Undergraduate Courses

Undergraduates are able to incorporate the study of international communication into their undergraduate curriculum in international studies within SIS. They may take a number of IC courses as part of the BA in International Studies, or the BA in Language and Area Studies. Both degrees allow students to take IC courses that range from topics such as cross-cultural communication, foundations of international communication, strategic communication and national security, information society and development, the global knowledge economy, and information technology in China, among many others. Additional undergraduate courses in international communication are being continually developed.

Graduate Courses

The IC Program features one of the most comprehensive, wide ranging, and interdisciplinary course offerings of any program in the field. Course topics cover practically every aspect of international communication studies and new courses are continuously under development by our distinguished faculty experts, scholars and professional practitioners. Courses are offered in the following categories: undergraduate courses, graduate courses, and skills institutes. The program also experiments with new course designs, such as: research abroad and field research, collaborative learning with international communication professionals visiting the US, online and virtual classrooms with leading international experts at universities abroad, international internships, joint courses co-taught with faculty in other professional schools such as the Kogod School of Business and the School of Communication, and combinations of strategic, analytical and content production courses.

Children, Media and Conflict

This course introduces students to the role media play in the lives of children living within zones of conflict and who are exposed to media coverage about conflict. Students will leave the course with knowledge of the major debates and skills requisite for conducting research about these topics. Sample questions to be addressed include, “Are European children active or passive consumers of video games?” “Do children in Sri Lanka play an active role in waging the conflict or are they its passive victims?” “How have children around the world reacted to news coverage of the Iraq war? “How do children develop political opinions?” “How do Israeli and Palestinian children develop stereotypes about each other, their concepts of national identity and citizenship?” What role do games and playgrounds hold in the lives of children living within environments plagued by flying-bullets?” “How have South African media professionals sought to re-build the post-apartheid television landscape for children?” “Are the processes by which children learn to use media, and adapt to living amidst conflict, universal, or do they differ across cultures?” Students will leave this course with training in how to critically include children’s opinions into policy debates about these topics and approaches for eliciting their testimonials during truth and reconciliation committee hearings.

Communication, Culture & Social Entrepreneurship

This professional practicum addresses the evolving field of social entrepreneurship: using social entrepreneurial approaches that can complement more traditional NGO approaches to bringing about change in developing and developed nations.It is designed for graduate students interested in nongovernmental organizations, international organizations, governments, philanthropies, or private sector organizations with a social purpose.Topics include: Entrepreneurship, Change and the Media, Public-private Partnerships, Culture, Communication and Sustainable Positive Change. Using case studies and teamwork, students engage with the opportunities and challenges and either design their own social entrepreneurial organization or analyze an existing organization or alliance designed to make a difference in a wide array of impact areas including poverty alleviation, human rights, health, housing, relief, sanitation, conflict resolution, technical assistance or communication.

Culture & Globalization

This course explores how globalization is a significantly cultural process. With special attention to the role of media and information technologies, we ask: What has been the importance of culture in shaping the ongoing terms of globalization? But also: How have our cultural commitments been transformed through the experience of globalization? We examine how cultural artifacts, meanings, industries, identities, and other engagements, are variously subject to the effects of globalization, even as they also help participate in the work of globalization. This course adopts a topical approach and uses a wide variety of case studies from around the world to consider: diasporic identities, cultural tourism, so-called Americanization, formulations of the clash of civilizations and culture-driven conflict, the cultural and media industries, cultural and intellectual property, the call for cultural rights, the relation of culture to security, the digitization of culture, new cultural heritage protection and repatriation efforts, among others. Grounded in the International Communication’s interdisciplinary approach, this course is also appropriate for students pursuing other majors and diverse interests.

The Global Knowledge Economy

A society’s knowledge system is a critical determinant of its future development and prosperity, including the capacity to participate in global innovation and knowledge production in the 21st century.The course explores effective strategies societies can pursue in promoting knowledge sector growth based upon comparative assessment of knowledge and innovation models adopted in India, China, Japan, South Korea, the United States and the European Union, among some of the regions addressed. A range of knowledge society indicators are explored for comparative assessment, such as: national and international laws and policies for the knowledge sector, investment in research and development (R&D), approach to intellectual property rights, quality of educational institutions and higher education infrastructure, political and economic systems, knowledge traditions and cultural practices, information technology networks, information & knowledge-based industries, social networks for information sharing, and knowledge transfers between research institutions and local economic environments.Students work individually and in teams to assess specific regions, both developed and underdeveloped, and investigate particular dimensions of the global knowledge race, while designing recommendations for governments, the private sector, educational institutions and international organizations.

