CMS 210 FORENSICS WORKSHOP
This class is a forensic workshop dedicated to the proficiency of the student in intercollegiate competitive forensic events. The course is directly associated with the nationally ranked traveling Individual Events Team, and as such, admission into the course is through an audition process. Each student, to be admitted into the class (and the team) must prepare a 5-10 minute presentation of a literary text or public speech. Once admitted, the student will be required to become proficient in at least three diverse forensic events (from the eleven sanctioned by the American Forensic Association).
CMS 306M PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS
The goal of this course is to make you a more competent professional communicator by studying the theories and principles of effective communication, applying these principles in a variety of assignments, and critiquing the performances of other speakers. With a new media component (access code included in the workbook), you will utilize a wide array of resources such as sample student speeches, interviews with UT faculty on communication issues in our world, researching and outlining tools, and chapter quizzes to help familiarize you with important communication concepts before course exams. At the end of the semester, you should be able to prepare and succeed in conducting team and individual presentations, analyze and adapt to various audiences, and adjust to different speaking situations, purposes, and contexts.
CMS 310K TEAM-BASED COMMUNICATION
This course explores communication issues in the context of small groups and teams. The class contains a combination of theory and research about group communication processes as well as the practical aspects of that material. Students will form teams and complete a service-learning project over the course of the semester to gain valuable experience with team interaction dynamics. Some of the team-based communication issues covered in this class include technology, culture, conflict, decision-making, and power.
CMS 313M ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION
As a broad overview to the study of organizational communication, this course covers theories and practices relevant to communication in organizations. The class addresses issues of structure, motivation, leadership, informal communication networks, culture, socialization, decision-making, stress/burnout, conflict, diversity, globalization, and external communication as they relate to organizations. The theory and research in class are made more applicable to students through case studies of actual organizational problems/issues.
CMS 320 ADVANCED PRESENTATION SKILLS
This course is designed with the assumption that students enrolling in the course already have a grasp of basic speech design and presentation standards, having taken one of the introductory courses. As an advanced course, students will investigate closely the theory and mechanics of more rigorous/complex presentations than expected in the basic course, and the focus of instruction will be upon honing presentation skills for a variety of audiences, including the educational setting, the professional world, and the casual audience. Assignments for the course will be evaluated for content, design, analysis, language, documentation, and delivery. Students will also be assessed for participation in regular discussion and mastery of background material drawn both from class lecture and other reading material.
CMS 330 INTERPERSONAL HEALTH COMMUNICATION
Have you ever thought about . . .
Why people keep secrets about their health?
What it is like to date someone with a chronic illness?
How doctors talk to their patients about death?
What makes for a successful parent-child conversation about safe sex?
All of these questions address examples of interpersonal health communication phenomena. In this course, you will become familiar with fundamental interpersonal communication processes that are involved in managing physical and mental health. Ideally, you will develop an awareness of how communication among friends, relatives, professionals, and others influences people’s well-being, and how, in turn, health and illness shape communication and relationship dynamics. Topics covered will include patient identity, managing sensitive health information, social support, family conversations about health issues, and healthcare professional communication. This course carries a writing flag.
CMS 332 ARGUMENTATION AND ADVOCACY
It is the goal of this course to acquaint you with a variety of approaches to the study of argument, indicating the subtle but important distinctions among such terms as "argument," "argumentation," "advocacy," "debate," and "persuasion." This course focuses both upon theory and practice. You will be exposed to the basic concepts and issues involved in the study of argument, as well as the numerous methods for engaging in and evaluating arguments. The course is divided into four units, each addressing a specific topic and treating an important body of literature. The first unit deals with the nature, uses, and limits of the argumentative method; an effort is made to compare argument with other modes of "prescriptive discourse," isolating those features of argument making it a superior method of inquiry and decision-making. The second unit emphasizes the reasoning processes underlying arguments, whether the context is political, philosophical, legal or whatever. You will study some of the more common fallacies in argument, the nature of causal reasoning, formal analysis of arguments, and the various parts of argumentative chains and clusters. The third unit looks at argument as an exercise in advocacy; the perspective of the decision-maker is delineated. This facet of the course presents the concepts and paradigms useful to an analysis of contemporary judicial and legislative debates. Attention is given to the doctrine of presumption as it originated in Roman law, the notion of a prima facie case, and standards of evidence and refutation. The final segment of this course treats argument as a method of philosophical inquiry, addressing the ways in which argument facilitates our search for Truth. You will become acquainted with rhetorical issues concerning the contemporary claim that argument is essential to the process by which we, as humans, obtain knowledge. In particular, analysis is made of the role of argument in science, business, art, ethics, and law.
