Communication Studies

Effective: Fall 2019
Associate in Arts for Transfer Program Map
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This program map from the 2024-2025 catalog year represents one possible pathway to complete this program. Your pathway may vary depending on your transfer plans and also previous college credit, including AP Test scores, concurrent enrollment courses and high school articulated courses.

I'm ready to get started. What do I do next?

  1. Review this program map to get an overview of the required courses
  2. Meet with a counselor to develop your customized student education plan www.chabotcollege.edu/counseling
  3. Use DegreeWorks, an online student education planning tool, to track your progress toward graduation www.chabotcollege.edu / admissions / degreeworks
Program Description
Communication Studies explores the complexity of human interaction, including how people create messages, receive and transmit information, and influence others. Communication Studies will help you develop life skills in building relationships, creating and understanding the impact of messages, and developing effective verbal and non-verbal communication skills . You can use your communication skills in everyday life and nearly any career, but you are especially tracked towards careers in public relations, advertising, corporate training, customer service, politics, and hospitality.

What can I do with this major?

Communication Studies builds a number of skills that will assist you in nearly every job, as well as help you build interpersonal and group relationships, transmit information, and persuade others. Additionally, these abilities can directly lead to the following careers:

  • Human Resources
  • Public Relations
  • Advertising
  • Organizational Communication Specialist
  • Brand Strategist
  • Law
  • Hospitality
  • Customer Service
  • Corporate Training
  • Politics
  • Instructional Designer
  • Sales
  • Social Media Director
  • On-Air Talent

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/what-you-can-do-with-a-communications-degree

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/top-communications-degree-jobs


Learning and Career Pathway
  • Communication, Language & Media

Icon Key

= Critical Course = Prerequisite for Other Courses = Prerequisite Required = Required for Major GE = General Education

Semester 1

13-15 units

COMM 1
Fundamentals of Speech Communication

3 units
GE
Fundamentals of speech communication; emphasis on developing, stating, organizing, and researching ideas, and presenting to an audience; includes developing the faculties of critical listening and problem-solving.

English 1- Critical Reading and Composition

4 units
GE

Math Course for General Education: see a counselor to choose the appropriate course. (MTH 47 recommended)

3-5 units
GE

General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

3 units
GE

Semester 2

16 units

COMM 50
Introduction to Communication Studies

3 units
A survey of the discipline of Communication Studies with emphasis on multiple epistemological, theoretical, and methodological issues relevant to the systematic inquiry and pursuit of knowledge about human communication. This course explores basic history, assumptions, principles, processes, variables, methods, and specializations of human communication as an academic field of study.

List A Course #1

3 units
Take one List A course from the list below.
See the full list: (Click here)

General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

3 units
GE

General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

4 units
GE

General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

3 units
GE

Semester 3

15 units

List A Course #2

3 units
Take one course from List A below
See the full list: (Click here)

List B Course #1

3 units
Take one course from List B below.
See the full list: (Click here)

List B Course #2

3 units
Take once course from List B below
See the full list: (Click here)

General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate course or review the CSU Breadth or IGETC General Education list

3 units
GE

Elective- see a counselor to choose a course that counts for elective units (can be any credit course).

3 units

Semester 4

16 units

List C Course

3 units
Take one course from List C below.
See the full list: (Click here)

General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate course or review the CSU Breadth or IGETC General Education list

3 units
GE

General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate course or review the CSU Breadth or IGETC General Education list

3 units
GE

General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate course or review the CSU Breadth or IGETC General Education list

4 units
GE

General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate course or review the CSU Breadth or IGETC General Education list

3 units
GE

List A

Choose two courses from the list below.

COMM 3
Group Communication

3 units
Communication in small group situations. Role of communication in various group processes, including norms, roles, leadership and decision-making, with application to modern concepts of organizational communication. Includes participation in simulation exercises and group activities.

COMM 10
Interpersonal Communication

3 units
Exploration, discussion, and evaluation of the components of verbal and non-verbal communication processes.

