Highlights
- The organizational and strategic communication major will prepare you for jobs in public relations, social media management, employee relations, human resources, recruiting, political communication, sales, customer service, training and development, project management, and more.
- The major combines components of organizational communication, which is the study of how communication creates and maintains organizations, and strategic communication, which is the focused communication an organization uses to advance its mission and reach its goals.
- Curriculum covers concepts such as how information moves through an organization, organizational decision making, crisis management, listening to attitudes of customers and employees, creating organizational change, and how technology impacts organizational processes.
- You will take courses in marketing, as well as in English or art to hone writing or graphic design skills, as part of this interdisciplinary major.
- The major is designed so you can graduate in four years with a double major with marketing — a marketable combination for students pursuing jobs in businesses in a variety of industries. The organizational and strategic communication major focuses on messaging, while the marketing major focuses more on economic trends and data analysis to reach marketing goals.
- The Communication and Rhetorical Studies major empowers you to understand, evaluate, and practice effective communication in all of its various forms and contexts, whether it is between two people, in small groups, within an organization, through mass media or among people from different cultures.
- You will be connected to faculty experts and professional leaders through signature course assignments and projects to gain practical, hands-on experiences that allow you to apply your newly acquired knowledge and skills outside of the classroom.
- Nearly 100% of IC students get hands-on experiences through internships, research, service learning, and global travel. You will work closely with your faculty mentor to tailor your education, both in and out of the classroom, to meet your goals.
- You will also have access to valuable on-campus resources for developing your communication skills, like the Speech Communication Center and IC’s Debate and Speech Team.
Outcomes
The fundamental knowledge and skills learned through the organizational and strategic communication program will prepare you for any profession in which human communication plays a vital role. Graduates of the program become critical consumers and producers of ideas and information with the ability to understand the ethical responsibilities of communication.
IC communication alumni have gone into successful careers in advertising, media (radio/television/broadcasting), journalism, public relations, business, management, education, government/politics, healthcare, international relations/negotiations, law, criminal justice, insurance, accounting, agriculture, speech pathology, and social services, just to name a few.
Others have chosen to pursue graduate study at some of the top programs in the country, at schools like Baylor University, Illinois State University, Indiana University, Northern Illinois University, Purdue University, St. Louis University, Syracuse University, Texas Tech University, Texas A & M University, University of Denver, University of Illinois Champaign/Urbana, and West Virginia University, among others.