CMS 332K THEORIES OF PERSUASION
Have you ever felt manipulated by a smooth-talking politician, a slick TV commercial, or a sweet little Girl Scout selling cookies? We will explore the strategies of persuasion and influence people use to manipulate our attitudes and behavior, and discuss social scientific theories that explain when and why these strategies work. We will also investigate how strategies of persuasion that have traditionally been used in interpersonal and mass communication (TV, radio) are now employed in computer and internet technology.
CMS 333 CASE STUDIES IN ARGUMENTATION
DESCRIPTION:
The purpose of this class is to provide a theoretical and practical background for the evaluation of argumentation. This course is designed for an in-depth exploration of the relationship between argumentation/debate and political elections We will examine theories of argument and apply them to debates occurring in the public sphere. Too, we will explore how political debates constitute us as well, influencing what we want, what they fear, and what they regard as possible. Topics for the class will emerge somewhat organically, since we do knot know the content of the debates until they happen. However, we can take an educated guess, so some of the topics will likely include Citizen’s United, the ACA, and reproductive rights.
CMS 334K NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
This course is designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to nonverbal communication in interpersonal relationships. The course will cover the various codes of nonverbal communication (e.g., vocalics, kinesics, etc.) as well as how communicators and their environment influence nonverbal behaviors in relationships. This course will also examine the role of nonverbal behaviors in specific topics such as managing interactions, dominance and power, and persuasion.
CMS 337 BUILDING SALES RELATIONSHIPS
In this course you will learn the theoretical and practical role that communication plays in developing long-term client relationships. We will thoroughly explore the consultative sales process including prospecting, assessing needs, handling objections, closing, presenting, and following-up. There is a particular focus on how technology—e,g., email, telephone, the Web, Powerpoint, social-networking sites, and mobile technologies—is used to help and hinder client communication. In the course you will first research a product or service to sell the rest of the semester. Next, you will identify a potential client and apply the sales process to that client.
CMS 338 LEADERSHIP STORIES
There are several components to this course. First, as represented by the title of the course are stories of leadership. But in this instance the title refers to your stories of leadership instead of tales of famous leaders. Rather than relating tales of celebrated women and men and what they achieved in dire circumstances, we will ask you to compose leadership stories of your own making—stories that place you in the role of the actor and doer in the drama. You will be constructing and presenting these stories during the course of the semester. The conceptual base for this course is narratology, which is the study and theory of narratives, or complex stories—what they’re made of, how they’re structured, and what we gain from using them as a vehicle for communication. Narrative (or story) is a way of knowing, understanding, and appreciating the world, and we will be asking you to develop and display your understandings via stories throughout this course.
CMS 346 USING COMM TECHNOLOGY AT WORK
How do people use email, instant messaging, knowledge management systems, social media, and other communication technologies in the contemporary workplace? This course examines how communication technologies both help and hinder workplace communication. We examine theory, practical applications, key scholarship, and current empirical research. There is a heavy focus on using case studies that provide context for learning how to thrive in the contemporary, often global for-profit and non-profit organization. In addition to the core workplace technology tools covered in the class, each student will choose a unique communication technology tool to research for the course. This is a major research project that includes researching scholarly and popular press literature. By the end of the semester, students will have a robust understanding of the vast options for communicating with others at work.
CMS 347K RHETORIC OF POPULAR CULTURE-WB
This course explores the idea that popular culture—the everyday messages to which the public is exposed, especially through mass media—is the dominant persuasive, rhetorical influence in most people’s lives today. We explore reasons why that might be true, we consider the instruments or means by which we are influenced by popular culture, and we study the dimensions of our lives that are most affected. The main goal of this course is to make the student more aware of influences in everyday life so that those influences may be accepted or resisted more consciously and intelligently.
CMS 358 COMMUNICATION AND PERSONAL RELATNSHIPS
This course is designed to acquaint you with the forms and functions of verbal and nonverbal communication in romantic relationships. You will learn about relational communication both in an abstract way (via readings and class discussions) and in a more concrete, hands- on fashion (by conducting your own research). The goal of the class is to help you to better understand some of the factors affecting relationships and to appreciate the impact of communication on your relational life.
CMS 359 LANGUAGE, CULTURE, COMMUNICATION OF HIP-HOP
This class looks at the hip-hop nation as a model speech community, to find out what makes a speech community work. We study the innovative things that rappers do with language (the speech acts they perform, their poetry, metaphors, and so on), and how their ways with words have produced new social networks, forms of communication, shared meanings, values-in short: a new culture.
