Undergraduate Courses in Organizational & Political Communication

4.00 Credits
An introduction to the basic concepts, theories and principles of oral communication as applied to a speaking situation. The course develops competence in oral communication through performance and critical analysis of student skills in a variety of speaking formats. Audience analysis, content discovery, communication strategies, arrangement of ideas, the use of evidence and reasoning to support claims, language and style, voice and other delivery skills and ethical considerations will be explored in this course. Fills the General Education Oral Communication requirement.

(FALL07) Marcy Milhomme  Cara Buckley  Heather Erickson  Cathryn Edelstein  Patrick Johnson  Spencer Kimball  Truman Keys  Karen Lauffer  Jodi Nevola  Jane Pierce Saulnier  Suzanne Swope  Tom Smith  Danell Tomasella  Allen Vietzke  (SPRG08) Marcy Milhomme  Cara Buckley  Heather Erickson  Cathryn Edelstein  Patrick Johnson  Truman Keys  Jodi Nevola  Jane Pierce Saulnier  Tom Smith  Danell Tomasella  Allen Vietzke 

4 Credits
An introduction to the study of communication, power, and politics in contemporary life. Consideration of theory and research in communication that help us understand how power relationships are constituted, negotiated, and changed. (Fall semester)

(FALL07) Michael Weiler  (SPRG08) Michael Weiler 

4.00 Credits
Analysis of readings in intercultural communication. The course focuses on verbal and nonverbal customs of various cultures as information from both a cultural and language perspective. Each semester focuses on specific topics or cultures, which will be compared to the different cultures of Europe as well. Background in other cultures helpful, but not essential. Course may be repeated once under a different topic. Fulfills the General Education Global Diversity requirement.

(FALL07) Truman Keys  (SPRG08) Truman Keys 

4.00 Credits
Study of the art of advocacy. Students develop the logical, organizational and research skills that debate and other forms of oral and written advocacy require. Assignments include participation in debates about current political and legal controversies. Critical thinking skills are emphasized as tools both for advocates and audiences.

(FALL07) Heather Erickson  J. Gregory Payne  Michael Weiler  (SPRG08) Heather Erickson  Spencer Kimball  J. Gregory Payne 

4.00 Credits
The oral performance of literature (poetry, prose and drama) as the art of understanding and communicating a text's meaning to an audience is the focus of this course. Objectives include exploring the aesthetic dimensions of literature and its performance, and developing critical skills in interpreting texts and evaluating performed literature. Fulfills the Literary Perspective of the General Education requirements.

(FALL07) John Anderson  Elizabeth Whitney  (SPRG08) John Anderson  Elizabeth Whitney 

4.00 Credits
This course helps the student to train his/her voice and develop a wide range of controls in pitch, volume, and quality to meet the voice and speech needs of journalism, public speaking, and interpretation. International students are encouraged to enroll in this class if they are interested in accent reduction.

(FALL07) Kate deLima  Aleksander Wierzbicki  (SPRG08) Aleksander Wierzbicki 

4 Credits
Study of conflict theory and principles and practices of dispute resolution. Includes everyday conflict, negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and alternative dispute resolution systems. Emphasis on interpersonal skills development.

(FALL07) Phillip Glenn  (SPRG08) Tobey Wiggins 

4.00 Credits
Study of the research process, from problem definition to survey design, sampling, data analysis, and interpretation of results. Development of skills in reading and interpreting social scientific research and conducting forms of research pertinent to public and political communication needs. Prerequisite: OP200.

(SPRG08) Jack Newsom 

4.00 Credits
Investigation of classical and contemporary theories of political communication, with an emphasis on the utility of theory in mass- and multi-mediated communication contexts. Discussion of the application of theory to these domains, including an examination of how conceptions of the citizen, democracy, aesthetics, morality and culture are established and maintained vis-à-vis a number of different modes of communication. Prerequisites: OP200 and OP263 or OP266.

(SPRG08) J. Gregory Payne 

4.00 Credits
An introduction to the fundamental principles of management in profit, non-profit, and government settings. Special emphasis is placed on humanistic and sytems approaches, communication skills and theory, and national and global trends. Sample topics include planning, organizing, staffing, decision making, and leading. The case method is applied. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing.

