Undergraduate Program
Communications is a versatile major which prepares the student to succeed at any career. Courses within the discipline provide students with the skills of interpersonal communication, public speaking and writing with clarity and authority. These skills ensure that students accomplish their goals in any professional field. For those majors who wish to pursue careers in either communications, broadcast journalism, print media or cinema, this major offers an opportunity for focus through specialized classes taught by instructors who have academic preparation and professional experience in their fields.
An added advantage of Dominican’s Communications Department is the opportunity for hands-on participation. Students don’t just talk about broadcasting, publishing or cinema; here they do it. Within six weeks of their arrival, freshmen students expressing a desire to concentrate on radio broadcast begin their semester crafting original shows. They launch their careers by broadcasting over Dominican's award-winning Internet radio station, radio.dominican.edu. The experience they gain prepares them for internships with professional radio stations that often lead to job offers, even before graduation.
Upon graduation, our students will demonstrate the ability to:
- Speak and write with clarity and authority; skillfully adapting to the knowledge culture and expectations of a target audience;
- Research issues thoroughly and accurately with effective use of interview techniques employing a variety of sources;
- Identify a news story and its elements, and report with objectivity and ethical understanding;
- Practice interpersonal communication and cooperative teamwork needed to professionally produce any product;
- Use technologies skillfully (in convergence to each other) to produce appropriate messages;
- Cinematic students will practice all aspects of cinematic story telling from writing and producing to directing sound design cinematography and editing;
- Exhibit professionalism in choices that are affected in work ethic, interaction and behavior.
