Edwards & Co.
• IBM
• Kaiser Permanente
• Library of Congress
• Time Warner
• Texas A&M University

MSU Denver Communication Studies students have been accepted for post-graduate study at:

• Clemson University
• Colorado State University
• London School of Economics
• University of Chicago
• University of Colorado Boulder
• University of Colorado Denver
• University of Northern Colorado

MSU Denver is located on the Auraria Campus, which it shares with the University of Colorado Denver and Community College Denver. Its proximity to downtown Denver offers you a living laboratory for applying what you have learned in the classroom to the city’s vibrant, diverse community.