Communication Studies 2.0

Effective: Fall 2025
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 C1000
Introduction to Public Speaking

3 units
GE
In this course, students learn and apply foundational rhetorical theories and techniques of public speaking in a multicultural democratic society. Students discover, develop, and critically analyze ideas in public discourse through research, reasoning, organization, composition, delivery to a live audience and evaluation of various types of speeches, including informative and persuasive speeches. Formerly COMM 1.
Course Details:
  1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL C1000
  • Transfers to CSU

    • 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 10
    Interpersonal Communication

    3 units
    An introductory course designed to help students develop interpersonal communication competencies. Students begin by exploring personal identity, including race, culture, gender, and family. Then examine how these individual identities impact personal relationships. Finally, we will identify strategies to reduce miscommunication and conflict in interpersonal relationships. Overall, through readings, lecture/discussion, and assignments we will examine the power of communication and its effects on our lives and relationships.
    Course Details:
    1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL C1000
  • Transfers to CSU

    • List A course

    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

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

    List A Course

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

    List B Course

    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

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

    3 units

    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

    Complete 9 units from the list below

    COMM 2
    Oral Interpretation of Literature

    3 units
    This introductory course is designed to improve your confidence, your critical analysis of texts, and improve your performance of these texts, by stressing both your breakdown of the material and development of vocal skills. Texts may include prose (fiction/non-fiction), poetry, and drama.
    Course Details:

    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 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 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 C1000

    COMM 20
    Persuasion and Communication

    3 units
    Investigation, development, and practice 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 C1000
      2. and
    2. Strongly Recommended: COMM C1000

    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 and debate.
    Course Details:
    1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL C1000

    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

    • 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 of human interaction. The course explores communication theories from the humanistic, social scientific and critical traditions.
    Course Details:
    1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL C1000
  • Transfers to CSU

    • 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

    • List B

    Complete 3 units from the list below

    Any List A course not used to satisfy List A

    3 units

    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 70A
    Introduction to Communication Tutor Training

    2 units
    An introduction to tutor training for the Communication Laboratory. Through lecture and hands-on tutoring experience students will demonstrate lab procedure, tutor strategies, and knowledge of basic components of public speaking.
    Course Details:
    1. Prerequisite: COMM C1000
      2. or
    2. Prerequisite: COMM 2
      3. or
    3. Prerequisite: COMM 10
      4. or
    4. Prerequisite: COMM 20
      5. or
    5. Prerequisite: COMM 46
      6. or
    6. Prerequisite: COMM 50

    ENGL 4A
    Critical Thinking and Writing about Literature

    4 units
    Develops skills in close reading, critical thinking, analytical and argumentative writing, research, and information literacy through the study of works from major literary genres. Works will include poetry, fiction (short stories and novel), and drama, but may also include alternative genres such as creative nonfiction, graphic novels, spoken word, flash fiction, and lyrics. Primary texts will showcase diverse writers, including marginalized voices.
    Course Details:
    1. Prerequisite: ENGL C1000
  • Transfers to CSU

    • ENGL C1001
    Critical Thinking and Writing

    4 units
    In this course, students receive instruction in critical thinking for purposes of constructing, evaluating, and composing arguments in a variety of rhetorical forms, using primarily non-fiction texts, refining writing skills and research strategies developed in ENGL C1000 College Reading and Writing (or C-ID ENGL 100) or similar first-year college writing course. Primary texts will showcase diverse writers, including marginalized voices. Theme-based units will emphasize the techniques and principles of effective written argument in research-based writing across disciplines. Formerly ENGL 7A (prerequisite formerly ENGL 1).
    Course Details:
    1. Transfers to CSU

      2. MCOM 20
      Introduction to Journalism Reporting and News Writing

      3 units
      This course is an introduction to gathering, synthesizing/organizing, and writing news in journalistic style across multiple platforms. Topics include the role of the journalist and related legal and ethical issues. Students will report and write based on their original interviews and research to produce news content. Experiences may include covering speeches, meetings, and other events, writing under deadline, and using AP Style.
      Course Details:
      1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL C1000
    2. Transfers to CSU

      3. PSYC C1000
      Introduction to Psychology

      3 units
      This course is an introduction to psychology, which is the study of the mind and behavior. Students focus on theories and concepts of biological, cognitive, developmental, environmental, social, and cultural influences; their applications; and their research foundations. Includes major psychological concepts and theories in the areas of consciousness, learning, memory, motivation, perception, personality, stress, and social behavior. Formerly PSY1.
      Course Details:
      1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL C1000
    3. Transfers to CSU

      4. 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, Latinx Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, Arab Americans and/or women.
      Course Details:
    4. Transfers to CSU

      5. 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 C1000
        2. or
      Total Units: 60-62 units
      This program map is not a guarantee of course availability or financial aid applicability.