The mission of the Department of Communication Studies is to study and teach about the mass media and emerging media: their evolution, their effects, their uses by everyday people, and their regulation and industry practices. We are dedicated to cultivating thorough-going media literacy among our students, and to producing cutting-edge scholarship about the media’s impact on individuals and society.

Upper-Level Writing Requirement (ULWR)

Courses meeting the LSA Upper-Level Writing Requirement in Communication Studies are numbered COMM 350-399.

Students enrolled in these courses must complete all writing assignments, regardless of whether or not they are seeking ULWR credit.

Quantitative Reasoning (QR) Requirement.

Comm 221 meets the Quantitative Reasoning requirement set by LSA. This course is offered as an elective in the major.

Undergraduate Internship: COMM 321

Communication Studies declared majors who have reached junior standing may receive some amount of experiential course credit for an internship. Students must have completed the two prerequisite courses (COMM 101, 102), with a C grade or greater. Experiential credit is granted for work that takes place outside a university classroom, laboratory, library, or studio and is directly related to an academic discipline. COMM 321 credits do not fulfill any Communication Studies major requirement. Credits earned count toward the general LSA credits for the degree. In order to be approved for credit, internships must:

1. involve systematic learning with demonstrated application of experience to the theory, concepts, or research methods of the field;
2. be approved in advance by the faculty internship coordinator by the proposal deadline: (Summer - June 12; Fall - September 12; Winter - January 12); and
3. result in a product (e.g., an analytical paper) that is evaluated as acceptable by the faculty internship coordinator.

Communication Studies majors learn of available internships through the University of Michigan's Career Center and the LSA Opportunity Hub. Additional internship and professional career opportunities are provided through the Communication Studies Undergraduate CTools site and weekly e-mails and from the undergraduate student organization, Michigan Association of Communication Studies (MACS).

In order to ensure that majors can enroll in required courses, up to 75% of spaces in many 400-level Communication Studies courses are reserved for declared majors through senior and junior registration. Any additional seats will be released after that time for enrollment by any LSA junior or senior who meets enforced prerequisites for the course.

All spaces in the Capstone seminars are reserved for declared senior Communication Studies majors.

Majors may only take one single capstone course (COMM 450-490) to count toward the major requirements.

COMMUNICATION STUDIES WAITLIST POLICY

Permission and the 2 Class Attendance Rule

Department policy requires students to attend the first two seminars or lectures of the course. For lecture courses with discussion/lab sections, department policy requires students to attend the first two lectures and first discussion/lab section of the course. Failure to do so may result in the student being administratively dropped from the course for non-attendance.

Waitlist and Permission Policies

For all classes, the department uses the electronic waitlist system once the class fills. Students seeking to enroll in an already full class can put their names on a waitlist through the on-line registration system (Wolverine Access). A waitlist number will appear on the student’s schedule indicating the sequential spot on the electronic waitlist. However, priority on the waitlist is determined, not by sequential order, but by the department policies listed below. Faculty members will apply appropriate departmental policies to determine which, if any, students are accepted into the class once it is full and waitlisted. Due to the reservation restrictions of Communication Studies courses for officially declared students, newly declared Communication Studies students are encouraged to waitlist for any closed Communication Studies courses.

WAITLIST PRIORITIES IN COMM 101 and COMM 102:

1. Sophomores, including those with Junior class standing due to Advanced Placement credit (54 credits or less after exclusion of AP credit)
2. Freshmen
3. Juniors
4. Seniors

WAITLIST PRIORITIES IN 200-, 300- and 400-LEVEL ELECTIVE COURSES

1. Senior declared Communication Studies majors
2. Junior declared Communication Studies majors
3. Sophomore declared Communication Studies majors
4. All other undergraduate students in order of sequence on the electronic waitlist

WAITLIST PRIORITIES IN COMM 350-399 (ULWR) COURSES:

1. Senior declared Communication Studies majors
2. Junior declared Communication Studies majors
3. Sophomore declared Communication Studies majors
4. All other undergraduate students in order of sequence on the waitlist

NOTE: All students enrolled in COMM courses designated as Upper-Level Writing Requirement must complete all writing assignments regardless of whether or not they are seeking ULWR credit

WAITLIST PRIORITIES IN COMM 450-490 CAPSTONE COURSES:

1. Declared Communication Studies seniors in order of sequence on the electronic waitlist.

Permission Priorities

Faculty will use the department’s established priorities to grant permissions. Students who are registered in one section of a class, but wish to switch sections, will NOT be given priority over any student on the official waitlist in Wolverine Access.

Permission Procedures

Permissions are approved only by faculty after the term begins. Permissions are issued within 24 business hours of department staff receiving them from the instructor. Students offered permission will receive an e-mail with registration information from Wolverine Access. Permissions will be valid for 3 days and will expire at midnight on the third day (which includes weekends). Failure to use the permission within the 3 day time frame will result in being administratively dropped from the waitlist. After receiving permission, students must add the class via Wolverine Access to become officially enrolled. Also, students will not be able to register for the course (add the course) until permissions are issued and they have dropped from the waitlist. In all cases, it is the student’s responsibility to insure that he or she is properly enrolled in, or dropped from, a course.

New Major Status

Newly declared majors should present the approved, signed Declaration Form to instructors in waitlisted courses to confirm official declaration status. Faculty rely on the signed Declaration Forms to validate a student’s official Communication Studies major status so that appropriate waitlist priority is granted.