COMMRC 1102 (11204) Organizational Comm
M 6:00pm-8:30pm
Instructor: Lloyd Corder
Students in this course are provided with an overview of the relationship between communication and organizing processes. The course emphasizes theories, principles, and concepts of organizational communication and their practical application. Students learn to analyze the communication which occurs in organizations to recognize sources of communication breakdown and develop an awareness of strategies for prevention and/or resolution of communication on breakdown. This section is highly interactive and will be graded on the basis of participation, a resume/cover letter assignment, a case study analysis and presentation, two short case study papers, a mid-term exam and a final exam.
COMMRC 1125 (26276) Media Theory
M W 4:30pm-5:45pm
Instructor: Elfriede Fursich
This course introduces students to media studies as an academic discipline and explains the fields theoretical foundations. We will examine a diverse range of paradigms and theories, focusing on fundamental concepts as much as on influential current approaches. Throughout the semester, we will evaluate the usefulness of various theories and discuss their effectiveness in explaining our media-saturated lives. At the end of this course, students will have a deeper understanding of media and their impact on contemporary society.
COMMRC 1731 (29769) Global and US Women's Rhetoric
M F 3:00pm-4:15pm
Instructor: Weiming Gorman
This course examines, in comparative perspectives, how women use rhetoric as political and ideological instruments to promote their agenda, rights and status. Speeches of classical feminist foremothers will be critiqued so as to uncover how they had provided ideological underpinnings for contemporary women’s discourse and movement in the US. Testimonial narratives of US women in professions dominated traditionally by gender inequality such as medicine, law, science, sports, finance will be examined so as to bring to light how these women have mediated and negotiated gender equality and rights. As our students are likely to pursue these career paths, it is instructive they learn how the generations of their grandmothers and mothers have fought for their rights so that they, as the next generation of women rights advocate, can affect changes. Finally, beyond the national narrative, rhetoric of women in non-Western countries, in particular, Africa, Asia and the Middle East are analyzed so that our students will have an opportunity to be informed of how global women are rising up, making waves and rewriting human history.
Requirements for this class can be waived. Please talk to Jack Gareis (gareis@pitt.edu) or Meredith Guthrie (guthrie@pitt.edu) for a permission number.
COMMRC 1732 (31033) Global Media
M F 3:00pm-4:15pm
Instructor: Elfriede Fursich
This course investigates the role of media in creating a productive public sphere in an increasingly globalizing world. Using key concepts in communication, cultural, and globalization studies, the course covers topics such as the shortcomings of international journalism in covering war and terrorism; the potential of popular culture to change problematic representations of others; and the possibilities of digital communication for international development. The class will enable students to assess the potential of journalism, media and digital technology to foster international understanding and cooperation. The class also fulfills the requirements for the Global Studies Certificates concentrations Cultural Dynamics and Politics/Economy.