COMM 46
Argumentation and Debate

3 units
Analysis of contemporary questions through written and spoken discourse. Analysis, criticism, and synthesis of contemporary moral, political, economic and philosophical issues of a diverse, multicultural society, using traditional and modern models of argumentation.
Course Details:
  1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL 1A

List B

Choose two courses from the list below.

Any List A course not used above

COMM 50
Introduction to Communication Studies

3 units
A survey of the discipline of Communication Studies with emphasis on multiple epistemological, theoretical, and methodological issues relevant to the systematic inquiry and pursuit of knowledge about human communication. This course explores basic history, assumptions, principles, processes, variables, methods, and specializations of human communication as an academic field of study.

COMM 11
Intercultural Communication

3 units
This course will focus on the transmission and interpretation of messages between people from different cultures. Particular attention will be paid to beliefs, values, and norms reflected in American culture, specifically the crisscrossing dynamics of race, ethnicity, gender, religion and class. Emphasis on practical application of skills for effective communication between people of different domestic and international cultures.
Course Details:
  • Transfers to CSU

    • COMM 20
    Persuasion and Communication

    3 units
    Investigation and development of persuasive techniques, strategies, and theories throughout ancient and modern times. Topics will include rhetoric, propaganda, and formal/informal argumentation.
    Course Details:
    1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL 1A
      2. and
    2. Strongly Recommended: COMM 1

    COMM 48
    Activities in Forensics

    1-4 units
    Intercollegiate competition in the areas of public address, evidence-based and limited preparation debate, and oral interpretation of literature. Preparation of events includes research, writing, practice, and performance. Other activities may include performance in workshops, festivals, concert reading and the community.
    Course Details:
  • Transfers to CSU

    • List C

    Choose one course from the list below. 

    Any List A or List B course not used above.

    COMM 6
    Introduction to Performance Studies

    3 units
    Exploration of historically influential activist performances and contemporary performance art/installation pieces. Development of an understanding of basic interdisciplinary performance theories from everyday life, ritual, and on-stage. Emphasis on creating and observing performances as tools for social critique.
    Course Details:

    COMM 12
    Gender, Sexual Identity, and Communication

    3 units
    Processes and theories of gender and communication; emergence of sexual identity and orientation in society; the power of language and stereotypes in private discourse and public dialogue; the impact of historical, social, ethical, cultural, and psychological factors on gendered communication in multiple contexts.
    Course Details:
    1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL 1A

    ANTH 3
    Social and Cultural Anthropology

    3 units
    How human beings in different cultures meet basic biological, social and cultural needs, including kinship and marriage practices, political and social organization, economic institutions, religious and childrearing practices, social change, as well as other aspects of cultural behavior. Emphasis on understanding other cultures on their own terms. Includes the many subcultures making up North American populations.
    Course Details:
    1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL 1
      2. or
    2. Strongly Recommended: ENGL 1A

    MCOM 41
    Introduction to Mass Communications

    3 units
    Survey of the interrelationships of media with society including history, structure and trends in a digital age. Discussion of theories and effects, economics, technology, law and ethics, global media, media literacy, and social issues, including gender and cultural diversity.
    Course Details:
  • Transfers to CSU

    • PSY 1
    General Psychology

    3 units
    Introduces students to the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. Provides an overview of major psychological concepts and theories in such areas as consciousness, learning, memory, motivation, perception, personality, stress, and social behavior.
    Course Details:
    1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL 1A
  • Transfers to CSU

    • SOCI 1
    Principles of Sociology

    3 units
    Designed to illuminate the way students see their social world. Uses a sociological perspective: scientific study of human interaction and society, with emphasis on impact of groups on social behavior. Includes the systematic examination of culture, socialization, social organization, social class, race, gender, deviance, social change and empirical methodology. These content areas are woven throughout the fabric of the course, particularly as they affect the lives of at least three of the following groups: African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Middle Eastern Americans and/or women.
    Total Units: 60-62 units
    This program map is not a guarantee of course availability or financial aid applicability.