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The Faculty
The Major
The Minor
Course
Offerings
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Source: 2005-2006 Catalog
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The Communication major prepares students for professional and personal
success. The organizational communication focus of the curriculum applies
to families, social groups, work or career contexts, governmental and
world affairs. The 30-31 hour major is designed to provide broad general
theory and skills for application in legal, corporate, and political arenas.
Students who want to pursue graduate or professional school are well prepared
to enter the most competitive programs. Students who take communication
courses are provided strong general education skills, as well as in-depth
information about the theory and practice of human communication. Four
courses are specifically identified to meet general education requirements:
CN 101 Principles & Practices of Human Communication, CN 150 Public
Speaking, CN 341 Persuasive Speaking, and CN 365 Business & Professional
Speaking. Alumni find employment as corporate trainers, lobbyists, small
business owners, directors of non-profits, consultants, and in a broad
range of other careers
Student Learning Outcomes
Communication majors at Washburn University, upon graduation, are
expected to have:
- acquired an understanding of the nature and importance of communication,
and of their own communication behavior, across a variety of interaction
contexts;
- become sophisticated consumers and producers of effective and appropriate
messages across a variety of interaction contexts;
- applied relevant theories to the communication behavior of themselves
and others and thus solve problems related to common communication difficulties
across a variety of interaction contexts;
- evaluated critically the usefulness of theories for enhancing their
own communication competence;
- evaluated critically situations to determine which skills and approaches
are competent responses to those situations;
- acquired a general understanding of communication research;
- acquired in-depth knowledge in at least one of four communication
emphases -- corporate, health (pending approval), legal, or political;
and
- acquired skills and knowledge for successful careers and/or post-baccalaureate
study
Debate/Forensics
Washburn has a long-distinguished competitive speech and debate program.
Parliamentary debate, Lincoln Douglas debate, and individual events are
the current focus of the program. Scholarships are available
Internships
Internships are granted to only the most qualified and academically
prepared student. The student who has achieved maximum benefit from classroom
experiences can then apply for 1-3 hours of internship credit. Guided
by both the advisor and the intern's supervisor, students might be placed
in a work setting such as a bank, non-profit agency, personnel department,
governmental office, or political office for on-the-job experience
Departmental Honors
To receive departmental honors, the graduating students must
have an overall university GPA of 3.0 and an overall Major GPA of 3.5.
Additionally, the student will select and work on a project under the
direction of a primary faculty member and submit a project proposal to
be reviewed and approved by a committee of the faculty. The project can
include but is not limited to: creative work, an original research paper,
and/or an applied communication project. Upon completion of the project,
the student will present his/her work to the faculty committee
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