Selecting an area of study is an important decision because it will shape your thinking style and personal skills for the rest of your life.  Listed below are many of the skills you will refine in the program.  Some of the skills are more important in certain areas of emphasis than in others.

• Speaking effectively to groups
• Conducting journalistic interviews
• Being persuasive
• Managing others expectations
• Being appropriately assertive
• Conducting interviews (selection, appraisal, etc.)
• Facilitating a meeting
• Assessing personality types
• Asking effective questions
• Developing a strategy to communicate organizational change
• Telling the right stories
• Preparing letters and memos delivering good and bad news
• Discerning underlying organizational problems
• Assessing communication practices of an organization
• Leading brainstorming sessions
• Managing information
• Adapting communication styles to different people
• Listening to negative feedback
• Solving communication problems
• Analyzing audiences
• Selecting appropriate channels
• Manipulating visual images
• Creating appropriate visual images
• Providing corrective feedback
• Preparing publications
• Writing persuasive memos and letters
• Researching markets and consumers
• Explaining your points logically and clearly
• Understanding the implications of new technology
• Understanding others perspectives
• Preparing written reports and proposals
• Developing research skills
• Creating consensus
• Conducting yourself as a professional
• Listening constructively
• Managing conflict

The Communication program is interdisciplinary and requires you to integrate a broad range of competencies, approaches, and theories.  Although a minor is not required for Communication majors, we recommend a minor that complements your study such as Business Administration, Public Administration, or Communication and the Arts.