Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
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 team policy debate and is now also offering British parliamentary (worlds format) debating. The team competes at both regional and national competitions.
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 (16 units from COMM 200, COMM 201, COMM 202, COMM 203, COMM 206, COMM 207 and COMM 208 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 adviser for further information and application forms.
Honor Society
Lambda Pi Eta is a national communication/journalism honor society that is open to declared communication, journalism and public relations majors who have completed (or are currently registered for) at least 60 units, at least 12 of which are in the major. To be eligible, students must have a USC GPA and a major GPA of 3.5 or higher.
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 the School of Cinematic Arts.
Annenberg Career Development and 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. Students may earn a maximum of 12 USC units of upper-division COMM elective credit.
Spring Semester in Australia
This semester program offers students the chance to study at one of Australia’s premier universities, in one of the country’s most exciting cities. Students take communication courses that count for major credit at USC at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and can choose from a wide variety of elective courses. UNSW is located in Kensington, just south of the center of Sydney and its commercial hub. The program gives 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. Students may earn a maximum of 12 USC units of upper-division COMM elective credit.
Fall Semester in Buenos Aires
This semester program offers students the opportunity to study Latin American culture and study at the Universidad de San Andrés, 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).
Semester in Hong Kong
The semester program offers students the opportunity to learn about Chinese culture at the Chinese University in Hong Kong, a bilingual institution. The program also gives students the experience of living in Hong Kong 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. Students may earn a maximum of 12 USC units of upper-division COMM elective credit.
Summer in Ireland
This summer program offers Annenberg undergraduate students the chance to participate in a formal international internship program in Dublin for nine weeks during the 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 nine-week full-time unpaid internship in Dublin. Students will receive one unit of credit for JOUR 090x.
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-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. Students may earn 16 units of upper-division COMM elective credit.
Spring Semester in New Zealand
Annenberg’s New Zealand program offers students the opportunity to travel to the Southern Hemisphere. Each spring, students can study at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT), a world-class institution which offers students the chance to take communication courses that count toward major credit at USC, all the while exploring the beautiful city of Auckland and the surrounding countryside. The AUT program offers communication students an exciting way to broaden their understanding of media and mass communication in a challenging environment with an outlook distinctly different from that of the United States and Southern California. Students may earn 12 units of upper-division COMM elective credit.
International Communication Studies — London, Paris, Prague and Istanbul
The International Communication Studies program (ICS) allows undergraduate students to study a range of approaches to public communication media across Europe.
Students divide the five-week course into stays in Los Angeles, London, Paris, Prague and Istanbul. In addition to regular class meetings, students discuss the interplay of current world issues and international media practices with communication practitioners from international news and public relations media, government institutions, private industry and global organizations.
Students enroll in JOUR 482 Comparative Media in Europe (4 units), which will count as 4 units of upper-division COMM elective credit.
International Communication Studies China — Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai
The International Communication Studies China program allows undergraduate students to study a range of approaches to public communication media in China.
Students divide the four-week course into stays in Los Angeles, Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai. In addition to regular class meetings, students discuss the interplay of current world issues and international media practices with communication practitioners from international news and public relations media, government institutions, private industry and global organizations.
Students enroll in COMM 499 (4 units, for summer 2013), which will count as 4 units of upper-division COMM elective credit.
For further information, contact Annenberg Career Development and International Programs at (213) 821-2717, email ascintl@usc.edu or visit annenberg.usc.edu/international.