Department of Communication Studies
"...the role of communication in human experience is basic to comprehending complex situations and problems in the modern world. "
Communication Studies is a growing discipline concerned with the analysis, understanding and improvement of human communication. The discipline has a core of knowledge, theory and concepts concentrating on such things as symbols, messages, interactions, networks, and persuasive campaigns. Uniting the field is the belief that the role of communication in human experience is basic to comprehending complex situations and problems in the modern world.
The Department of Communication Studies at UM focuses on three broad areas of study: interpersonal interaction and human relationships, organizational communication, and rhetoric and public discourse. We teach courses on such things as interpersonal and family communication, group decision making, conflict and dispute resolution, argumentation and debate, public relations, the rhetoric of social movements and environmental controversies, and intercultural/international communication.
Faculty members in UM’s Communication Studies Department have important leadership positions in the communication discipline, for example, Betsy Bach is President of the National Communication Association, Sara Hayden is Past-President of the Western States Communication Association, and Alan Sillars is former Editor-in-Chief of Communication Monographs, a leading communication journal. Both Sara and Allen have been appointed to serve, along with Betsy, in major decision-making national roles.
