Skip to main content

Communication

Thurgood Marshall College
Communication Building, Room 124B
http://communication.ucsd.edu

All courses, faculty listings, and curricular and degree requirements described herein are subject to change or deletion without notice.

Communication at UC San Diego is a field of study that 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.

The Communication Major

Degree offered: Bachelor of Arts

The major in communication consists of one lower-division course and twelve upper-division courses. None of the major courses may be taken on a Pass/Not Pass basis. A grade of C– or better is required in all courses for the major.

One Lower-Division Core Course (four units)

*COMM 10. Introduction to Communication

Students with junior or senior standing may take COMM 10 concurrently with COMM 100A, B, or C or a COMM intermediate elective with department approval.

Four Upper-Division Core Courses (sixteen units)

*COMM 100A. Communication, the Person, and Everyday Life

*COMM 100B. Communication, Culture, and Representation

*COMM 100C. Communication, Institutions, and Power

*COMM 190. Junior Seminar in Communication

*These courses must be taken at UC San Diego.

Eight Upper-Division Elective Courses (thirty-two units minimum)

  • Two advanced electives are required, which are courses from COMM 120–189. Prerequisites: COMM 10 and at least one COMM 100 course.
  • Six additional upper-division electives are required and can be any combination of intermediate electives (COMM 101–119. Prerequisites: COMM 10.) and advanced electives (COMM 120–189. Prerequisites: COMM 10 and at least one COMM 100 course.)
  • Only ONE course of COMM 197, 198, or 199 may be applied to satisfy an upper-division elective for the major.
  • AIP 197 must be petitioned for approval for the major and may only be applied to satisfy an upper-division elective.

Residency Requirement

Students are required to complete at least eleven classes of their overall work in the major at UC San Diego. Below are the communication classes required to be taken at UC San Diego. See college Advising Office for further residency requirements.

COMM 10. Introduction to Communication

COMM 100A. Communication, the Person, and Everyday Life

COMM 100B. Communication, Culture, and Representation

COMM 100C. Communication, Institutions, and Power

COMM 190. Junior Seminar in Communication

Six upper-division electives in communication

The Communication Minor

The communication minor at UC San Diego is a social science minor. All courses for the minor must be taken on a letter grade basis. A grade of C– or better is required in all courses for the minor.

Students are required to take seven courses in communication as follows:

One Lower-Division Core Course (four units)

*COMM 10. Introduction to Communication

Two Upper-Division Core Courses (eight units)

Two of the following courses:

*COMM 100A. Communication, the Person, and Everyday Life

*COMM 100B. Communication, Culture, and Representation

*COMM 100C. Communication, Institutions, and Power

*These courses must be taken at UC San Diego.

Four Upper-Division Electives (sixteen units minimum)

  • One advanced elective is required, which are courses from COMM 120–189. Prerequisites: COMM 10 and at least one COMM 100 course.
  • Three additional upper-division electives are required and can be any combination of intermediate electives (COMM 101–119. Prerequisites: COMM 10.) and advanced electives (COMM 120–189. Prerequisites: COMM 10 and at least one COMM 100 course.)
  • COMM 195, 197, 198, and 199 may not be used as electives within the minor.
  • AIP 197 may not be petitioned for the minor.

Study Abroad

Communication majors are encouraged to participate in the UC Education Abroad Program (EAP) and the UC San Diego Opportunities Abroad Program (OAP). Interested students should contact the Study Abroad Office and visit the website at http://studyabroad.ucsd.edu. Financial aid can be used for EAP and OAP study and special study abroad scholarships are available.

Communication majors who study abroad and satisfy specified requirements may add the global concentration in communication. This is not a major in communication, but rather a concentration that any communication major may formally declare once all of the requirements have been met. This is a transcripted concentration, meaning it will reflect on your transcript but not on your final diploma.

This global concentration in communication requires:

  • A minimum of eight units earned through study abroad, of which a minimum of four units would count toward the major.
  • Demonstration of proficiency in a second language through the fourth quarter of university-level instruction.
  • A minimum of two courses with the department or program-identified global content.

UC San Diego communication courses with global content are the following courses:

COMM 101E. MPL: Ethnographic Methods for Media Production

COMM 104D. Comparative Media Systems (CMS): Asia

COMM 104E. CMS: Europe

COMM 104F. CMS: Africa

COMM 104G. CMS: Latin America and the Caribbean

COMM 106G. Cultural Industries (CI): Tourism: Global Industry and Cultural Form

COMM 109E. Mass Communication (MC): Political Economy of Mass Communication

COMM 112G. Interaction and Mediation (IM): Language and Globalization

COMM 114J. Communication and Social Institutions (CSI): Food Justice

COMM 128. Education and Global Citizenship

COMM 135. Contemporary Minority Media Makers and the Festival Experience

COMM 136. Transmedia

COMM 140. Cinema in Latin America

COMM 152. Global Economy and Consumer Culture

COMM 158. Representations of the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

COMM 159. Tourism, Power, and Place

COMM 160. Political Economy and International Communication

COMM 164. Behind the Internet: Invisible Geographies of Power and Inequality

COMM 166. Surveillance, Media, and the Risk Society

COMM 168. Bilingual Communication

COMM 175. Cultures of Consumption

COMM 177. Culture, Domination, and Resistance

COMM 179. Global Nature/Global Culture

COMM 181. Neoliberal Cities: Cities and Globalization

COMM 183. Global Economy and Consumer Culture

Communication courses that fall outside of this list, such as course work completed abroad, would need to be petitioned individually on a case-by-case basis and be reviewed by the undergraduate faculty adviser for approval.

The Communication 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: the honors student applicant assessment form completed and signed by the student’s proposed mentor, 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 only students who meet these criteria. Once accepted into the Honors Program, students are required to complete a three-quarter course sequence, COMM 196A/196B in the fall and winter quarters. Followed by COMM 199H in the spring quarter of their senior year. A letter grade of B+ or higher in COMM 196A is required to proceed to COMM 196B. The final project grade will be awarded after completion of COMM 199H. Students must enroll in COMM 199H under the section assigned to their mentor. All three courses comprising the Honors Program must be taken for a letter grade.

Successful completion of the Honors Program requires:

  • Maintenance of a 3.25 GPA in the major and an overall 3.0 GPA.
  • Approval of the thesis by the honors faculty and mentor.
  • Completion of an honors project using media appropriate format (for example, a written thesis paper or digital film/media product).
  • Satisfactory public presentation of the honors project to the Department of Communication community comprised of faculty and invited students.

Upon completion of the Honors Seminar sequence, honors will be determined by the final grade in the Honors Seminar (COMM 199H) as follows:

  • Students with a B or better will be awarded Distinction.
  • Students with an A– will be awarded High Distinction.
  • Students with an A will be awarded Highest Distinction.