Welcome to Comm Arts

Communication is vital to every aspect of daily life. Communication plays an important role in personal relationships, social activities, politics, medicine, business, education, the law, entertainment, and creative expression, and new communication technologies have given rise to a host of communication-based industries.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison was one of the first universities to establish a program in communication, and its Communication Arts Department has taken a leading role in the development of the discipline throughout its history. The department offers a variety of courses focusing on the principal modes and media of human communication, from the spoken to the digital.

Whether a course deals with film, radio, television, digital media, public address, political discourse, or interpersonal communication, it is designed to encourage students to enhance and develop their own capacities for critical appraisal, reflection, and expression, and to expand their capacities for participation in the communication-driven social and civic life of the twenty-first century.

Graduates of communication departments work in a variety of professions, including the media, law, marketing, sales, corporate communications, counseling, public relations, advertising, and education. Knowledge of communication and skill in communicating are crucial tools for success in our rapidly changing era. Our graduate program produces scholars who teach and produce the research that others read in colleges and universities around the world.

News

Professor Jonathan Gray Publishes New Book

Comm Arts professor Jonathan Gray has published a new book that provides an overview of the academic field of television studies, including a survey of the discipline’s origins, central ideas, and key thinkers and works. The book, co-authored with Amanda Lotz of the University of Michigan, is suitably titled Television Studies and is included as [...]

The Daily Show Trains Comm Arts Interns

Internships have become one of the most valuable resources available today for undergraduate students preparing for successful careers, especially in the media and entertainment industries. These positions are not only a form of on-the-job training, giving young Badgers real world experience that enhances their classroom learning, but they also allow students to make valuable industry [...]

Internships Build Confidence and Success

Every semester a number of Communication Arts majors are placed in professional internships. Comm Arts alumni have helped to make many of these internships possible, reaching out to help students at a formative stage in their career. Students, alumni, and faculty alike agree that an internship can be one of the most valuable experiences undergraduates [...]