The Senior Capstone Experience is an intensiveresearch or creative project on a topic chosen bythe student and guided by a faculty mentor.Students typically complete the Capstone in thespring of their senior year. However, planning forthe SCE begins in the spring of their junior yearwith the submission of an SCE application duringadvising week. The Capstone is graded Pass, Fail,or Honors.

This course introduces students to core issues incommunication and media studies, examiningtheories and models of communication, therelationship between media and society, and thehistories and trends in newspaper, music,television, film, advertising, and electronic anddigital technologies. To accomplish this, thecourse explores key problems, scholarly paradigms,and theoretical formulations through materialsdrawn from academic scholarship, the popularpress, and multimedia.

Class presentations, job interviews, internships:pubic speaking is part of our everyday life. Thiscourse teaches students the main principles ofpublic speaking; practice in composition,delivery, and criticism of informative,persuasive, and entertaining speeches. Particularattention is paid to speaking with media andpublic speaking in a digital world.

Internships provide opportunities for students toexperience hands-on learning in a position or workenvironment connected to the study of CMS.Students wishing to complete an internship mustestablish an agreement with a faculty advisor andregister for internship credits before beginningtheir internship. Internships are graded on aPass/Fail system. 45 hours are required percredit.

The Communication and Media Studies Practicum atRadio Free George gives students the opportunityto develop hands-on skills in podcastingproduction. Students who participate will developoriginal programming that will be distributedthrough various podcasting platforms. Students areencouraged to think broadly and creatively aboutthe topic/s for your program. No previouspodcasting or production experience is required toparticipate.

Special Topics courses are courses outside of thenormal departmental offerings that are chosenbased on student interest and faculty expertise.Students may repeat Special Topics courses if theyhave different titles.

Understanding contemporary moving image cultureand media-from YouTube, to Snapchat, toIMAX-requires a working understanding visualanalysis. The history of cinema provides the bestway to comprehend and contextualize the movingimage in popular culture. This course is a historyof world cinema from film dawn to post WWII cinema(roughly 1895-1960) which present the films ofthis era in a way that understands them asintegral works within an historical visuallandscape. This course emphasizes understandingfilmmaking form (how to watch a movie),aesthetics, and filmmaking techniques, andanalyzing content/narrative. Lab required forfilm screenings.

This course teaches students to develop acritical understanding of the role of popularmovies and television in their own lives and inU.S. culture. The course looks at issues of therelationship of media to social violence, genderidentities, sexual identities, technology,minority cultures, and the role of the U.S. mediaglobally.

A continuation of World Cinema I, this courselooks at film history roughly from 1960-present,presenting various modes of international cinemaproduction and its contemporary evolution asclosely interconnected. Covering the US, the UK,Italy, Czech, Senegal, Algeria, Japan, India, andFrance, we place an emphasis on hybrids of allthese 'national' styles, as well as challengingthe politically charged notion of national cinemaitself. Secondly, we explore how changes inglobal contemporary filmmaking evolved the US filmindustry and helped to challenge Hollywood'sglobal dominance. Thirdly, we trace how newindustrial channels exposed regional and 'minor'film industries to global audiences. Lab requiredfor film screenings.

This course examines persuasion as a communicativestrategy. Attempts at persuasion surround useverywhere: in the advertisements we see, in themessages we receive on social media, in thedebates we have over meals, and even in the layoutof our grocery stores. Students consider thehistory of persuasion in mediated and non-mediatedcontexts and the ways in which technology keepsusers clicking, watching, and participating. Inaddition to practicing critical analysis ofpersuasive messages, this class encourages theproduction of original persuasive content that isboth effective and ethical.

This course examines the structures and impacts ofglobal communication networks. We consider theeconomic, cultural, political, technical, andenvironmental consequences of increasinglyglobalized media. We discuss early work in thefield of international communications and continuethrough to contemporary discussions of globalmedia networks. Throughout the semester, weexamine how different entities wield power andassert influence in this global media landscapeand how digital technologies can be used to bothchallenge and reaffirm those existing hierarchies.

This course will cover the foundations ofreporting, writing, fact checking, and editing.Other topics such as the history and ethics ofjournalism will be discussed.

