Courses

Fundamentals of Public Speaking

Focus on the process of critical dialogue between oneself, language, and the imagined responses of the audience, being confident in who you are, what you want to say, how you are going to say it, who you want to say it to, and why you should say anything at all.

Small Group Communication

Focus on the study of group communication through reflective action and practice in public deliberative decision-making while educating you for future leadership in your interpersonal, professional and civic community lives.

Communication Theory

Focus on the study of communication theories, systems, models, formulations, and measurements; new dimensions in speech criticism and research methodology; critical study of published reports in the contemporary literature of the field.

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Voice of the Public Speaker

Focus on speech in a variety of contexts including the mass media, looking at techniques for effective delivery, intelligibility, and presence, and the general improvement of the student’s vocal presentation in a variety of public speaking environments.

Personal Narrative

Focus on the storytelling skills by learning how to choose, retell, adapt, and write appropriate stories for different audiences/occasions, and by practicing effective methods of preparing and performing stories.

Modern & Postmodern Communication

Focus on exploring various approaches to developing communication theory through the range of sub-domains situated within the broader discipline of communication studies in the modern age of technology with its impact on our communication patterns.

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Classical Rhetorical Theory

Focus on foundational theories of rhetoric intrinsic to the study of communication that originated during the golden age of Greek and Hellenistic philosophy, while also encountering rhetoric as a process to understanding the historical contexts of rhetorical theories.

Performance of Poetry

Focus on the poetry reading, oral interpretation of poetry, slam poetry, and the recording of poetry, while gaining insight into theory, criticism, and practice in the various cultural manifestations of the performance of poetry.

Persuasion / Persuasive Speaking

Focus on a repertoire of speech preparation and delivery skills, the ability to engage in the artful, persuasive, and ethical use of oral language in public speaking contexts with knowledge and understanding of your intended audience.

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American Public Discourse: Debate

Focus on the immersion in the practice of debate, this course is designed to cultivate the seven talents of an ideal debater: the ability to collect and organize ideas, the ability to subordinate ideas, the ability to evaluate evidence, the ability to see logical connections, the ability to think and speak in outline terms, the ability to speak convincingly with clarity and impact, and the ability to adapt to new ideas.

Undergraduate Research/Capstone

Each student conducted, completed and publically presented an original piece of theoretical or applied scholarship in Rhetoric.
Scholarship product can be found in Portfolio.

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