CMS 366C CELEBRITY CULTURE
This course traces the increasingly central importance of fame and celebrity over the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. Beginning with the lyceum movement in the nineteenth century, students will investigate the infrastructure of celebrity in relation to education, entertainment, and politics. Students will learn about the star system of early Hollywood and emerging norms of publicity (e.g., radio and television) in order to better understand how celebrity has evolved vis-à-vis communication technologies. The course is also designed to better understand the formation of publics and counterpublics through the example of celebrity. Figures of interest will include stars and promoters such as P.T. Barnum and Howard Houdini; film figures past and present such as Rudy Valentino and Tom Cruise; music celebrities such as Lindsay Lohan and Lil’ Kim; cultural celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian; and the emergent “political celebrity” of figures such as Barack and Michelle Obama. This is fundamentally a theoretical course designed to help students think more critically about the intersection of entertainment and civic engagement in our time.
CMS 367 BAD BOYS OF MODERN THOUGHT
What motivates people? How do we persuade others? Some argue that good reasons and sound logic motivate and persuade people. The political success of Donald Trump; the persistence of tobacco smoking; and the mere existence of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, however, suggest alternative theories have more explanatory power. In this upper-division course, we will examine the unexpected theories of human motivation that have no use for "rational choice." What if people are simply motived by power, money, and sex? What do these "naughty" motives say about the character of persuasion and politics today? "Bad Boys of Modern Thought: Power, Money, and Sex" introduces students to the powerfully influential and prescient theories of Nietzsche, Marx, and Freud in an accessible manner. Ever wondered what the ruckus was over these famous names? Now's your chance! The course concludes with a survey of Kenneth Burke's work, which attempts to bring the bad boys together.
CMS 367 WORK 360
This course is an introductory exercise to the life-long process of discovering what you want to do with your life and what matters to you—reflecting on the reality of work and life as overlapping, integrated, ultimately inseparable spheres of human activity. As such, it is a touchstone of your undergraduate experience. It will require you to go beyond the textbooks and the classrooms found in your coursework to date, and—instead—to immerse yourself in the field for a semester, researching the work and interviewing the people across a range of professions and organizations actually doing the work that inspires you. Reflecting on your fieldwork, you will begin the process of discovering what is important for you in a career, as well as identify a direction that you would like to take next. Along the way, we will discuss indispensable communication tools—from developing an elevator pitch to strategies for different interview types—and skillsets—from best practices on organizational entry and exit to effective networking—needed to secure and enjoy meaningful work over time.
CMS 371D DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS
This course is about difficult conversations. There are many reasons why talk doesn’t go smoothly. We will look at interpersonal, social, and language factors, including conflict over resources or personal behavior, diverse social and cultural backgrounds that affect communication expectations and behaviors, competitive negotiation, getting rid of unwelcome salespeople, splitting up with a girlfriend or boyfriend, confessing wrongs, apologizing, registering complaints, managing awkward topics like sex, race, and money, refusing a request, defying authority, managing communication across cultures and social groups or with different languages, police interrogations, cross examinations in court, and so on. In addition to psychological causes of discomfort, both globally and locally, we are more likely to be working and communicating with people from different social, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds that can make even ordinary exchanges difficult. For example, racial and ethnic minorities now comprise more than 25% of the U.S. workforce, and in some regions of the country minorities will make up the majority of the workforce in the near future. As a small sign of global communication, no one who has called a help line in recent years is unaware that Americans are regularly in contact with people far across the globe in order to meet their needs. This course takes a social, qualitative approach to communication, so we will look at patterns of communication, language, and aspects of performance (yelling, stumbling, looking people in the eye, etc.). The focus is on the social dimension of language use, including the creation and upholding of power relations in society. Most of the relevant research is qualitative and social, and you will conduct and write original research to gain familiarity with how to research, study, and analyze language and social interaction. This empirical analysis will be embedded in a critical analysis of societal and cultural context.
CMS 371K PRACTICE IN CONFLICT MEDIATION
This course provides hand-on training and practice in conflict intervention techniques, including various forms of mediation, facilitation and dialogue. You will receive a certificate that you have competed the equivalent of both the basic (40 hour) Mediation Course and the Advanced Mediation Course (20 hours) typically offered by centers in the state at a cost of over $2000. The 40-hour Basic Mediation Course is the entry certificate level for professional mediators. You will also learn to facilitate groups and earn a Basic Facilitation Training Certificate. You will participate in practice and may have the opportunity to provide actual intervention services in the UT Conflict Resolution Center. We meet together for a two-hour session each week on Wednesdays. You must also register for a weekly cohort (small group of students) to practice role plays and other exercises. The cohort will meet for 10 weeks of the semester, starting after the required weekend. There is a required weekend session that provides the fundamental skills that you will use in the semester (See below for more information). A unique feature of this class is the service learning that is available. Consequently, students will also be called upon to provide conflict resolution services to the community at other times they have available. Students may repeat this class (with instructor approval) for credit. The skills of this class will benefit you in family and work life, even if you have no interest in a career as a professional mediator.