Program Overview & Outcomes

Communication and Media Studies (CMS) at Clayton State is an unconventional degree program. A Bachelor of Arts degree administered by the Department of Communicative Arts and Integrative Studies, CMS emphasizes training in the liberal arts: literature, theater, art, philosophy, and languages.

The ability to write and speak well, the ability to think critically about differing media and modes of communication, the ability to recognize quality in written, visual, and multimedia texts--these are broad-based, flexible skills that enrich our graduates' lives. In addition, these same skills offer graduates the tools that they need to thrive in professions revolutionized by rapidly evolving communication technologies.

Program Outcomes

Graduates of the B.A. program in Communication and Media Studies will demonstrate the following characteristics:

• High-level communication skills in a variety of written and spoken presentations and interpersonal and group interactions;
• High-level critical thinking skills in effective analysis of a variety of communication situations (involving purpose, audience, and media) and in successful decision-making adaptation to the demands or opportunities of those situations;
• Knowledge of the interrelationships between communication media and human society through history and across various global cultures;
• Knowledge of aesthetics, differing conceptions of beauty and taste, and their relevance to human communication throughout history and across cultures;
• Knowledge of ethics, differing conceptions of right conduct, moral character, and justice, and the central role of ethical behavior in sustaining human culture and communication;
• Knowledge of the current major forms of global communication and media, including those involving recent technological innovations;
• Readiness to enter a communication- or media-related career through successful completion of an appropriate Junior/Senior Internship.