USC
University of Southern California
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School of Communication

Other Programs

Debate Squad

The Trojan Debate Squad provides an opportunity for outstanding students (3.0 GPA or better), both communication majors and non-majors, to compete in an intensive intercollegiate laboratory setting. Whatever the student's intended career, the skills he or she develops in research, critical thinking and oral advocacy will be invaluable. The team has an excellent record in both team policy debate and individual speaking events and has traveled widely both nationally and abroad.

Honors Program

The School of Communication offers an 8-unit honors program for exceptional students. To qualify, students must have a 3.5 GPA both overall and in the COMM major after completing the core courses (any four of COMM 200, COMM 201, COMM 202, COMM 203 and COMM 206 and two of COMM 204, COMM 301L and COMM 322). To graduate with School of Communication honors, a student must maintain a 3.5 overall and COMM major GPA and receive at least a B+ or higher in the two honors courses.

Students either take COMM 495 Honors Seminar or work with a professor to customize a 400-level COMM course for honors status (4 units). All honor students complete COMM 497x Honors Thesis (4 units). Contact an undergraduate advisor for further information and application forms.

Honor Society

Lambda Pi Eta is a national communication/ journalism honor society that is open to declared majors who have completed at least 32 units (minimum 3.0 GPA), 12 of which are in the major (minimum 3.25 GPA).

Honors in Multimedia Scholarship

This program offers qualified undergraduate students an opportunity to approach their discipline(s) of study through the critical application of multimedia expression and scholarship. The student experience will be characterized by smaller classes taught by leading faculty members and enriched by a program of lecture series, visiting scholars, symposia and conferences. For complete program requirements, see Interdisciplinary Programs.

Annenberg International Programs

Semester in Amsterdam
Through the Council on International Education Exchange, students study at the University of Amsterdam. The first week students spend in orientation sessions which include an overview of the academic program, an introduction to Amsterdam and to Dutch society and culture, as well as excursions in and around the city. Students enroll in the offerings taught in English at the University of Amsterdam. Such courses include communication, art, history, economics, environmental sciences, computer science, history, philosophy, literature, social science and theology.

Semester in Australia
These semester programs offer students the chance to live and study in Australia's most exciting city. Students take communication courses that count toward major credit at USC at either the University of New South Wales (UNSW) or Macquarie University, two of Australia's premier universities. Both universities are located close to the hub of Sydney's business district. The programs will give students the chance to explore mass media and communication in a challenging environment with a distinct world view, very different from that of the United States.

Semester in Buenos Aires
This semester program offers students the opportunity to study Latin American culture and study at the Universidad de San Andres, a small liberal arts college in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. Students will live and learn in this vibrant metropolis while taking communication courses that count toward major credit at USC. Buenos Aires is one of the largest cities in Latin America and will give students the chance to explore the world view of Latin America and how it relates to communication, mass media and the world at large. The program will immerse students in South American culture. With classes being taught exclusively in Spanish, this program requires a high degree of proficiency in Spanish, both written and oral (2.5 years of college-level Spanish or the equivalent required). No special arrangements will be made for students who cannot meet language requirements.

Semester in Hong Kong
The semester program offers students the opportunity to study Chinese culture and interact with Chinese people in a multicultural context at the Chinese University in Hong Kong, a bilingual institution. The program also gives students the experience of living in Hong Kong at a historic moment where they can witness the "one country, two systems" experiment. Courses in English are offered in fine arts, literature, history, Japanese studies, intercultural studies, music, philosophy, computer science, anthropology, economics, international relations, as well as journalism and communication. For students interested in Chinese language, courses are offered in Putonghua (Mandarin) or Cantonese. Extracurricular activities include the opportunity to teach English in rural China, monthly dinner talks with Asian studies specialists and excursions to local areas of interest.

Summer in Ireland
This summer program offers Annenberg undergraduate students the chance to participate in a formal international internship program in Dublin for two months each summer. The aim of the program is to provide students with theoretical as well as practical experiences working, living and navigating within the international global communications environment. The program is designed around a summer-long online Annenberg course and a seven-week full-time unpaid internship in Dublin.

Semester in London
The semester program offers students the opportunity to study communication in London, the most important center of media in Europe. Many of the communication ­courses offered include British media guest lecturers and site visits. The program includes one four-day trip to Paris as well as three one-day visits to such places as Stonehenge, Stratford, Oxford, Cambridge and Windsor. Planned activities within London include theatre and museum visits and a reception with USC alumni residing in the London area.

Semester in New Zealand
Two semester programs offer students the opportunity to travel into the Southern Hemisphere and live in the rugged and beautiful landscape of New Zealand. Students can study at either the Auckland University of Technology or the University of Canterbury, both world-class institutions which offer students the chance to take communication courses that count toward major credit at USC, while exploring the beautiful cities of Auckland and Christchurch and the surrounding countryside. These programs will offer communication students an exciting way to broaden their understanding of media and mass communication in a challenging environment with world views distinctly different from the United States.

Semester in Singapore
The program offers students the opportunity to study at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. The Republic of Singapore is a modern city-state boasting the world's busiest ports. Singapore has emerged as an important regional center for trade, communications, tourism, and banking. Despite rapid growth and soaring skyscrapers, Singapore remains one of the cleanest, greenest and safest cities in the world, blending Western-style development with Eastern-style culture. A wide array of communication and journalism courses are offered.

For more information, contact Annenberg International Programs at (213) 821-2180 or ascintl@usc.edu.