Communication
Learn to write, speak, think, analyze and problem-solve on a whole new level as a communications major. Then prepare to use your new knowledge and skills in a wide range of professional settings.
Prepare for careers of great meaning in a variety of high-impact professions
As a student in Dominican University’s communication major, you’ll gain strong oral, written, and visual communication skills that will prepare you to enter the job market in many roles, industries, and work settings. Here, you’ll learn how to be both critical consumers and strategic producers of media, while improving your interpersonal skills in a variety of real-life contexts, from engaging interculturally to expressing your personal stance on global issues.
Communication students depart Dominican with a well-rounded education that combines theory and practice, the face-to-face and the mediated, the quantitative and the qualitative to provide the understanding, knowledge, training, and expertise on specific and multiple aspects of modern communication theory and practice.
This major is ideal preparation for high-impact leadership roles in a remarkable range of rewarding fields.
Communication majors prepare for in-demand careers by choosing an area of academic concentration:
- Communication Studies provides a generalist approach to understand communication concepts, processes, and theories and how they apply to a variety of situations and contexts. The concentration emphasizes the role communication plays in shaping our reality in a variety of personal, social, cultural, and political settings. Learn more.
- Health Communication is the study of communication as it relates to health professionals, health education, and the experience of health by individuals, families, and cultures. Learn more.
- Media Studies and Production prepares students to critically, technically, and creatively engage with communication technologies of the 21st century. An emphasis on media studies helps build a student’s media, digital, and information literacies to become perceptive and discerning media consumers and producers. Learn more.
- Multimedia Journalism teaches the bedrock skills of news reporting and writing and enables students to acquire the technical capacity to report and tell stories using audio, visual, and textual media on multiple platforms—online, broadcast, social media, and print. Learn more.
- Organizational and Professional Communication prepares students to better understand human communication within businesses and organizations. Students will gain the vital knowledge and skills to aid in dynamic problem-solving and decision making while focusing on the ethical methods and practices of creating and presenting information in a professional context. Learn more.
Prepare to succeed in fast-moving fields
A survey of U.S. employers by Hart Research Associates found that 93% of managers say that “a job candidate’s demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly and solve complex problems” is the most important factor in hiring decisions. Those abilities are the essential skill set of our communication studies graduates. Our curriculum is designed to prepare you for lifelong intellectual and professional competence and fluency.
Chela Bailey
Communication Studies Graduate
“I loved the faculty and the courses in my communication studies major, and I added a social media minor, which I was crazy about. I would definitely recommend Dominican to students who want to become independent people who follow their dreams.”
More ways to learn, on campus and beyond
Practical, hands-on experience is built into our communication studies curriculum. Our internships draw on Chicago’s great media, communications and corporate resources. You’ll test-drive your dream job and gain invaluable real-world experience. Through our Community-based Learning Program, you’ll combine academic study with compassionate service to people in need, in the Chicago area and beyond. What’s more, you won’t have to wait until graduate school to work side-by-side with a talented scholar. Student-faculty research is a department trademark; the topics range from interpersonal communication to mass media in the digital age. To add a global perspective to your learning experience, we recommend that you take courses in international studies or a modern language. Finally, consider a semester of study abroad.
John Robinson
Corporate Communication Graduate
“One of the best things about my experience at Dominican was networking with great communications professionals. You have professors who have connections outside the classroom and have done real work on the outside. They put us in the right room with different kinds of people, which could lead to internships or volunteer opportunities.”