Communication

[ Major] [ Graduate Program] [ Professors] [ Courses]

OFFICE: 127 Media Center Communication Building, Marshall College
(858) 534-4410
http://communication.ucsd.edu

Communication at UC San Diego is a field of study which emphasizes the role of technologies and institutions of communication, from language, to television, to the Internet and beyond, in mediating human experience. It draws from such social science disciplines as anthropology, psychology, sociology, and political science, and from the humanities and fine arts, including theatre, literature, and visual arts. Communication students will develop a critical awareness of the communicative forces that affect their everyday lives.

The communication major is not designed as a training program in advertising, journalism, production, or public relations. It provides students with a solid liberal arts background necessary for graduate studies in communication and other disciplines, and for professional work in a number of communication-related fields, including primary and secondary education.

Though the emphasis of the major is not a technical one, the faculty in the Department of Communication believe that students will develop a deeper understanding of how communication works by exploring firsthand the capabilities and limitations of a variety of media; students, therefore, will have the opportunity to conduct part of their studies in video, computer communication or other forms of media practice.

Within the Department of Communication curriculum are three broadly defined areas of study: Communication as a Social Force, Communication and Culture, and Communication and Human Information processing. Students take courses in each of these areas.

Communication as a Social Force

How are social systems affected by communication technology? What is the social organization of the communication industries? How is the information presented by the media related to the characteristics of the intended audiences? How do media fit into the power structure of societies? Courses in this area address such questions. Students analyze mass communications, the development of telecommunication and information technologies, and the political economy of communication institutions both at home and abroad.

Communication and Culture

Film, music, advertising, art, theater, ritual, literature, and language are forms of communication which embody cultural beliefs of the societies from which they come. These media can influence and bring about changes in social behavior, styles, and traditions. At the same time, individuals and groups can reshape the media. Students will study the social production of cultural objects, the cultural traditions that shape their form and content, and various approaches to interpreting or “reading” television, film, newspapers, language, rituals, and other forms.

Communication and Human Information Processing

How do people turn concepts and ideas into messages? What is the process by which people receive and respond to those messages? Each medium—whether it is language, writing, or electronic media—has different properties that change the way people create and comprehend messages. The impact of television on the individual, the effect of literacy on individuals and on cultures, the ways that concepts are transmitted in film, and the means by which computers expand communication potentials are examples of topics investigated in this area.

The Communication Major

Degree offered: Bachelor of Arts

The major consists of two lower-division courses and fourteen upper-division courses. None of the major courses may be taken on a Pass/No Pass basis.

Lower-Division

*COGN 20: Introduction to Communication
COGN 21: Methods of Media Production

Upper-Division

*COSF 100: Introduction to Communication as a Social Force
*COCU 100: Introduction to Communication and Culture
*COHI 100: Introduction to Communication and Human Information Processing
*COGN 150: Senior Seminar in Communication

One media methods course

Three courses beyond the introductory courses: (one must be chosen from each of the categories: COSF, COCU, and COHI)

Six upper-division communication electives

* These courses must be taken at UCSD.

Note: If students choose to do a 198, 199, or 197 note the following. COGN 198, 199, 197 grading option is Pass/No Pass and only ONE may be applied to the major to satisfy an upper-division elective. AIP 197 must be petitioned for approval for the major.

Residency Requirement

Students are required to complete at least ten classes of their overall work in the major at UCSD. Following are the communication classes required to be taken at UCSD. See your college advisor for further residency requirements.

COGN 20: Introduction to Communication
COSF 100: Introduction to Communication as a Social Force
COCu 100: Introduction to Communication and Culture
COHI 100: Introduction to Communication and Human Information Processing
COGN 150: Senior Seminar
One COCU elective
One COHI elective
One COSF elective
One COMT elective

Requirements for the Communication Minor

(Effective fall 1998)

The communication minor at UCSD is a social science minor. None of the courses may be taken on a Pass/Not Pass basis. Students are required to take seven courses in communication as follows:

*COGN 20 (Introduction to Communication)

Two courses of your choice from the following 100’s:

*COSF 100 (Introduction to Communication as a Social Force)
*COCU 100 (Introduction to Communication and Culture)
*COHI 100 (Introduction to Communication and Human Information Processing)

*Four upper-division communication electives within the areas of the chosen 100 classes.

*These courses must be taken at UCSD within the communication department.

Note: COGN 150, 197, 198, and 199 Media Methods, and courses outside of the department may not be used as electives within the minor.

The Honors Program

The Department of Communication offers an honors program to those students who have demonstrated excellence in the communication major. Successful completion of the honors program enables the student to graduate “With Highest Distinction,” “With High Distinction,” or With Distinction,” depending on performance in the program. The honors program requires an application. Students wishing to be considered need to include the following in their application: one faculty advisor who supports their admission to the program, a verified overall GPA of 3.0 and a major GPA of 3.5, and a brief but detailed description of the proposed research or creative project.

