Course Catalog

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PORTFOLIO (CM4075)

Taught as a directed study, this course enables senior students to assemble as a whole their own work for the Journalism Major in order to reflect, to evaluate, and to critique its coherence.

SENIOR THESIS SEMINAR (CM4090)

The senior thesis research seminar allows students to work in a small group setting with a professor,where they draw from and hone research methods and theories they have learned in the Global Communications major and across their entire BA education. It culminates in a major piece of primary research that the student presents to an audience of peers and faculty.he seminar is designed to demonstrate cumulative knowledge, while teaching advanced research skills valued in the workforce and necessary for graduate school. The thesis is required for students seeking honors in the major.

TOPICS IN COMMUNICATIONS (CM4091)

Topics vary. Using analytic skills learned in core courses, students work with an AUP faculty member, visiting scholar or professional in an area of current interest in the field to be determined by the instructor and the faculty of the Global Communications department.

SENIOR PROJECT (CM4095)

In consultation with a faculty member, the student undertakes a senior project related to the field or pratice of journalism and media production. Written projects are normally 25-30 pages. The project can take the form of a feature-length magazine article, a long-form piece of video or audio journalism, a multi-media production including iconography and illustrative material, or a strategic business plan for a journalism or media product such as a magazine or online platform.

(https://aupforms.formstack.com/workflows/senior_project)

CAPSTONE INTERNSHIP (CM4098)

Students may undertake an internship in an advertising agency, film company, or television company. Internships may be taken for 1 or 4 credits. Students may do more than one internship, but internship credit cannot cumulatively total more than 4 credits. The internship must be registered for 4-CR if the student decides to do an internship instead of the senior seminar. Students have taken internships at CNN, Harpers, Societe Francaise de Production, Le Courrier International, Sixty Minutes, European Broadcasting Union, amongst many others.

TOPICS IN COMMUNICATIONS (CM4910)

TOPICS VARY BY SEMESTER

CAPSTONE EXTENSION (CM4980)

All internship extensions are related to a previous internship registration, please contact the internship office for more information.

GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS (CM5001)

This course introduces students to major theories and practices of communications research, particularly those dealing with the globalization of media and culture. Students learn a mixture of approaches: rhetorical, quantitative, ethnographic and textual. They learn how various disciplines—economics, political science, anthropology, sociology, and rhetoric—deal with these issues. They also study a variety of research methodologies, learn how to create research projects and develop thesis-writing skills.

BRANDS AND BELIEF (CM5002)

This course examines the evolution of critical advertising and brand analysis with a particular emphasis on learning how people come to identify with and believe in brands. It includes an analysis of how brands work as systems for producing differences between themselves by creating imaginary possible worlds associated with brands. Students learn tools of semiotic and linguistic analysis in analyzing brands and how they relate to each other. Each student completes a communications audit of a brand examining all aspects of its communicative strategies from package design to employee behavior, clothing, architecture, and shop design. The course will also examine how branding now has extended beyond consumer brands to such areas as NGOs and politics (political parties as brands and politicians as brands).