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 105Introduction to Communication and Media Studies in the Global Context

3

COM 201Fundamentals of Media Studies and Criticism

3

COM 203Communication Research Methods

3

COM 238Strategic Communication and Social Media: Theory and Practice

3

COM 301Globalization and Media

3

COM 350Mediated Relationships

3

Major Electives (12 credits)

Four of the following, two of which must be at or above the 300-level:

COM 202Fundamentals of Interpersonal Communication

3

COM 204Media Ecology

3

COM 212Public Speaking: Engaging with the Global Audience

3

COM 225TTechnologized Bodies: Mobile ICTs in the City

3

COM 230TCommunication, Fashion, and the Formation of Taste (Italy)

3

COM 235TPizza, Spaghetti and Other Stories: Food Journalism and Culture

3

COM 255The Culture of Made in Italy

3

COM 295Media Consumption, Fashion, and Identity

3

COM 302Intercultural Communication: Theory, Research, and Practice

3

COM 304The Industrialization of Creativity from Mass Media to Platform Economy

3

COM 308Science Communication

3

COM 314Digital Journalism in a Global Context

3

COM 326Digital Communication: Theory and Strategy

3

COM 330The Digital Innovation and Media Strategies for a New Consumer Culture

3

COM 347Organizational Communication

3

COM 370
Topics in Communication and Media Studies

3

COM 497Senior Research Seminar in Communication and Media Studies

3

COM 498Internship in Communication and Media Studies

3

Interdisciplinary Electives (6 credits)

Two of the following:

COM XXX
Any additional COM course

AHT 213Art and Ideas: Exploring Vision

3

AHT 216Introduction to the History of Photography

3

AHT 222TDesign Studies

3

AHT 338The City and Its Representation in the 20th Century

3

AHT 361The Visual Culture of Disaster

3

AHT 362Visual Semiotics: Signs and Symbols in Art, Architecture, Film, and Fashion

3

BUS 236TMarketing for Movies

3

BUS 256Market Research Methods

3

BUS 274Brand Management

3

BUS 285Integrated Marketing Communications

3

BUS 383Digital Marketing and Web Analytics

3

BUS 385Consumer Behavior in International Marketing

3

BUS 410Organizational Behavior and Leadership

3

CLCS 200Gender and Sexuality in a Global Context

3

CLCS 220Inventing the Past: The Uses of Memory in a Changing World

3

CLCS 225Music and Popular Culture from the 1950s to the 1990s

3

CLCS 230Science / Fiction: Envisioning the Possible

3

CLCS 241Forbidden Acts: Queer Studies and Performance

3

CLCS 242Representations of Poverty in Literature

3

CLCS 243The Cultural Politics of Sports

3

CLCS 254Introduction to Postcolonial Literatures and Theories

3

CLCS 300Masculinities in Literature and Film

3

CLCS 320Culture, Class, Cuisine: Questions of Taste

3

CLCS 330The Politics of Mobility: Exile and Immigration

3

CLCS 340Fashion and Visual Culture

3

CLCS 350Culture and Human Rights

3

CLCS 360Critical Race Studies in a Global Context

3

CLCS 371Law and Culture

3

ECN 355Political Economy: Theories and Issues

3

ENV 200Understanding Environmental Issues

3

ENV 220Ecocritical Approaches to Literature

3

FRE 374Introduction to French Cinema

3

FRE 376French Cinema: The New Wave

3

GER 373German Film as Medium of Culture

3

GER 376Screening Swissness: An Introduction to Swiss-German Film

3

HIS 325Human Rights in History

3

IS 280TItalian Cinema on Location: Projections of the Eternal City in Italian Film and Cultural Studies

3

ITA 353Italian Theater Workshop

3

ITA 374Italian Cinema

3

PSY 201Social Psychology

3

PSY 202Developmental Psychology

3

PSY 203Theories of Personality

3

PSY 210Cognitive Psychology

3

PSY 220Multicultural Psychology

3

PSY 310Organizational Psychology

3

PSY 315Environmental Psychology

3

STA 200Computer Graphics in Advertising

3

STA 209The Video Essay: From Conception to Projection

3

STA 279The Video Essay and Photography on Location in Europe

3

STA 300Computer Graphics in Advertising, Advanced

3

VCA 212Design Thinking for Academic and Entrepreneurial Minds

3

Capstone Requirement (3 credits)

One of the following:

COM 497Senior Research Seminar in Communication and Media Studies

3

COM 498Internship in Communication and Media Studies

3

Note: Prerequisites may be required for courses outside of the major.