Global Perspectives on Public Diplomacy, Media and Information Politics

This class provides an introduction to comparative public diplomacy programs, new media public diplomacy initiatives, and how media outlets are leveraged by NGOs and religious extremist organizations to influence global public opinion.

Health Communication in Developing Countries

A semester-length course on communication for health would build on the topics presented in the Skills Institute.It would add four additional areas:1) an examination of policies for communication for health and development, including public/private sector incentives, 2) an analysis of the relationships of communication for health with print and broadcast media, including community media, 4) information technologies development in health communication, and 3) journalist training and ethics for health communication.

Information Economy & Corporate Strategy--INDIA

The objective of this course is to deepen students’ understanding of India’s emerging information economy through on-site field research travel to India. Students will investigate India’s distinctive rise as an economic power in sectors such as: information technology, media and cultural industry, content production industry, information services industry, and financial services.Field travel to India will include visits to multi-national firms, local Indian companies, and educational, cultural and governmental institutions. This course is cross-listed with MGMT 685.

The Politics of Global Media

This course examines the implications of increasingly global print, broadcast and digital media on the cultural and political transformation associated with the term "globalization." The course will consider the critical issues raised by global media, and how they impact notions of national and cultural sovereignty, reflect international institutional transformation, and represent new avenues for information-based foreign policy and public diplomacy. Some of the key issues covered in the course include international media production and content flow, nationalism, new media technology, diaspora and conceptions of audience, international news, and media regulation.

Public Diplomacy & International Communication

The course is designed to analyze the substance and tools of American public diplomacy both as it is carried out by official government entities and by non-official or quasi-official actors on the international scene.The course will review the history of public diplomacy over the last half century and the new dynamics imposed by post-Cold War globalization and accelerating technological change.Students will explore the tension between the use of public diplomacy to promote American values and specific foreign policies and to understand the tools available to public diplomats. Specifically, the course will examine the use of radio, TV, the internet, exchange programs and cultural/artistic programming and will seek to evaluate the relative effectiveness of each.

Role of Information Technology & Society in China

China's meteoric economic and technological rise demands explanation. This course will assess China's technological development in light of existing explanations of development drawn from the fields of economics, political science and sociology.The course will pay particular attention to the consideration of technical factors, such as the role of information technology, in China's industrial and technological development, but will place these factors in China's political, social and international context.

Strategic Communication, Intelligence & National Security

The objective of this course is to explore in detail the rising importance of communications factors in international relations as a strategic instrument of foreign policy and as a source of international conflict.The course will concentrate on strategic intelligence collection, including the growth of intelligence gathering technologies, information-based military operations, cyber security and vulnerabilities, and the interaction of communications with transnational actors.The course will also explore the current national structures of intelligence systems and decision-making processes, the role of so-called “information operations,” and basic principles in the modern, network communications basis for the command and control of military forces.Also included will be a comparative examination of specific cases where communications have been a major factor in either an escalation or de-escalation of hostilities.

Theater of Terror: Modern Terrorism & Mass Media

Modern terrorism relies on the mass media for publicity, recognition, psychological impact, political achievements and other purposes. This course examines the relationships between modern terrorists and the mass media, how terrorists use the media, the recent presence of terrorists on the Internet and the threat of cyberterrorism, how democracies can respond to the challenge, and the social and political cost of various measures.

Tourism & Globalization

This course will examine the relationship between culture, communication and the political economy of tourism. Among the key topics to be covered are the emergence of "pleasure" trips in the colonial era, the expansion of the middle classes and mass vacations, late 20th century adoption of tourism as a development strategy, and the role of ICTs in tourism development.. Students will be asked to critically examine the genesis of different modes of tourism, e.g., ecotourism, ethnotourism and sex tourism in various regions of the world.