Mar 28, 2024  
Rensselaer Catalog 2022-2023 
    
Rensselaer Catalog 2022-2023 [Archived Catalog]

Communication and Media


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Department Head, Communication and Media: June Deery 
Director, Graduate Program in Communication and Media: Helen Zhou
Director, Center for Global Communication+Design: Patricia Search
Department Home Page: https://hass.rpi.edu/communication-media

The Department of Communication and Media encourages versatile communicators to analyze and effect change in creative and strategic environments. Students have the opportunity to expand their creative, intellectual, and collaborative abilities and apply them to the study and design of a range of communication forms and media platforms.

The department offers a B.S. in Communication, Media, & Design (CMD).   Graduates of this program bring important skills to a networked society where strategic communication, media literacy, and design thinking foster excellence, innovation, and social change.

The department also offers Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Communication and Rhetoric. The M.S. prepares students for applied research in industry or government or for further study in a doctoral program. The Ph.D. qualifies students for careers in business, government, or, most often, academia.

Research Innovations and Initiatives

In research, the department’s mission is to develop and assess new understandings of how people create and manage their social and professional worlds through the mediation of symbol systems and communication technologies. Faculty conduct research on a broad range of topics, with particular strengths in the following areas:

  • Critical Media Studies: Television, Film, and online platforms
  • Visual Communication and Data Visualization
  • Immersive Games and Pedagogy
  • Language acquisition
  • Multimodal and Embodied Communication
  • Strategic Writing
  • Human-Centered Design and Technical Communication

Undergraduate Program

The undergraduate program in Communication, Media, & Design provides students with the multidisciplinary education that is essential for leadership in an information-based society, a society that is continuously being transformed by new communication processes and technologies. Building on Rensselaer’s technological infrastructure, these programs offer students experiential education in communication technologies and theoretical frameworks in order to understand and shape their impact on culture. 

Outcomes of the Undergraduate Curriculum

Students who successfully complete this program will be able to demonstrate:

  • Communicate strategically and creatively in oral, visual, and textual formats across professional, academic, and artistic contexts. 
  • Explain the mutual ways society, culture, and technology influence each other, as demonstrated by their critical analyses of specific media products. 
  • Explain how mass media and new media technologies shape communication and design choices.
  • Analyze audience, purpose, content, and genre in order to communicate effectively. 

Minor Programs

The Department of Communication and Media (C&M) offers a wide selection of minors, all of which require a minimum of 16 credits and one course at the 4000-level. Most C&M minors are based on institute Integrative Pathways (IPs) and many simply require the addition of one course, for a total of four courses, from the same Pathway. Currently, the department offers minors in:

  • Chinese Language
  • Graphic Design
  • Interactive Media/Data Design
  • Media and Culture
  • Strategic Communication
  • Literature and Creative Writing
  • Writing

Graduate Programs

The Department of Communication and Media addresses the communicative processes by which humans construct and share meaning in all media including the new electronic media. It is a multidisciplinary scholarly community embracing literacy study, speech communication, composition and rhetoric, media studies, visual design, human-computer interaction, and technical communication.

The Department of Communication and Media faculty comprise a large, diverse, yet integrated community dedicated to teaching and mentoring graduate students. 

Currently, the Department of Communication and Media’s graduate programs consist of an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Communication and Rhetoric.

Doctoral Program

The Ph.D. in Communication and Rhetoric enables students to make a significant contribution to a wide range of issues in communication and media. For decades, its graduates have been pioneers in the study of the relationship between communication and technology. Drawing from numerous disciplines in the humanities, arts, and social sciences, this flexible program enables students to tailor dissertation projects to match their own interests and expertise. Students are supported through teaching and/or research assistantships, including positions in the Center for Global Communication & Design. Ph.D. students are also eligible for university-level fellowships after completing their course work. 
The Ph.D. in Communication and Rhetoric requires the satisfactory completion of 72 credit hours beyond the bachelor’s degree.

Course Descriptions 

Courses related to all Communication and Media curricula are described in the Course Descriptions section of this catalog under the department codes COMM, LANG, LITR, WRIT, and occasionally IHSS.

Faculty *

Professors

Deery, J.—D.Phil. (Oxford University); media studies; television; political representation; media and class; advertising and culture; literature and science. 
Kimball, M.—Ph.D. (University of Kentucky); technical writing; information design; graphic design; digital humanities; the history of data visualization.
Search, P.—M.A. (Goddard College); visual design theory and practice; interaction design and multimediate art; computer animation and hypermedia interface design; indigenous knowledge and interaction design; multiliteracy models for intercultural communication.

Associate Professors

Gordon, T.—Ph.D. (University of California-Berkeley); religion and media; ethnographic methods; discourse analysis; documentary theory; visual culture; themed environments; South Pacific and U.S.
Suckling, M.—Ph.D. (Newcastle University); storytelling for games, game narrative design, narrative systems within games, professional writing techniques, processes and approaches within the games industry.
Zhou, Y.—Ph.D. (University of Missouri—Kansas City); applied linguistics, technology and game-enhanced language learning; and learning English/Chinese as a second/foreign language.

Lecturers

Jeansonne, C.—Ph.D. (The Ohio State University); media studies; media pedagogy; popular culture studies; transnational media and transmedial genres; film; television; video production. 
Ran, W.— Ph.D. (Washington State University); media multitasking; media effects on public health (e.g. sexual health, drug abuse, and nutrition); persuasion in health campaigns; entertainment education.
Anicca, S.—Ph.D. (State University of New York at Albany); literature; creative writing.
Tack, S.—M.F.A (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); graphic design theory and practice; typography; design history.
Yue, J.—M.A. (Beijing Language and Culture University); Chinese linguistics and pedagogy; second language acquisition; Chinese character evolution; grammar instruction.

Professor Emeritus 

Halloran, S.M.—Ph.D. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); memory studies; the role of museums and historical artifacts in preserving collective memory; historical sites as sites of rhetorical education and citizen formation; rhetorical tradition(s) in the United States.
Odell, C. L.—Ph.D. (University of Michigan); composition theory and research; integrating visual and verbal information; writing in nonacademic settings; writing in engineering; rethinking literacy; education reform.  


*Departmental faculty listings are accurate as of the date generated for inclusion in this catalog. For the most up-to-date listing of faculty positions including end-of-year promotions, please refer to the Faculty Roster section of this catalog which is current of the May 2022 Board of Trustees meeting.

 

 

 

 

 

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