Communicating Strategically Pathway

The Communicating Strategically Pathway focuses on the skill of narrative framing and persuasive communication across platforms.   Successfully conveying one’s own ideas  and evaluating the communication of others is necessary for personal and professional effectiveness. Communicating Strategically prepares students to craft persuasive, ethical narratives that shape public understanding and drive collective action.  Through the courses in this Pathway, students learn the deliberate use of one’s own expressiveness, language, and voice to influence audiences across communal and professional domains with strategic outcomes in mind.

Majors restrict Pathway Certificates to encourage a breadth of skills-development beyond their program. A Communicating Strategically Pathway Certificate may be earned within a majoras a second certificate for students in the following majors:

Art and Design (BFA)
Communication and Media Studies (BA)
English (BA)
Nursing (BS)
Sustainability Studies (BA)
Theatre Arts (BA)
Course Title Credits
In all walks of life, it is necessary to convey one’s own ideas effectively to others and to critically evaluate others’ communications to oneself. Communicating Strategically prepares students to craft persuasive, ethical narratives that shape public understanding and drive collective action. It also facilitates understanding and application of the clear, effective and deliberate use of one’s own expressiveness, language, and voice. Grounded in rhetorical analysis, media literacy, and institutional awareness, this pathway trains students to influence audiences across communal and professional domains with strategic outcomes in mind.
Pathway Certificate Requirements15-16
To attain a Pathway certificate in Communicating Strategically, students must complete 15-16 credits from the following list of courses, including at least two courses at the 3000 level or higher from this list:
Design Software Basics (TECO)
Typography
History of Graphic Design (WRCO)
Publication Design (QRCO)
UX/UI: Digital Identity
Art History Foundations: Prehistory to 1400 (GACO)
Art History Foundations: 1400-1940
Contemporary Art Since 1940 (GACO,WRCO)
Gender, Representation, and the Visual Arts (DICO)
Communication for Law Enforcement
Studies in Communication and Media (TECO)
Public Speaking
Technical Communication (TECO,WRCO)
Communication Theory (WRCO)
Journalism in the Digital Age (TECO,WRCO)
The Digital Imagination (CTDI)
Computing Fundamentals (TECO)
Systems Analysis and Design
Web Expressions (CTDI)
Advanced Composition
Non-Fiction Workshop
The Story (SSDI)
Creating Arguments (CTDI)
The Manifesto: Changing Our World (CTDI)
Natural Hazards: Science and Policy
Advanced French Composition (WRCO)
Mapping Our World: Creating Realities (CTDI)
Creating Language (CTDI)
The Language and Culture of Health Care
Professional Selling Skills I
Advanced Spanish Composition (WRCO)
Spanish Conversation, Phonetics, and Phonology
Environmental Humanities (WRCO)
Voice and Diction I
Script Analysis
Voice and Diction II
Writing for Performance (Topics)
Total Credits15-16