(FALL07) J. Edwin Hollingworth, Jr.  (SPRG08) J. Edwin Hollingworth, Jr. 

4 Credits
Critical examination of prominent rhetorical texts and events that have shaped political processes and relationships. Application of insights to contemporary contexts and issues. Fulfills the General Education U.S. Diversity requirement. Prerequisites: OP200 and OP263 or OP266.

(SPRG08) Michael Weiler 

4 Credits
An advanced study of the interplay of media, politics, policy, and advocacy. Through historical and contemporary case studies and research, students will examine the variety of constituencies affecting politics and public policy and the role the media play in political, public policy and advocacy debates. Propaganda, its definition and its role in affecting public opinion, is studied. The relationship between the communicator, the media, and other key constituencies is explored with a focus on the ethical, effective use of public affairs. Prerequisites: OP200 and OP263.

(FALL07) Linda Peek Schacht 

4 Credits
Theory and practice of effective, ethical leadership in contemporary political and organizational settings. Includes theories for organizing and motivating people; cross-cultural applications and issues of diversity; and communication skills for leadership. Prerequisites: OP200 and OP263 or OP266 and Junior standing.

(FALL07) Stancel Riley  (SPRG08) Linda Peek Schacht 

4 Credits
This course addresses the increasing importance of managing communication in crisis situations. Topics include definitions, types, classifications, phases, planning, publics, contingency events, time estimating, crisis teams, control centers, working with media, training, and follow through. Crisis scenarios will cover profit, non-profit, and government organizations at the local, regional, national, and/or global level. Several case examples are employed. Prerequisite: Junior standing.

(FALL07) J. Gregory Payne 

4.00 Credits
Recent years have seen important changes in the economic realm, which resonate throughout our social, cultural and political realities. Processes of privatization, globalization, neo-liberalism and the expansion of consumer culture have produced new identities and collectivities which present important opportunities for activists and political communicators of various stripes. More precisely, the activity of consumption stands out as a powerful opening for social organizing. Through consumer boycotts, environmental protests, spontaneous performances in retail spaces, the lampooning of advertising and other strategies, new activist groups on both the left and the right seek to direct these global economic changes toward more socially beneficial ends. This course examines these changing conditions and the new movements they foster from a perspective that combines social theories of consumption and social change, historical studies of consumers and social movements, and direct case studies of current activists, agitators and leaders. Their strategies are assessed and their relevance to other traditions of activism, leadership and community mobilization is considered, always from a politically neutral, sociological standpoint.

(SPRG08) Sam Binkley 

4.00 Credits
This is a course that focuses on case studies and situations that highlight management, leadership, and communication.  Specific issues will be generic to profit, non-profit, and government situations and will include profession-specific topics determined by the class members' interests and majors.  Vision, mission, goals, objectives, strategies, tactics, and operations are addressed.

(FALL07) J. Edwin Hollingworth, Jr. 

4.00 Credits
This course presents historical, theoretical, andpPractical approaches to communication in U.S. Presidential Campaigns.Topics covered include: polling and public opinion trends and analysis; campaign communication including speeches, debates, and use of technology; working with the media and the media's role in campaigns. Where applicable, students with internships in campaigns will analyze that campaign's polling, public opinion analysis and communication efforts based on history, theory, and practice covered in class. Guest Speakers from current campaign season. Offered in conjunction with the Presidential Campaign Semester.

(FALL07) David Paleologos 

4.00 Credits
Modern politics is heavily shaped by communication technologies which have influenced the political audiences by framing the presentation of political debates. This class focuses on how a move from broadcast media to narrowcast media such as cable television and the Internet impact political communication. Political messages and strategies must consider the reaches of old and new media. Traditional media are passive one-way communication from message creator to an audience. In new media, interactivity between message creators and audiences is normative, especially in social media. How do these shifts in media change political power relationships? How do the changes in media influence political communication strategies?

