Communication Major

Theories Electives (6 cr) – Select 2 Classes from COM 2200:2440.

Advanced Communication Topics Electives (18 cr) – Select 6 Classes from: COM 3000:3999.

• Students must cover three different areas in their six 3000-level courses.

Qualitative or Quantitative Research in Communication (3 cr) – Select 1 Class.

• Students must complete this prior to taking the Capstone.

Choose one Capstone course (taken during senior year).

Interpersonal and Intercultural Communication at the undergraduate level focuses on understanding how individuals communicate across various contexts, such as family, workplace, and healthcare settings, as well as across different ethnicities and cultures. This field examines the role of communication in shaping and negotiating identities, intimate relationships, families, friendships, and professional interactions. Students explore the cognitive processes behind message production, social interactions, relationship management, conflict resolution, and intercultural competence; emphasizing cultural awareness, adaptation, and effective communication. Graduates with this concentration can pursue a multitude of different careers as conflict mediators, counselors, intercultural trainers, communication competence consultants, and human resources specialists. As interpersonal and intercultural communication is fundamental to all human interactions, this concentration complements fields such as organizational communication, psychology, education, counseling, and political science. 

Area Coordinator: Qi Schlupp, PhD

Journalism studies the creation, framing and distribution of news across a variety of platforms. Students who complete this Concentration develop the skills necessary to thrive in the industry. 

After completing introductory courses in the major, students will choose from a series of theory courses that begin to build the foundation for your courses in journalism. At the advanced level, you will take Introduction to Journalism, which offers a broad survey of the field. This is the prerequisite for specialized topical and skills courses, such as Multimedia Journalism, Sports Journalism, Feature Writing, Broadcast Journalism and other journalism topics. These advanced courses offer more focused coverage and allow students to customize the curriculum to their personal interests. They are also required to take at least one Media Production course and another COM 3000-level course from a different area.

• This concentration requires a journalism internship.

Area Coordinator: Michael Bradley, MA

The Media Production concentration equips students with essential skills for designing, producing, and editing content across television, film/video, audio, radio, and multimedia platforms. This hands-on program is ideal for students pursuing careers in audio production and sound recording, radio and internet broadcasting, television production, video editing, and multimedia production. 

Students benefit from practical training that bridges technical expertise and creative storytelling, using state-of-the-art tools and technology. The curriculum integrates foundational communication theory with real-world applications, ensuring that students not only master production techniques but also understand the broader societal impact of media. Projects such as podcasts, short films, video segments, and multimedia content offer immersive experiences that build adaptability and innovation. Graduates are prepared to excel as media professionals, equipped to create high-quality, impactful content and navigate the evolving landscape of media and communication. 

• This concentration requires a production internship.

Area coordinator: Hezekiah Lewis, MFA

Media Studies explores the evolving domestic and international landscape of mass media through both social scientific and humanities theoretical and empirical frameworks, including media effects, media ethics, and historical, critical, psychological, and socio-cultural analysis of media. Courses variously examine film, television, digital, and social media content, form, platforms, technologies and industries (e.g. documentary and fiction film, entertainment television, news, advertising) to teach students how to construct ethical and effective messages and stories, and/or to understand how communication and media influence audiences' identities, perceptions, attitudes and behaviors while also shaping and being shaped by society, culture (including consumer culture), politics, media policy, and power. 

Area coordinator: Susan Mackey-Kallis, PhD

Organizational Communication studies communication as an organizing process, as well as its role in creating identities, relationships, discourses, and cultures within organizations. This is a perfect track for a career in corporate training and development, corporate or international negotiations, human relations/resources, communication management, or organizational consulting.

Area Coordinator: Dron Mandhana, PhD

Performance Studies views performance as a fundamental part of the way human beings communicate, both on and off the stage. Performance Studies is one of the oldest areas of study in Communication as it focuses on the creation, structure, style, impact, politics, and poetics of performance. Examining the cultural, aesthetic, and rhetorical underpinnings of texts and bodies in and through performance, performance studies puts the body front and center as a key to unlocking self, identity and the power of communication. Performance both on and off the stage invites dialogue and has the power to propel us into understanding disparate experience.