Applications will be reviewed by a faculty committee, accepting students who meet these criteria. Once accepted into the Honors Program, students are required to complete a two-quarter course sequence, COGN 191A/191B in the fall and winter quarters of their senior year. At the end of the fall quarter, students will receive an IP grade report. This grade will change to the final letter grade at the completion of the course sequence in the winter quarter. This grade is based on attendance in the seminars and successful completion of the research paper or creative production.

The Graduate Program

The Department of Communication offers a program of study leading to the Doctor of Philosophy degree. Communication at UCSD seeks to combine modes of analysis from the humanities and social sciences to explore the history, structure, and process of communication. The graduate program is conceived as a blending of the tradition of critical communication research with the empirical tradition of American scholarship. The program does not closely resemble any other communication department in this country. It is related by sympathy and interest to mass communication programs, but not by kinship. Historically, this department grew out of an interdisciplinary program jointly sponsored by the Departments of Drama (currently, Theatre and Dance), Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology. The department retains strong ties to the departments and disciplines from which it developed.

The study of communication at UCSD places major emphasis on historical, comparative, and ethnographic approaches to symbolically mediated human communication. Study is organized around the following three analytic perspectives: communication as a social force, communication and culture, and communication and human information processing. In addition, the department believes that investigation into communication requires a blending of theory and, hence, our attention to the media practices.

Communication as a Social Force examines the relation of communication institutions to structures of power in society. In this part of the curriculum, we examine institutional arrangements and structural characteristics regarding:

Faculty research includes the following topics:

Communication and Culture examines the cultural artifacts and discourses through which we experience our everyday lives, including popular music, films and television shows, advertisements, museum displays, landscape and urban design, and health and identity documentation systems. How can we understand the histories and changing practices associated with these forms of representation? What is the role of media (print, visual, electronic, material) in forming ideas about social identity and in shaping subjectivity? This part of the curriculum draws on the humanities, anthropology, history, political theory, cultural studies, and the sociology of culture to offer students a range of methods and theoretical frameworks for interpreting the production and circulation of artifacts, discourses, and meanings in a range of local, national, transnational, and diasporic cultural contexts. Faculty research includes the following topics:

Communication and Human Information Processing examines the ways in which our experience as human beings is created by the communicative practices of the societies in which we live and the cultural practices of our families and communities with which we interact from the earliest days of life. With a sociocultural lens, we study the role of communication through language and other organized symbolic media. Because both individuals and their environments are constantly changing, the study of culture and the person pays special attention to the cultural and historical contexts of personal experience and the practices that constitute the proximal environments of individual development. This part of the curriculum draws particularly on the fields of anthropology, sociology, psychology, linguistics, cognitive science, and education to examine such processes as learning and cognition, language structure and language use, the construction and negotiation of meaning, and the organization of mental worlds.

Faculty research includes the following topics:

Communication and Media Practices faculty work in video, film, and interactive media production as well as in research scholarship. Graduate students as well as undergraduates are offered the opportunity to integrate creative practice in media production into their program of study.

Some communication faculty production interests include:

Ph.D. Requirements

  1. 200A-B-C (Introduction to the Theory of Communication as a Social Force, Communication and Culture, and Communication and the Individual).

  2. 294, The History of Communication Research.

  3. At least three methods courses from the 201 methodology sequence (see course listings).

  4. Four courses in communication history and theory (see course listings).

  5. 280, Advanced Workshop in Communication Media.

  6. 296, Communication Research as an Interdisciplinary Activity.

  7. First-Year Exam and Evaluation: At the end of the spring quarter of the student’s first year, the student must pass a comprehensive written examination based on course work completed during the first year.

  8. Language Requirement: All students are required to demonstrate proficiency in one language other than their native language.

  9. Qualifying Examinations: Before the end of the fourth year the student must take and pass an oral qualifying examination. The exam will be based on two papers concerning two of the subfields covered in the program. The student will also present a separate dissertation proposal at the examination. At this time, the faculty will examine the proposal for appropriateness and feasibility.

  10. Teaching Requirement: In order to acquire teaching experience, all students are required to participate in the teaching activities of the department for three academic quarters.

  11. Dissertation: Acceptance of the dissertation by the university librarian represents the final step in completing all requirements for a Ph.D. The dissertation committee must be approved by the department chair and the dean of Graduate Studies.

Departmental Ph.D. Time Limit Policies

Students must be advanced to candidacy by the end of four years. Total university support cannot exceed seven years. Total registered time at UCSD cannot exceed eight years.

Student Advising

Faculty Graduate Advisor: Chandra Mukerji, Ph.D.

Faculty Undergraduate Advisor: Zeinabu Davis, M.F.A.

Undergraduate Student Affairs advisors: Bea Velasco and Jamie Lloyd

Graduate Program Coordinator: Gayle Aruta