Why Study Strategic Communication?
The Strategic Communication program is designed to teach students how to influence
and further an organization's mission through the art and science of the earned, owned,
paid and shared media model. Demand for graduates for these important skills are rising,
with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting that jobs associated with strategic
communication positions are expected to increase by about 9 percent by 2030. The Strategic
Communication program teaches students how to deploy an array of tools to craft, track
and measure communication effectiveness while gaining a complete understanding of
paid, earned, shared and owned media. This program offers four tracks: Public Relations,
Advertising, Media Sales, and Organizational Communication.
All students in the School of Media and Communication begin their journeys with a
small set of core courses. These are COM110, a one-hour class that discusses the careers
and opportunities available in Media and Communication; COM210, a two-hour skills
class centered on Digital Skills, and COM310, Social and Digital Media, which introduces
students to analyzing and creating social media. Stratcom students then take a core
set of courses designed to impart the basics of persuasive writing and design techniques,
as well as law and ethics. Students are asked to select one of four specialties, Public
Relations, for students who see themselves entering agency or corporate PR jobs; Advertising,
for students who see themselves on the creative side of messaging; Media Sales, for
those who want to go into media purchasing and selling, and Organizational Communication,
for students who want to help companies and business improve leadership and management
efficiency and efficacy.