In this concentration we analyze performance, and we do performance. You will study public, cultural, aesthetic, and literary performance; study performance as advocacy and embodiment; and develop individual artistic and critical skills as you create, adapt, perform, and direct your own work. This concentration is perfect if you are interested in acting, directing, literature, or performance art; it is ideal for any career that involves public presentations, persuasion, creativity, and/or advocacy.

Area Coordinator: Evan Schares, PhD

Public Relations and Advertising studies image creation and maintenance, media relations, strategic campaign planning and implementation, and crisis communication. This is perfect if you're interested in a career in any area of public relations, marketing, advertising, or integrated communication.

• This concentration requires a public relations and advertising internship, and students must join the Public Relations Student Society of America.
• PRSSA Membership: Strongly suggested for junior year, required for senior year. Send a copy/screenshot of your membership to Laura.Capriotti@villanova.edu.  

Area Coordinator: William Cowen, EdD

Rhetorical Studies engages questions of public meaning, important definitions and issues that matter—legally, politically, and socially. We prepare you to understand and intervene in the daily struggle over social meanings, the process by which these meanings are created, reinforced, and resisted through symbols, material spaces, and visual images.

A rhetorical education is a crucial part of the liberal arts trivium and has long been understood as crucial to democratic participation because of the skills it offers in advocacy, as well as in critical analysis of political symbols and their influences. Through the use of critical and interpretive methods, rhetorical studies focuses on how communication comes to have meanings for audiences. This is an ideal pre-law major or a strong preparation for careers in advocacy, politics, or social justice work.

Area Coordinator: Billie Murray, PhD

Students must take one course in either Mathematics or Statistics. Any course offered by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics fulfills the Core Curriculum requirement. Certain courses offered by other departments (e.g., Computer Science and Philosophy) also fulfill the requirement. These courses are designated by the Mathematics A & S Core attribute.

Non-science majors meet the Core Curriculum Natural Science requirement by taking two semesters of Mendel Science Experience (MSE), thematically-based lecture/laboratory courses designed for non-science majors; or two semesters of lecture/laboratory courses designed for science majors.

Science (AST, BIO, BIOC, CHM, CBN, CSC, ENV, MAT, PHY - B.S. only, PSY - B.S. only) majors meet the science requirement through the regular program of study in their major. 

All students take a thematic literature and writing seminar course. Courses designated with the Core Lit & Writing Sem attribute fulfill the requirement.

This requirement is met by taking a specifically designed course designated by the Core History attribute. 

Students satisfy the requirement by taking two courses designated by the Core Social Sciences attribute.

Students majoring in Cognitive and Behavior Neuroscience, Criminology, Economics, Geography, Political Science, Psychology, or Sociology fulfill the Core Social Science requirement through the regular program of study in their major. 

The requirement is met by taking a course that focuses either on the creative processes that go into making a work of art, or on analysis and interpretation of the products of that artistic creativity. All courses designated with the Fine Arts Requirement attribute fulfill the Core Curriculum requirement.

The upper division Theology and Religious Studies Core Curriculum requirement develops the theme of faith seeking understanding, engaging culture from a specific disciplinary perspective. Students must take THL 1000 before taking an upper division course designated by the Core Theology attribute. 

Courses that fulfill language requirements may be used to fulfill other requirements (i.e., primary major, core curriculum, minors, concentrations, or free electives).

Students may satisfy the Core Curriculum Language requirement in one of the following ways:

Option A: Start or Continue a Language Offered through Villanova  
Start or continue a language through the required ‘exit’ course indicating that the requirement has been met. Students must begin their language studies to fulfill the Core Curriculum Language requirement no later than sophomore year. Students continuing language studies should begin their first year and continue without interruption.

