About the Program

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 includes 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.

Strategic Communications Concentration includes 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.

Public Communication Campaigns

Students learn how to inform and influence large audiences about noncommercial issues through a series of purposeful communication activities. By examining cases in environment, health, human and animal welfare, and disaster prevention, participants differentiate successful from unsuccessful campaigns and review the process for crafting appropriate mediated messages and selecting specific channels to produce a desired impact.

Management and Communication

The roles and theories of communication and leadership, together with the skills and traits of effective managers, are studied. Students examine how managers use behavioral modification and motivation techniques, develop coaching skills, manage change and conflict, and create a vision for their employees. The topics of strategy, organizational culture, and diversity are also included.

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 Literacy

Media literacy encompasses the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media. In this course, students learn to critically examine visual, audio, and online media while gaining an understanding of the media’s effect on culture and society.

Visual Communication

Students will learn the fundamental principles of design and how these relate to effective visual communication. We will explore the role that advertising plays in society and how to create effective visual advertisements. Students will also learn the basics of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and how to shoot and edit photos.

Advisory Council Members

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.

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 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 (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 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