Program Goals
“Effective communication is the lifeblood of a successful organization. It reinforces the organization’s vision, connects employees to the business, fosters process improvement, facilitates change, and drives business results by changing employee behavior. No matter how you look at it, communication is an important part of the business landscape and cannot be taken for granted”.*
That’s why we believe that communication students should be striving for excellence by:
- Continuously improving personal communication skills such as listening, public speaking, writing and managing conflict.
- Developing effective group collaboration skills by knowing how to effectively and efficiently solve problems.
- Becoming critical thinkers by understanding how to analytically and strategically address communication problems.
- Developing communication expertise by learning fundamental communication principles, practices and theories.
Our time-proven teaching methods allow you to excel in these four areas. Most of the classes involve group projects, guided discussion, lots of feedback, and extensive cross examination (questioning). For each project, you will be expected to defend your ideas in an oral discussion and in a written report. We do this to provide you with practical experiences, foster your intellectual development, and build your communication competence. Most students find the courses demanding in terms of time and rigor. You will need to develop emotional toughness to manage the extraordinary level of personal feedback and coaching you receive about your skills, ideas, and presentations. All these activities are designed to make you a thoughtful, strategic, and professional communicator.
Welcome to Prof. C's Site
Your personal success hinges on effective communication. In fact, the #1 factor in hiring a candidate is “effective communication, both written and oral” which is ranked ahead of scholastic qualifications, specialized coursework and previous employment. Likewise, your organization’s success depends on effective communication. Companies that communicate effectively have higher market values, greater employee loyalty and lower employee turnover. These facts underpin my major professional goal of developing your critical thinking and communication skills so that you can effectively address virtually any type of communication problem you might encounter during your career.
7 Questions to guide your thinking...
- Can you prove it?
- So what?
- What are your assumptions?
- What is effectiveness?
- What is the pattern?
- What can you do about it?
- Is it ethical?
Listed below is some advice from former communications students who have successfully trained their neural pathways.
"Taking a Phil class will definitely raise your stress levels. However, once the class is over, you will realize that it was all worth it."
-Jerome Allen
"Do not concern yourself with what you believe Phil is "looking for" as the "right answer," rather construct a unique solution to the problem and develop a strong line of rationale and you will succeed beyond measure"
-Marcus Reitz
"GO TO CLASS!!! No matter how many notes you print off the website, you will never get all the information! Also...read, read, read! If you don't read, the multiple choice questions in the exams are going to kick your butt!"
-Angela Stangel