Theory may seem like a scary word, but theoryhelps us to make sense of the world. Theoriesshape how we understand reality, relationships,and the media around us, and aids in creatingmedia of our own. Theory tells us more about howwe communicate every day, provides tools fordeeper comprehension of our media landscape, andprepares us for lives consciously lived. Thiscourse exposes students to the major theories ofcommunication and media studies, their applicationto the academic and professional inquiry in thefield, and their importance in everyday life. Thecourse also teaches students to write in andacross the field, and prepares them for upperlevel critical, analytical, and theoretical basedcommunication and media studies thinking andresearch.

This course introduces students to the art andcraft of video editing and to the editor's role inbringing stories to life for the audience. A goodvideo editor draws on artistic, technological andorganizational skills in cutting and assembling avideo that emotionally connects to an audience.Students will acquire and develop these skillsusing the various tools and techniques of editingduring hands-on workshops and in project-basedlearning. Although other editing software canbe used, this course focuses on Davinci Resolve18, which combines editing, world-class colorgrading, visual effects, motion graphics and audiopost-production all in one software tool. It isfree and works on both Windows and MacOS. Noprevious experience in video production orvideo editing is required.

This course introduces students to the majorfilmmaking disciplines including producing,directing, cinematography, production design,sound and editing. Through workshops there will behands-on opportunities to develop skills withfilmmaking tools including cameras, sound andlighting equipment, and editing software. Studentswill produce their own videographic workover thecourse of the semester. Prior experience inproduction and/or editing is not required.

Internships provide opportunities for students toexperience hands-on learning in a position or workenvironment connected to the study of CMS.Students wishing to complete an internship mustestablish an agreement with a faculty advisor andregister for internship credits before beginningtheir internship. Internships are graded on aPass/Fail system. 45 hours are required percredit.

The Communication and Media Studies Practicum atRadio Free George gives students the opportunityto develop hands-on skills in podcastingproduction. Students who participate will developoriginal programming that will be distributedthrough various podcasting platforms. Students areencouraged to think broadly and creatively aboutthe topic/s for your program. Thisintermediate-level practicum requires previousexperience in podcast production and/or thecompletion of CMS 191.

Special Topics courses are courses outside of thenormal departmental offerings that are chosenbased on student interest and faculty expertise.Students may repeat Special Topics courses if theyhave different titles.

An agreement between a sponsoring faculty and astudent letting the student study a topic ofinterest not offered at WC. 45 hours are requiredper credit.

This course introduces students to the politicaleconomic approach to communication and mediastudies and considers its application to specificmedia and entertainment industries. To understandmedia content, media technologies, and theeconomies built around them, we must look moredeeply at the effects commercialization andcorporate concentration have on these systems. Inthis course, we will consider issues like privacy,citizenship, globalization, labor, alternativemedia, digital media, and the ways in which weconstruct shared culture through media.

This course is designed to introduce students tothe quantitative and qualitative research methodsused to study communication and media. We willfocus on critical analysis, evaluation, studydesign, research ethics, the application ofresearch to everyday decision-making, and whatcommunication and media research can tell us aboutphenomena in the world around us. This coursetreats students as CMS practitioners, which meansthey are expected to participate in the recursiveprocess of scholarly inquiry and apply theirskills to formulate research questions, studydesign, and research implementation.

Study of European film and its history. Specialattention is given to the various dimensionsof film structure and criticism, with emphasis onforeign language films (with English subtitles). Selected films are viewed and analyzed.

Explores the history and cultural background ofGerman cinema, its topics, forms ofrepresentation and relationship to main issues ofGerman history; major themes, movements, andtrends, and the construction of identity anddifference with special focus on gender. Apartfrom the historical and narrative context of thefilms, we will also consider how movies producemeaning and how our perspectives as viewers areguided. While this course is not an introductionto Film Studies, it will give students a generalidea how to think and write about film in acritical way. Films are screened outside ofclass; if students cannot attend the screenings,they must watch the films before the classdiscussion on their own time.

This course explores the role of the media inpolitics from various perspectives, providing anoverview of the following: the history of mediain the United States; the legal issues that relateto the media; the impact that the media has onpublic opinion; the substance (or lack ofsubstance) of the media's coverage of the news,government and elections; biases of the newsmedia; and the increasing conglomeration of thenews media through mergers. Throughout the course,these issue areas will be discussed in a largercontext involving questions of freedom,representation, and political participation.