Students must complete the exit course or higher depending on placement. 

1. American Sign Language - ASL 1112/1152* 
2. Ancient Greek - GRK 1112 
3. Arabic - ARB 1112 
4. Chinese - CHI 1112 
5. French - FFS 1122 
6. German**  
7. Irish - IS 1112 
8. Italian - ITA 1122 
9. Japanese - JPN 1112 
10. Latin - LAT 1122 
11. Russian - RUS 1112 
12. Spanish - SPA 1122 
13. Swahili - SWA 1112 

*Students who entered Villanova fall of 2023 or later, may select this option to satisfy their language requirement.
**German is offered through a partner institution and is only available upon discussion/approval with the Office for Undergraduate Students

Option B: Petition for Exemption from the Core Language Requirement  
Documented Language Proficiency
Students who can provide acceptable documentation of proficiency (e.g., TOEFL score, transcript from high school in a language not offered through Villanova) may petition for a language exemption. See the Office for Undergraduate Students for more information. 

Native speakers of languages other than English who do not have documentation of language proficiency may satisfy the Core Language requirement by satisfactorily passing a proficiency exam administered by Villanova or another accredited institution and completing a Petition for Exemption. See the Office for Undergraduate Students for more information. 

Documented Learning Difference 
Students who have documentation supporting an accommodation for differences that affect language acquisition, may be granted a language waiver and may fulfill the Core Language requirement by taking two approved ‘world culture’ courses. Students must submit documentation to Learning Support Services (lss@villanova.edu) or the Office of Disability Services (ods@villanova.edu), depending on the nature of their difference. 

NOTES: 

• Placement tests are used to place students only and are not to be confused with a proficiency exam. 
• Those who begin their language study in the intermediate or advanced levels, satisfy the requirement through demonstration of proficiency, or receive a language waiver for documented learning differences that affect language acquisition, must still complete the total number of required credits for degree completion. 
• Additional questions regarding the Core Curriculum Language requirement should be addressed to a student’s faculty advisor or to the Office for Undergraduate Students in SAC 107. 

Diversity Courses

Courses that fulfill Core Diversity requirements may be used to fulfill other requirements (i.e., primary major, core curriculum, minors, concentrations, or free electives).

Overview

Consistent with the University’s Mission Statement and its implementation of the new Core Curriculum in the College of Arts and Sciences, students will take at least two courses designated as “diversity.” Learning to see through the eyes of other peoples and cultures is essential to becoming a citizen of the world. Beyond introducing students to the contextual study of diverse groups, diversity education must foster understanding of how individuals are affected within systems of power, oppression, deprivation, marginalization, and privilege.

Students are required to select two courses, covering two out of the three areas below:

Diversity 1: Courses that focus on populations (often named as non-dominant, minority, or impoverished groups) in the U.S. or Western Europe, and the systems or mechanisms that give rise to the experiences of power, privilege, and marginalization.

Diversity 2: Courses that focus on women’s experiences and/or highlight the relationship between gender, culture, and power.

Diversity 3: Courses that focus on the culture, economics, politics or ecology of societies and nations other than those of Western Europe and the United States and that emphasize power, privilege, and marginalization or a critical analysis of how these cultures define and express themselves. 

NOTES: 

• Service-learning courses, internships, and other experiential or community-based learning courses may be applied toward the Diversity requirement, provided they include a significant reflective component and have been pre-approved for diversity course credit. 
• Study abroad courses may be applied toward this requirement; such courses will be assessed the same way as Villanova courses. 
• Although some courses have more than one Diversity attribute, all students must take two different courses; a single course with multiple attributes may not be used to fulfill both Diversity course requirements.
• The Diversity Requirement cannot be fulfilled by independent study or a senior thesis. 
• Language courses cannot fulfill the requirement, although literature courses in another language may fulfill the requirement if they are designated with a Diversity attribute.  
• A student may fulfill one Diversity course requirement (DIV 1) by taking three 1-credit IGR workshops.