Communication
Departments
The major is overseen by the interdisciplinary Communication Program. The program includes representatives from the following departments:
The Faculty
The communication faculty is composed of professors and distinguished professionals who themselves are active writers, scholars, designers, consultants and artists with regional and national reputations. Faculty members not only provide guidance to students in the classroom but also, in many cases, involve students as partners in their own research and professional work.
Career Opportunities
Communication graduates are well equipped to enter various career paths. Many pursue opportunities in advertising, public relations, publishing, editing or education. Others enter fields such as photography, television production, web design, technical or professional writing, or journalism. Still others go on to seek advanced professional or graduate degrees before working in law, medicine, design, or the film industry.
Communicating successfully in our technology-infused world requires a combination of strong speaking and writing skills as well as an in-depth understanding of visual and interactive modes of expression such as photography, film and multimedia. Centenary communication majors explore all of these areas through a rich body of courses that approach human communication as a cultural and social phenomenon.
Our project-oriented curriculum challenges students to draw on their broad liberal arts education and their own creativity to address the types of problems communication professionals face regularly. In writing and production courses such as Writing for the Mass Media, Video and Film Production, and Multimedia Design, professors work closely with students to help them learn skills and develop strategies necessary for producing creative, effective media texts. Similarly, professors in courses such as History of Photography and Cyberculture provide opportunities for students to investigate the relationship between media and culture; in so doing, student develop analytical skills crucial to understanding how media texts influence and are, in turn, influenced by society. The major culminates in the Senior Seminar in which students prepare for their job or graduate school search by creating electronic portfolios that feature the best examples from the communication projects begun in their courses, internships, community service, and campus media work.
The communication curriculum is designed to give students experience with a wide range of media while also allowing them to concentrate their major coursework in the medium that best corresponds to their personal and professional goals. After getting a broad introduction to communication studies students pursue one of three tracks: professional writing, film/television/video, or new media.
Professional Writing Track
The interdisciplinary courses in the professional writing track allow students to investigate varied aspects of communication as they pertain to writers. Individual students can tailor the track to accommodate their own particular fields of interest within writing and the larger field of communication. Students receive a strong grounding in writing practice alongside experience in visual and speech communication as well as cultural analysis.
Film/Television/Video Track
The film/television/video track is structured to teach students to express themselves and communicate with others using various electronic and film media. With a liberal arts perspective and extensive production experience, students become creative artists and analysts of the media who have a strong sense of the complex realities of the roles film, television and video play in communication.
New Media Track
Digital media has emerged over the past ten years as a crucial component of a communication practice. The new media track allows students to explore more fully the methods and practices associated with multimedia design, web design, and electronic graphic design while also developing knowledge and practices associated with more traditional communication concentrations.
