The mission of the Department of Communication Studies at San
José State University is to educate people in competent and ethical
communication for meaningful participation in local and global
communities.
Department Goals
The Department of Communication Studies engages students in the
study and practice of competent and ethical communication in
individual, interpersonal, organizational, cultural, mediated, and
public contexts.
Student Learning Objectives
1. Ethical participation and competent communication
Ethics:
Demonstrate understanding of ethical responsibilities in communicating with
others.
Social Responsibility: Understand the dimensions of social responsibility
and community engagement as obligations of democratic citizens.
Basic Skills:
Demonstrate basic skills in oral and written communication, and critical
thinking.
Argumentation:
Demonstrate competence in understanding and applying argumentation principles,
conventions, strategies, and tactics using an adversarial model.
Criticism:
Develop and apply analytical skills for evaluating different forms of
communication (oral, textual, visual, performative).
Rhetorical Foundations: Understand the foundations of rhetoric and the
rhetorical role of the citizen in public life.
Performance: Demonstrate performance as
embodied practice and understand how performance is a site for
critical communication within social, political, and cultural
life.
2. Cultural awareness and global contexts
Cultural Literacy: Demonstrate basic skills in cultural literacy.
Cultural Comparison: Appreciate how diverse communication practices arise in
response to recurrent and changing problem situations encountered and defined
by different cultures.
Cultural Influence: Identify and discuss the ways in which traditions from a
variety of cultures have influenced patterns of communication over time.
Cultural Sensitivity: Demonstrate sensitivity to the communication practices
of cultural groups (defined by concepts of race, ethnicity, age, gender,
sexual orientation, disability, etc.)
Globalization:
Identify and analyze the relationships among globalization, worldviews,
development and change of cultural patterns, and discursive practices.
Cultural Studies: Identify and discuss the global, socio-historical, economic,
and political formations of culture.
Power: Discuss the role of different forms of
power as embedded in communication practices.
3. Information literacy and scholarly practice
Information Literacy: Demonstrate competence in traditional and emerging forms of
communication technology as relevant to this discipline.
Communication Theories: Identify epistemological and ontological assumptions
underlying communication research, including the conceptual, historical and
practical dimensions of major theories and methods.
Research Methods: Demonstrate an understanding of the procedures involved in
the more common critical, interpretative, performative and social scientific
research methods used to study communication.
Research Argument: Conduct research
systematically and present it persuasively, organizing issues,
claims and evidence in a logical form.
