The Department of Communication and Theatre is dedicated to a philosophical perspective of communication as the process by which shared understandings are created among various audiences through the use of symbols. Implicit within this understanding is the assumption that people interact with one another through a variety of media. Teaching in our Department has two goals. The first is to balance the need to prepare students with specific skills as communicators and second is the need to locate the teaching of those skills in the broader context of a liberal arts tradition.

While we strive to produce students who have mastered certain abilities within their particular field of study, we endeavor to ensure they have an appreciation for all aspects of the communication spectrum, as well as a broader understanding of the process by which shared meanings are created. With the learning of these abilities comes a responsibility to community and social service.

Our curriculum and co-curriculum are based on the conviction that all students share the need for certain skills and abilities to help them adapt to and function in a dynamic and complex world. The Department of Communication and Theatre endorses the following objectives to enable the students to develop skills and abilities that provide a focus for both development and a balanced education and a basis for student achievement assessment. These important abilities serve as a common thread unifying our curriculum. Each of these abilities focuses on the underlying assumption that student awareness of self precedes an understanding of others and relationships.

Critical and Reflective Thinking

The critical and reflective thinking ability stresses that students should be able to observe, analyze, perceive relationships, reason, make inferences, and draw conclusions from the world around them. It is the ability to define a problem, design problem-solving frameworks, implement strategies and evaluate the problem-solving process. Students should be able to work collaborative with others on a problem-solving task and then evaluate the outcomes once the task has concluded.

Expression

Expression focuses on the ability of students to effectively use language, verbal and non-verbal codes, and to communicate in a variety of media including written and oral formats. Students should understand how to adapt messages to various audiences and apply the principles of communication theory to a variety of contexts.

Interaction

The interaction ability stresses that students are able to identify their interaction behaviors within problem-solving groups, and to use this self-awareness to function as an effective group leader, team member and facilitator of intergroup relationships in varying group environments. Students should be able to make decisions within group contexts and to act ethically toward self and others.

Valuing

The ability to value people, events, and artifacts around us serve to make each of us humane beings. When we are able to appreciate alternate points of view, differences of opinion, and artistic expression we are better able to function in our world. The valuing ability includes three subgroups: Ethics, Diversity, Artistic Expression. Ethics is the ability to distinguish right from wrong and to understand how the consequences of our actions affect both ourselves and others. Diversity represents the ability to take on different perspectives and to understand our world from multiple points of view including the ability to apply many different frameworks to our understanding of self and others. Finally, artistic expression recognizes that different people and cultures represent themselves through many different media in many different ways. Individual expression and artistry are valuable and can be appreciated for what it represents.

All courses are designed to develop specific components of these outcomes more fully and can be selected to create a uniquely balanced educational experience.