The School of Communication offers a program of study leading to a B.A. degree and a minor in Communication. Many communication majors pursue, with the school's encouragement, a double major with another discipline or select a minor area to complement the major. Through careful planning, students can easily complete these options within four years.

Students should consult with the undergraduate academic advisor at least once each semester to get school course clearance and to explore course selections within the major, the minor, general education offerings and electives.

Transfer Credit

Requests for transfer credit are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Some lower division courses are transferable from accredited institutions, but upper division courses must be reviewed by the school to determine eligibility toward the major. No more than 50 percent of the upper division requirements may be transferred from another college or university.

Bachelor of Arts in Communication

General Education Requirements

As of fall 1997, the university has instituted a new general education program, designed to be a simpler, more coherent and more integrated introduction to the breadth of knowledge outside the major discipline which is expected of every undergraduate who receives a degree from USC. This new program requires six courses in different categories, plus writing and diversity requirements, which are described in detail here In addition, students pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree must meet the foreign language requirements described here.

All students who 1) enter the School of Communication as freshmen in the summer of 1997 or later, or 2) begin college elsewhere in the summer of 1997 or later or 3) began college earlier but transfer to USC in the summer of 2000 or later, must satisfy the requirements of the new general education program. Other students whose schedules permit are encouraged to follow the new program as well. However, continuing and transfer students in the fall of 1997 may elect to satisfy a "transitional" plan instead.

Required courses		Units
COMM 200	Communication as a Social Science	4
COMM 201	Communication as a Liberal Art	4
and three of the following four:
COMM 102	Human Communication Principles and Practices	4
COMM 202	Introduction to Communication Technology	4
COMM 301L	Empirical Research in Communication	4
COMM 322	Argumentation and Advocacy	4

Grades of C or better in COMM 200 and 201 are required in order to proceed to those upper division courses listing COMM 200 and 201 as prerequisites and to complete the degree. Students must complete six additional upper division courses (24 units). No more than four units of COMM 380 may be counted toward the department major.

Qualified nonmajors (generally, students with junior/senior status, a minimum 3.0 grade point average and a declared major elsewhere at the university) with appropriate academic preparation may be permitted to enroll in communication electives without fulfilling prerequisite requirements. Application for a waiver should be made to the school's undergraduate advisor.

By design, many courses in the curriculum tend to cluster into different areas of study. These areas represent important foci in the communication discipline and are areas in which the school's faculty possess special expertise. Three such areas of study are described below. They are not mutually exclusive, nor do they exhaust the curriculum; rather, they represent partially overlapping areas of unusual depth. Students may specialize in one of these areas or may design individual programs of study by choosing other combinations of electives that best meet their needs and career objectives.

Media, Law and Politics Option

This option is most attractive to students interested in careers in government and public service, the law, and political and legal consulting, as well as advanced graduate study. Students examine communication processes in the public sphere and learn how to participate competently in these practices. Courses emphasize the role of persuasion in the political and legal processes; the techniques used by individuals, institutions and social movements to influence public affairs; the history, design, implementation and evaluation of political campaigns; the role of public opinion; ethical issues in public communication, including the influence of media in the political and justice systems, the role of the First Amendment and the changing nature of freedom of expression in a mass-mediated environment, and problems of public participation. Relevant courses include:

COMM 302	Persuasion
COMM 310	Media and Society
COMM 330	Rhetoric in Classical Culture
COMM 335	Rhetoric in Contemporary Culture
COMM 370	The Rhetoric of Ideas: Ideology and Propaganda
COMM 388	Ethics in Human Communication
COMM 402	Public Communication Campaigns
COMM 411	Communication Criticism
COMM 412	Communication and Social Movements
COMM 421	Legal Communication
COMM 489	Campaign Communication
JOUR 462	Law of Mass Communication

Organizational and Interpersonal Communication Option

This option is most attractive to students interested in careers in business, management, human resources and development, corporate communications, and consulting, as well as advanced graduate study. Courses emphasize: interpersonal communication processes that affect and reflect personality, motives, beliefs, attitudes and values; communication's role in the development, maintenance and disintegration of social, family and intimate relationships; managing interpersonal conflict; communication between superiors and subordinates and in teams; communication's role in determining organizational culture; managing information in organizations; and the role of information technology in processes of globalization. Relevant courses include:

COMM 304	Interpersonal Communication
COMM 308	Communication and Conflict
COMM 315	Health Communication
COMM 320	Small Group and Team Communication
COMM 321	Communication in the Virtual Group
COMM 345	Social and Economic Implications of Communication Technologies
COMM 375	Applied Professional Communication
COMM 385	Survey of Organizational Communication
COMM 480	Nonverbal Communication
COMM 486	Human and Technological Systems in Organizations
COMM 487	Communication and Global Organizations

Communication and Culture Option

This option will be attractive to a broad range of students whose careers have an international or multicultural dimension, from those interested in foreign service, travel and consulting to those seeking careers in entertainment and the arts. In addition, students taking this option will be well prepared for advanced graduate study. Courses emphasize: communication as an essential component of culture and cultural production; cultural forces that shape communication practices; cultural barriers to communication; gender and diversity issues in human and mass communication and cultural production; media representations of race, ethnicity and gender; the production of meaning in diverse modes such as art, religion, popular culture and technology; and cultural criticism. Relevant courses include:

COMM 324	Intercultural Communication
COMM 330	Rhetoric in Classical Culture
COMM 335	Rhetoric in Contemporary Culture
COMM 339	Communication Technology and Culture
COMM 340	The Cultures of New Media
COMM 345	Social and Economic Implications of Communication Technologies
COMM 360	The Rhetoric of Los Angeles
COMM 384	Interpreting Popular Culture
COMM 395	Gender, Media and Communication
COMM 425	Communicating Religion
COMM 465	Gender in Media Industries and Products

Minor in Communication

COMM 200, 201 and any three of: 102, 202, 301L and 322 are required. Grades of C or better in COMM 200 and 201 are required in order to proceed to those upper division courses listing COMM 200 and 201 as prerequisites and to complete the degree. Students must also complete three additional upper division COMM courses (12 units).

Debate Squad

USC's Debate Squad provides an opportunity for outstanding students (3.0 GPA), both 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 offers an honors program for exceptional students, including honors sections of regular classes, special seminars reserved only for honors students (495), an internship (COMM 496x) and an honors thesis (COMM 497x). To qualify, students must maintain a 3.5 GPA both overall and in the COMM major after completing the core courses (COMM 200, 201 and any three of: COMM 102, 202, 301L and 322). Contact the 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).

Interdisciplinary Law and Society Minor

See the Department of Political Science.

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