A study of narrative journalism, what is requiredto tell a story thoroughly, and how to determinethe best form for the story. Narrative journalismblends in-depth reporting and research,investigative journalism, first-personperspective, and narrative writing. Includesreading the genre, researching, reporting,writing, recording, giving constructive criticism,and revising.

Traces the history of journalism ethics throughchallenges to and practices of ethical journalism,as students research, report, present, analyze,write, and revise to demonstrate the knowledgethey gain. Topics include yellow journalism,muckraking, new journalism, gonzo journalism, theuse of anonymous sources, new new journalism, andfake news.

The goal of visual anthropology is to immersestudents in the study and production ofethnographic media and documentary film. We willbegin by exploring the varied genres ofhistorical anthropological documentary whichrange from salvage ethnography to ethnofictionand include more recent attempts to empowercultures by encouraging them to visually capturetheir own unique social, political and expressiveworldviews. We will also examine and critiqueother cultural forms of visual media ranging fromfilm and photography to petroglyphs and tattoos.Once we have an understanding of the variedapproaches to media production, students willengage in the creative process of developing anidea for an ethnographic film, storyboarding,shooting film, and editing complete ethnographicdocumentaries.

This interdisciplinary seminar examines AfricanAmerican literature and intellectual thought ofthe 1920s and 1930s. Take this course and learnabout different conceptualizations of the blackaesthetic, and about the impact race, class, andgender had on key figures like Langston Hughes,Zora Neale Hurston, Nella Larsen, and WallaceThurman.

Internships provide opportunities for students toexperience hands-on learning in a position or workenvironment connected to the study of CMS.Students wishing to complete an internship mustestablish an agreement with a faculty advisor andregister for internship credits before beginningtheir internship. Internships are graded on aPass/Fail system. 45 hours are required percredit.

Special Topics courses are courses outside of thenormal departmental offerings that are chosenbased on student interest and faculty expertise.Students may repeat Special Topics courses if theyhave different titles.

An agreement between a sponsoring faculty and astudent, letting the student study a topic ofinterest not offered at WC. 45 hours are requiredper credit.

This course engages with, uses, and challengesvarious theoretical ideas and approaches to film.Throughout the semester, we address questionssuch as: What is cinema, and what are filmstudies? How do we relate to and interact withfilms? What are the relationships among film andthe larger global society? We discuss thehistorical and cultural context in whichparticular theories emerged and learn the languageof idea-inflected film criticism. Additionally, welook at how film studies have used influenced andtheoretical lines of thought such as Marxism,semiotics, formalism, psychoanalysis,poststructuralism, feminism, critical race theory,sexuality studies, queer theory, and critiques ofneocolonialism. Class includes screening time.

The Senior Seminar fosters rigorous reflection onstudents' CMS training while exploring continuingdebates in the field. This course requiresstudents to critically reflect not only on theirresearch topics, but to provide critical feedbackto peers. Students will complete written and oralwork in anticipation of and preparation forembarking on their Senior Capstone Experience.Beyond this, students will collaborate to developan accessible resource on a current topic in thefield and spend time preparing for job and/orgraduate school applications.

This course surveys the interdisciplinary field ofbook history, with an emphasis on American printculture from the nineteenth century to thepresent. Students explore topics related tothe creation, publication, dissemination andreception of American print communication (e.g.,books, periodicals, and newspapers). Students alsolearn and practice advanced research methodsused by literary historians and print culturescholars.

Internships provide opportunities for students toexperience hands-on learning in a position or workenvironment connected to the study of CMS.Students wishing to complete an internship mustestablish an agreement with a faculty advisor andregister for internship credits before beginningtheir internship. Internships are graded on aPass/Fail system. 45 hours are required percredit.

Special Topics courses are courses outside of thenormal departmental offerings that are chosenbased on student interest and faculty expertise.Students may repeat Special Topics courses if theyhave different titles.

An agreement between a sponsoring faculty and astudent, letting the student study a topic ofinterest not offered at WC. 45 hours are requiredper credit.