Overview

The Department of Communication at the University of Colorado at Boulder is a vibrant community of scholars whose members share a commitment to excellence and innovation in communication research and teaching. The department offers programs leading to bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees with emphases in organizational communication, group interaction, and rhetoric.

Mission

Our mission is to provide high quality education in the theory, criticism, and practice of human communication; engage in socially relevant research that contributes to reflection, critique, and design of communicative practices in personal relationships, at work and in institutional contexts, and in community and public life; and in sustaining and improving the Communication profession, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the local, national, and international communities of which we are a part (2002 Self Study).

The Markers of our Program: Innovation, Integration, and Distinction

Innovation

Our department is committed to producing ground-breaking scholarship and teaching that expands the boundaries of knowledge. We examine problems of human interaction, participation, collaboration, deliberation, enculturation, and decision-making across a wide variety of settings. Through our courses, colloquia, guest lectures, and informal activities, we encourage students and faculty to engage current problems of communication in society.

Integration

Our department fosters scholarship that cuts across the areas of rhetoric, organizational communication, and group interaction. Students completing a BA, MA, or PhD degree are encouraged to synthesize social scientific and humanistic approaches to communication theory, research, and practice.

Distinction

We are a top-ranked department whose undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty routinely win national and international awards for their scholarship, teaching, and service. Our faculty exhibit strong leadership in ICA, NCA, and RSA.  A few recent awards include NCA’s Distinguished ScholarAward (2004), Distinguished Scholar Award from NCA’s Rhetorical and Communication Theory Division (2003), and the Ernest Bormann Book Award from NCA’sGroup Communication Division (2003).

Faculty

Our award-winning faculty include:

• 15 tenure track or tenured faculty
• 5 full professors
• 3 associate professors
• 7 assistant professors
• 4 full time instructors
• 3 emeriti

Graduate Students

Over 50 students pursuing MA and PhD degrees      
~18 in MA program      
~34 in PhD program

Foci of Graduate Program

Organizational Communication, Group Interaction, and Rhetoric

Graduate Job Placements

Arizona State University, Loyola Marymount, Purdue, Utah, Montreal, Kansas, NorthCarolina—Greensboro, Nevada—LasVegas, Wisconsin—Parkside, Minnesota—Duluth, Colorado State University, University of Northern Colorado, UNC-Chapel Hill, and SUNY-Albany.

Undergraduates

Over 870 majors in the College of Arts and Sciences