Communications

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Areas of Emphasis

The Communication Studies program at Blackburn College offers four tracks in which students may concentrate their studies: Media Studies, Performance Studies, Graphic Communication, and Professional Communication.

Media Studies: Students in the program explore and seek to understand communications media from a liberal arts perspective: the theory behind communication technologies, their origins, structures, and implications for our society. With an emphasis on the interplay of institutions, texts, and audiences of mediated communication systems, the program examines communication technologies- writing, printing, transportation, radio, television, and computer mediated communication—within their historical, social, political, economic, and cultural contexts. Media Studies has a strong interdisciplinary flavor, and students can expect to see and make connections with fields such as English, History, Economics, Law, Geography, Music, Political Science, and Sociology, to name a few.

Performance Studies: This area of emphasis allows students to develop their skills and understanding of dramatic, theatrical, and performance communication. Students will be introduced to the history, people, and literature associated with drama, as well as the interpretation of literary forms. In addition, students will participate in the production, directing, and performance of dramatic works. Students will be exposed to, and instructed in, all aspects of stage production from the on-stage perspectives of the performers and directors, through the back-stage functions of lights, sets, costumes, etc., to the management of public relations, and box office.

Graphic Communication: In the Graphic Communication program, students will be heavily involved in the area of professional, visually oriented communication. Primary emphasis is on computer- mediated design, with additional emphasis on the fundamental of visual communication through photography.

Professional Communication: The area of Professional Communication is designed to introduce students to some of the areas of interest and concern regarding human communication within a professional and/or corporate context. From a professional perspective, students will be taught in the issues and skills concerned with journalism, advertising, and public relations. Within the corporate context, students will receive instruction in the theories and concerns of communication within the workplace with special attention to the theories and practices of organizational and group communication.