(FALL07) Linda Gallant 

4.00 Credits
This course examines the history and function of platform art in America to explore the role of oral discourse in shaping the public spheres of American culture and politics. The course will survey the lyceum and chautauqua movements and such bards and pundits as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Walt Whitman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Anna Dickinson, Mark Twain, Amy Lowell, and Robert Frost. Students will research and present recreations of historical platform art performances and participate in service learning opportunities.

(SPRG08) John Anderson 

4 Credits
Advanced theory, research, and practice in political communication. As a key feature of the course, students develop and enhance their portfolios of political communication materials, including the development of two communication campaigns. Prerequisites: Senior standing and completion of OP 200 and OP 303.

(SPRG08) Linda Peek Schacht 

0.00 Credits
Students may count up to eight credits of internship toward the major requirements. Only juniors and seniors with a current 2.7 GPA are eligible. A 4-credit internship requires 16 hours a week over a 12 week period and a 8-credit internship requires 32 hours a week over a 12 week period. No more than eight credits of internship and no more than 12 credits of any combination of internship, directed project and directed study may be applied to the total graduation requirements. Students must participate in the Internship Experience Workshop offered through Career Services, the semester before the internship, and should consult the Academic Calendar for registration deadlines. Students who wish to participate in an internship in the Los Angeles, CA Area must be enrolled in the Emerson Los Angeles Program.

(FALL07) J. Edwin Hollingworth, Jr.  (SPRG08) J. Edwin Hollingworth, Jr. 

4.00 Credits
This course provides an introduction to several of the most important theories on the nature of the good in human conduct. These theories belong to the western philosophical tradition, and include (at least) the work of Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Mill, and others. Fulfills the Ethics and Values Perspective of the General Education requirement. (FALL07) Elizabeth Baeten  Robb Eason  (SPRG08) Robb Eason  Donna Halper 

4.00 Credits
This course will consider ethical theories and theories of justice, expecially those related to questions of economic, criminal, political, and social justice. Fulfills the Ethics and Values Perspective of the General Education requirement. (FALL07) Howard Moffatt  (SPRG08) Helena Gourko  Tracey Stark 

4.00 Credits
This course will study the origin and development of Hinduism in India; Buddhism in India, China and Japan; Taoism and Confucianism in China; and Shintoism in Japan. The study will include the reading of original texts, the development of doctrine in each religious tradition, and the literary, artistic, and cultural impact of each religion on Eastern Civilizations. .Fulfills the General Education Global Diversity requirement. (FALL07) Helena Gourko  (SPRG08) Howard Moffatt 

4.00 Credits
Contemporary ethical issues such as abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, and affirmative action are examined in light of major theories of ethics and morals from the history of western philosophy. Fulfills the Ethics and Values Perspective of the General Education requirements. (FALL07) Helena Gourko  Tracey Stark  (SPRG08) Thomas Cooper  Helena Gourko 

4.00 Credits
Commitment to social justice is not new in the United States. American philosophers in the late 19th and early 20th century saw philosophy as fundamentally practical, as a means of addressing the deepest ills of human society, especially the difficulties that arise when bringing large numbers of immigrants into civic life. John Dewey, George Herbert Mead, and other philosophers worked on educational, political and social transformation, asking: How can philosophy be an agent of change in everyday life? We will use Jane Addams's Hull-House in Chicago as a primary focus and have final projects looking for comparisons in the greater Boston area. Approximately 20 hours of service learning required for this course. (FALL07) Elizabeth Baeten 

4.00 Credits
An introduction to the values, ethics, philosophy and sacred texts of Judaism. (FALL07) Albert Axelrad 

4 Credits
This course considers philosophical ethics in relation to environmental issues. Topics include: religious beliefs as a foundation for environmental commitments, our duties and obligations toward other species, deep ecology, ecofeminism, economic imperatives versus environmental concerns, and the disproportionate burden of environmental problems borne by certain groups. Fulfills the Ethics and Values Perspective of the General Education requirements. (FALL07) Timothy Weiskel  (SPRG08) Robb Eason 

