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Communication Studies, B.A.

Faculty

  • Chairperson: Jason Leigh Jarvis 
  • Professors: Bryant Keith Alexander, Michele L. Hammers
  • Associate Professors: Christopher J. Finlay, Jason Leigh Jarvis, Meng Li, Nina Maria Lozano, Allison Noyes, Patricia Oliver, Kyra L. Pearson, Craig O. Rich
  • Assistant Professors: Ivey Fofie, Sergio Juárez, Corrina Laughlin, Natalie Ngai, Romy RW
  • Clinical Professors: Thomas Dowd, Kathleen Norris
  • Instructors: Rebecca Avalos

Mission Statement

The Communication Studies Department provides students from across the LMU community with the communication competencies necessary to pursue their personal, professional, and civic goals. Our faculty and students examine how messages and meanings are produced, interpreted, and consumed. In particular, our program rigorously engages the following:

  • The production and evaluation of communication messages,
  • The role of communication in shaping the performance of identity and community,
  • The processes and technologies by which people relate to and collaborate with each other, and
  • The importance of principled advocacy across our personal, professional and public lives.

Throughout all aspects of our program, we encourage self-reflection and critical engagement with disciplinary subject matter and contemporary social and political events at the local and global level. We encourage our students and faculty to nurture personal habits of lifelong learning and service.

In addition, our students and faculty produce scholarship that advances our knowledge of human communication, enhances the quality of public deliberation, and bridges the gap between our curriculum and real world experiences. To serve these goals, the Communication Studies Department creates an environment where students and faculty pursue scholarship, community engagement, and leadership in civic, corporate, and international arenas.

Finally, we develop students’ professional competencies and enable them to maximize their post-graduation opportunities for career development. In seeing professional development as a shared responsibility, students are empowered to cultivate their communication skills outside of the classroom through engaged forms of learning and professional development.

Potential Career Pathways

A degree in Communication Studies (CMST) from Loyola Marymount University provides students with the opportunity to develop essential skills–writing, oral communication, critical thinking, and teamwork–that are in high demand in today’s challenging and ever-changing world.

CMST students take a variety of courses that allow for both depth and breadth of study across five curricular areas (relational communication, intercultural communication, organizational and strategic communication, rhetoric, and media studies). We feature a rigorous Internship Practicum course for our juniors and seniors as well as several career or professional skills-based courses. CMST students often pursue minors in fields such as business, journalism, political science, or the arts to complement their CMST coursework.

With careful academic planning, CMST graduates are prepared for a variety of entry-level positions emphasizing both internal and external communication management across corporate, nonprofit, and/or public fields.

Below are a few of those fields:

  • Corporate and Non-profit Communication
  • Public Relations and Advertising
  • Social Media Management
  • Human Resources
  • Training and Development
  • Development and Fundraising
  • Campaign Strategy
  • Sales and Marketing

Our graduates often successfully pursue additional education, including advanced degrees, in a variety of academic fields. These fields include:

  • Communication Studies and related fields
  • Law
  • Business
  • Mediation/Conflict Resolution
  • Media Studies
  • Education