Communication and Media Studies
Communication and media are central features of our lives. Whether navigating relationships, crafting professions, or engaging in local and global issues, knowledge and skills related to communication and media are fundamental. Given the contemporary proliferation of media forms, technologies, industries and controversies, there has never been a better time to study communication and media. No matter what kind of work you do or what kind of life you live, understanding communication and media processes is fundamental to your health and wealth.
The Communication and Media Studies Program at Franklin focuses upon four key threads in communication and media studies: (1) Media forms, practices, technologies and industries, (2) empirical and critical media and communication research (with an emphasis on emerging and social media), (3) media uses and effects (individual, relational, cultural, and social) and (4) the relationship between media/communication and global processes. The major in Communication and Media Studies is particularly suited to students who are interested in pursuing media professions as well as for those who are interested in better understanding the role of communication and media in creating and maintaining well-functioning relationships, networks organizations, and societies.
Major Requirements (39 Credits)
Required Courses (18 credits)
| COM 105 | Introduction to Communication and Media Studies in the Global Context | 3 |
| COM 201 | Fundamentals of Media Studies and Criticism | 3 |
| COM 203 | Communication Research Methods | 3 |
| COM 243 | Principles of Strategic Communication | 3 |
| COM 301 | Globalization and Media | 3 |
| COM 350 | Mediated Relationships | 3 |
Major Electives (12 credits)
Four of the following, two of which must be at or above the 300-level:
| COM 202 | Fundamentals of Interpersonal Communication | 3 |
| COM 204 | Media Ecology | 3 |
| COM 212 | Public Speaking: Engaging with the Global Audience | 3 |
| COM 218 | Writing and Reporting for the Media | 3 |
| COM 225T | Technologized Bodies: Mobile ICTs in the City | 3 |
| COM 230T | Communication, Fashion, and the Formation of Taste (Italy) | 3 |
| COM 235T | Pizza, Spaghetti and Other Stories: Food Journalism and Culture | 3 |
| COM 255 | The Culture of Made in Italy | 3 |
| COM 295 | Media Consumption, Fashion, and Identity | 3 |
| COM 302 | Intercultural Communication: Theory, Research, and Practice | 3 |
| COM 304 | The Industrialization of Creativity from Mass Media to Platform Economy | 3 |
| COM 308 | Science Communication | 3 |
| COM 311 | Strategic Communication and Public Relations | 3 |
| COM 314 | Digital Journalism in a Global Context | 3 |
| COM 326 | Digital Communication: Theory and Strategy | 3 |
| COM 330 | The Digital Innovation and Media Strategies for a New Consumer Culture | 3 |
| COM 347 | Organizational Communication | 3 |
COM 370
| Topics in Communication and Media Studies | 3 |
| COM 497 | Senior Research Seminar in Communication and Media Studies | 3 |
| COM 498 | Internship in Communication and Media Studies | 3 |
Interdisciplinary Electives (6 credits)
Two of the following:
COM XXX
| Any additional COM course | 3 |
| AHT 213 | Art and Ideas: Exploring Vision | 3 |
| AHT 216 | Introduction to the History of Photography | 3 |
| AHT 222T | Design Studies | 3 |
| AHT 338 | The City and Its Representation in the 20th Century | 3 |
| AHT 361 | Art and Trauma Studies: The Visual Culture of Disaster | 3 |
| AHT 362 | Visual Semiotics: Signs and Symbols in Art, Architecture, Film, and Fashion | 3 |
| BUS 236T | Marketing for Movies | 3 |
| BUS 256 | Market Research Methods | 3 |
| BUS 274 | Brand Management | 3 |
| BUS 285 | Integrated Marketing Communications | 3 |
| BUS 383 | Digital Marketing and Web Analytics | 3 |
| BUS 385 | Consumer Behavior in International Marketing | 3 |
| BUS 410 | Organizational Behavior | 3 |
| CLCS 200 | Gender and Sexuality in a Global Context | 3 |
| CLCS 220 | Inventing the Past: The Uses of Memory in a Changing World | 3 |
| CLCS 225 | Music and Popular Culture from the 1950s to the 1990s | 3 |
| CLCS 230 | Science / Fiction: Envisioning the Possible | 3 |
| CLCS 241 | Forbidden Acts: Queer Studies and Performance | 3 |
| CLCS 242 | Representations of Poverty in Literature, Film and the Media | 3 |
| CLCS 254 | Introduction to Postcolonial Literatures and Theories | 3 |
| CLCS 300 | Masculinities in Literature and Film | 3 |
| CLCS 320 | Culture, Class, Cuisine: Questions of Taste | 3 |
| CLCS 330 | The Politics of Mobility: Exile and Immigration | 3 |
| CLCS 350 | Culture and Human Rights | 3 |
| CLCS 360 | Critical Race Studies in a Global Context | 3 |
| CLCS 371 | Law and Culture | 3 |
| ENV 200 | Understanding Environmental Issues | 3 |
| ENV 220 | Ecocritical Approaches to Literature | 3 |
| FRE 374 | Introduction to French Cinema | 3 |
| FRE 376 | French Cinema: The New Wave | 3 |
| GER 373 | German Film as Medium of Culture | 3 |
| GER 376 | Screening Swissness: An Introduction to Swiss-German Film | 3 |
| HIS 325 | Human Rights in History | 3 |
| IS 280T | Italian Cinema on Location: Projections of the Eternal City in Italian Film and Cultural Studies | 3 |
| ITA 353 | Italian Theater Workshop | 3 |
| ITA 374 | Italian Cinema | 3 |
| PSY 201 | Social Psychology | 3 |
| PSY 202 | Developmental Psychology | 3 |
| PSY 203 | Theories of Personality | 3 |
| PSY 210 | Cognitive Psychology | 3 |
| PSY 220 | Multicultural Psychology | 3 |
| PSY 310 | Organizational Psychology | 3 |
| PSY 315 | Environmental Psychology | 3 |
| STA 200 | Computer Graphics in Advertising | 3 |
| STA 209 | The Video Essay: From Conception to Projection | 3 |
| STA 279 | The Video Essay and Photography on Location in Europe | 3 |
| STA 300 | Computer Graphics in Advertising, Advanced | 3 |
| VCA 212 | Design Thinking for Academic and Entrepreneurial Minds | 3 |
Capstone Requirement (3 credits)
One of the following:
| COM 497 | Senior Research Seminar in Communication and Media Studies | 3 |
| COM 498 | Internship in Communication and Media Studies | 3 |
Note: Prerequisites may be required for courses outside of the major.