4 Credits
This course will present an overview of classical and modern approaches to ethical theory and uses examples from the worlds of fiction and film to show how ethical theories can be applied. It will connect abstract theory with real life through storytelling and story analysis in order to understand and evaluation moral issues. Fulfills the Ethics and Values Perspective of the General Education requirements. (SPRG08) Howard Moffatt 

4 Credits
Studies in political philosophy, especially debate between liberalism and communitarianism. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing. (SPRG08) Tracey Stark 

4.00 Credits
A study of the history and sociology of racial and ethnic groups in the United States, including a consideration of group tensions and aggressions. The course will provide an overview of the social experiences of major ethnic groups who entered the U.S. as well as of selected Native American societies. Modern issues of inter-group relations will also be examined. Fulfills the Social and Psychological Perspective and the General Education U.S. Diversity requirement. (FALL07) Suzanne Hinton 

4.00 Credits
An exploration of gender in a comparative and global context. Framed by interdisciplinary perspectives from sociology, anthropology, psychology, and cultural studies, this course examines the social construction of gender across cultures. Globalization is explored as a web of complex forces shaping our gender-construction activities and institutions. Students learn to analyze course readings and other media, apply these to their own gendered experiences, and compare their experiences with those in other cultures. Sites for analysis range from ordinary daily activities involving work, play and intimacy, to institutional structures such as religion, politics, military, media, and the economy. Fulfills the Social and Psychological Perspective and the General Education Global Diversity requirement. (SPRG08) Tulasi Srinivas 

4 Credits
This course looks at the visual culture of contemporary societies from a variety of sociological standpoints. Social theories of economic and cultural change describe the increasing significance of visual images and the decline of texts, oral communication and face-to-face interactions as media of communication. As a macro-level process, the visualization of culture is considered in connection to economic globalization and a shift from production to consumption economies  a process that is examined in a variety of cases from television and web sites to billboards, clothing and window displays. In addition to sociological readings and discussions, students will undertake a series of visual-ethnographic studies, exploring the effects of visual culture (electronic and digital images, video, film, photography and magazine images) on such social processes as identity, race, sexuality, politics, opportunity, community and tradition. Fulfills the Social and Psychological Perspective of the General Education requirements. (FALL07) Sam Binkley 

4.00 Credits
An exploration of the production of culture and meaning in everyday life employing perspectives from sociology of culture and cultural studies. Emphasis in given to subjectivity and agency and their relation to social structure. The course focuses on the formation and expression of individual and collective identities and the contestation of ideology in every life activities such as eating, dressing, dancing, watching television, and shopping. Students use ethnography to explore the everyday activities that define their sense of selves and power and give meaning to their world while organizing social institutions and processes. Fulfills the Social and Psychological Perspective of the General Education requirements. (FALL07) Tulasi Srinivas  (SPRG08) Teresa Winstead 

4 Credits
This course is designed as an advanced introduction to the Sociology of Everyday Life. The aim is to familiarize students with sociological approaches to the study of language and social behavior in everyday settings, and to equip them with tools for looking at the world of everyday life in new and rather novel ways. In addition to completing assigned readings and attending lectures, every seminar participant will conduct a study of some specific social setting or familiar features of modern urban life. Here, a premium will be placed on gaining direct experience with the setting or phenomenon in question. Additionally, students will be encouraged to use audio, visual, and/or photographic recordings in their studies, and to present their work at various stages in its preparation. Fulfills the Social and Psychological Perspective of the General Education requirements. (FALL07) Karen Barone  (SPRG08) Suzanne Hinton 

4.00 Credits
A critical examination of various forms of social control and the use of power in constructing normative boundaries, which differentiate normal and deviant perspectives. Special focus on media roles within popular culture. Major areas covered: overviews of differing academic perspectives; specific grand theories evidenced through the sociological imagination; varieties of violent forms; sexual configurations; mental disorders; substance usages; white collar dysfunctions; and governmental-economic forms. Attention to ethical dimensions of choice and change will be accented in each featured subject area through personal self-critique or examination of career roles in chosen media specialties. Fulfills the Social and Psychological Perspective of the General Education requirements. (FALL07) Sam Binkley  (SPRG08) Sam Binkley