About the Program

Choose from TV Production, Public Relations or Advertising

This major focuses on crafting messages appropriate to a variety of mediated channels; considering the impact of messages on diverse audiences, and promoting brands, products and companies.

TV Production Concentration will include courses such as:

TV Laboratory

Hands-on work in the TV studio from conceptualization to post-production. In small groups, students will gain a practical understanding of writing, camera work, editing and working with on-camera personalities. The course will be structured as follows: demonstrating skillful use of equipment, enacting production techniques, and coordinating shooting logistics.

Podcasting and Audio Storytelling

Students will learn different styles of podcasting, best practices for developing and pitching a show, how to use professional audio recorders, basic audio editing techniques with Adobe Audition and how to distribute a podcast once it’s complete.

Documentary Production

An examination of the history, cultural impact, and aesthetics of documentary film and video production. Through viewings, lectures, discussions, and hands-on exercises, students learn how to research, write, interview, direct, shoot, and edit a documentary. Using camcorders and editing equipment, students produce their own short documentaries.

Advertising Concentration will include courses such as:

Art Direction

A course for students interested in pursuing a creative career as an art director. Students will analyze case-studies, leverage best practices and develop their own creative advertising campaigns.

Media Activism Studies

This class provides an introduction to the politics and tactics underlying various types of media activism. The class will examine interventions aimed at media representations, labor relations in media production, media policy reform, activists’ strategic communications, and “alternative” media making.

Mobile Communication

This class explores advertising on our mobile devices. Students will produce a number of multimedia projects using only their cell phones.

Public Relations Concentration will include courses such as:

Crisis Communication

How do brands communicate during times of crisis? Students will analyze case-studies, leverage best practices and develop their own campaigns to demonstrate how to successfully steer a brand through their most troubling hour. The course will touch on key concepts including reputation management, spokesperson training and press conferences, rich and social media, and more in this public relations course.

Communication and Nonprofits

Introduces students to the opportunities, challenges, and rewards of working within the nonprofit/NGO sector. Students will partner with a non-profit to work on a project.

Urban Communication

How cities communicate has had to evolve with the times and circumstances. In the age of social media that perpetuates a 24/7 news cycle, municipal governments and their leadership have had to respond to queries, concerns, and circumstances while governing, all in new ways. This class will study those methods.

Advisory Council Members

Dennis O’Brien

Senior Project Manager, Livestream

Dennis O’Brien is the senior project manager at Livestream, where he works closely with organizations to deliver live production and professional services for conferences, concerts, product launches, and sporting events. He earned his BA in new media from Purchase College and MS in media management from Fordham University‘s Gabelli School of Business.

Lauren O’Brien

Vice President of Marketing, Watermark Insights

Lauren O’Brien leads marketing strategy, digital marketing, demand generation, and marketing communications at Watermark Insights. She graduated magna cum laude with a BS in business administration from Fordham University and went on to earn her MBA in marketing from Fordham University‘s Gabelli School of Business.

Jackie Charonis

Jackie Charonis is the Global Manager of Personnel Risk for McKinsey & Company. As a skilled communicator, she has experience devising and implementing communication strategies across all sectors—private, public, and civil. Before McKinsey, Charonis worked for 25 years in higher education, including 15 years at Stanford University. She is interested in the intersection of education and business and passionate about research on gender parity in the workplace.

Mariaelena Bartesaghi

Mariaelena Bartesaghi (PhD, Annenberg School for Communication, 2005) is an associate professor of communication at the University of South Florida. She teaches undergraduate courses in communication theory, health communication, language and social interaction, online communication, and communication, language and mental illness.Her research examines authority as an institutional activity. Bartesaghi is editor-in-chief of Qualitative Research in Medicine and Healthcare and her work appears in Discourse Studies, Management Communication Quarterly, Communication Studies, Language under Discussion, Communication & Medicine, Communication Yearbook, and Review of Communication, among others.

Amy Loomis

Amy Loomis is co-founder and former program director of IBM’s Think Academy, a digital learning program. In her own digital learning firm, Amy leads a creative team of writers, designers, communications specialists, and UX developers dedicated to driving cultural transformation.

Loomis has published research on dozens of IBM clients’ business leadership and organizational transformations initiatives, focusing on the relationship between technological innovation, organizational change, and business results. She was a principal researcher for the 2016 Page Society New CCO report. Before leading corporate communication initiatives, Loomis led IBM’s cloud computing Analyst Relations team. She has held several AR and PR roles at Rational Software and Louis Paul and Partners. Loomis, who holds a PhD in communication, was a member of the faculty at Santa Clara University before moving into the technology sector.

Communications