Overview
Social media management requires a unique set of skills that take students far beyond traditional communication and media production proficiency. However, our social media track does more than just prepare graduates to competently use leading social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Beyond learning the general functionality of social media, students learn to employ ethical standards for communicating with social media while applying their own moral standards. Students on this track explore the dangers of social media, and the importance of setting social media policies for the workplace.
With the appropriate support courses and possible minor options, the social media track prepares students for communicating and marketing with social media, including effective use of interactive designs. Students can learn to examine the social press and how to share client and personal expertise and experiences with the online world, how to use social tools for collaborative work, and how to distinguish the characteristics and methods, advantages and pitfalls, of virtual communities, social photos and videos, collective intelligence, crowd-sourcing, social production, and wiki collaboration.
Students majoring in communication studies must successfully complete all core courses and one of the specified tracks for a total of 39 semester hours in CMST. Students must complete 18 credits of 3000- and 4000-level courses in the CMST major. Students must also complete all requirements for a Bachelor of Arts degree, including the completion of an approved academic minor.
COURSE | TITLE | S.H. |
---|---|---|
FIRST YEAR REQUIREMENT -STUDENT SUCCESS | ||
YSU 1500 | Success Seminar | 1-2 |
or SS 1500 | Strong Start Success Seminar | |
or HONR 1500 | Intro to Honors | |
General Education Requirements | ||
ENGL 1550 | Writing 1 | 3-4 |
or ENGL 1549 | Writing 1 with Support | |
ENGL 1551 | Writing 2 | 3 |
CMST 1545 | Communication Foundations | 3 |
Mathematics Requirement (e.g., MATH 2623, STAT 2625) | 3 | |
Arts and Humanities (6 s.h.) | 6 | |
Natural Sciences (2 courses, 1 with lab) (6-7 s.h.) | 7 | |
Social Science (6 s.h.) | 6 | |
Social and Personal Awareness (6 s.h.) | 6 | |
Foreign Language Requirement | ||
Foreign Language 1550 (or FNLG 1505) | 4 | |
Foreign Language 2600 (or FNLG 1506) | 4 | |
Major Requirements | ||
CMST 2600 | Communication Theory | 3 |
CMST 2630 | Social Media Literacy | 3 |
CMST 2655 | