Summer Term

Communication Arts Department Summer 2025 Courses

The Communication Arts Department has a great selection of summer courses planned for you. The Summer 2025 course schedule is posted on Course Search & Enroll. Please see the Academic Guide for additional course information.

Offered Online, Asynchronously

Com Arts 357: History of the Animated Film
Study the major animation directors, techniques and technologies that have shaped animation. Develop analytical frameworks for understanding animation as an industry and a craft.

- Open to students with sophomore standing or higher
- Intermediate level, humanities breadth, 3 credits

Com Arts 373: Intercultural Communication and Rhetoric
Explore how rhetoric and communication function between and across cultures. Examine how culture, history, and power constitute our cultural identities, our modes of communication, and how we engage with others.

- Open to students with sophomore standing or higher
- Ethnic studies, intermediate level, humanities or social science breadth, 3 credits

Com Arts 468: Producing for Internet TV and Video
Learn the full landscape of producing visual content for TV, Streaming, and Cinema from script analysis and creation to financing and business pitches.

- Open to students who have completed COM ARTS 155 or 355
- Advanced level, 3 credits

Com Arts 605: Digital Studies Capstone
Digital Studies certificate students synthesize the material they have learned throughout the program and explore professional and personal growth opportunities.

- Open to Digital Studies Certificate seniors who have completed their Digital Studies coursework.
- Advanced level, 1 credit

Offered Online, Asynchronously

Com Arts 200: Introduction to Digital Communication
Explore the power and limits of digital communication. Learn skills and techniques for communicating your message in a range of social media including video, photos, and micro-blogging. Consider who can speak and who gets heard.

- Open to all undergraduates
- Elementary level, humanities or social science breadth, 3 credits

Com Arts 313: Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction
Examine three genres that have produced some of the most successful and beloved media ever made, yet are often overlooked as superficial: horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Explore the conventions that shape these genres, theories about what makes them so popular, and what they tell us about our world.

- Open to students with sophomore standing or higher
- Intermediate level, humanities breadth course, 3 credits

Com Arts 316: Gender and Communication
Explore theories, concepts, and analytics for understanding how gender impacts how we create and interpret messages. Learn strategies for managing gendered differences in our interpersonal, professional, and social lives.

- Open to students with sophomore standing or higher
- Intermediate level, humanities breadth, 3 credits

Offered Online, Asynchronously

Com Arts 100: Introduction to Speech Composition
Develop your speech writing and presentation skills.

- Open to students who have not received credit for Com Arts 105 or 181
- Communication A course
- Elementary level, 3 credits

Com Arts 313: Hollywood Sports Films and Culture
Take an in-depth critical look at the history of Hollywood sports films from their earliest incarnations to the present day. Use critical and analytical tools to explore how these films respond to the ever-changing culture of sports and how they shape representations in sports media. Examine how sports films developed aesthetically and culturally throughout the 20^th and early 21^st centuries within the greater Hollywood studio system and the changes sports industries undertook as they responded to developments in social justice and shifting viewing habits.

- Open to students with sophomore standing or higher
- Intermediate level, humanities breadth course, 3 credits

Com Arts 371: Communication and Conflict Resolution
Study the complexities of conflict. Learn communication strategies for managing and resolving conflict in interpersonal, organizational, intercultural, and global contexts.

- Open to students with sophomore standing or higher
- Intermediate level, social science breadth, 3 credits

Com Arts 614 or 615: Field Experience in Communication
Reflect on your internship experience. Acquire skills related to your future job search.

- Open to Com Arts majors. See instructions for arranging credit.
- Advanced level, 1 credit

Offered Online, Asynchronously

Com Arts 313: Summer Blockbusters
The massive success of Jaws and Star Wars ushered in the era of the summer blockbuster. Join us as we survey the history of the summer blockbuster and the many ways this type of cinema reflects changes in Hollywood’s release schedules, business strategies, and target demographics. We’ll examine the stars, directors, and producers who specialize in the making of “popcorn” movies that maintain a broad popular appeal. We’ll also look closely at the films themselves.

- Open to students with sophomore standing or higher
- Intermediate level, humanities breadth course, 3 credits

Com Arts 344: Social Media & Well-Being
One of the most widely debated and consequential issues of our time is how social media use is implicated in users’ well-being. Opinions on the topic abound, typically skewed towards the negative. As rates of depression, anxiety, and loneliness have sky-rocketed in recent years, especially among young people, many have pointed the finger at social media use. Are these worries well-founded? Or are they exaggerated, given that people keep using social media, in larger numbers than ever? How can social media use be leveraged to maximize well-being and minimize harm? (Don’t take if you took the class last summer as Com Arts 377. Same course.)

Open to students with sophomore standing or higher
Intermediate level, social science breadth, 3 credits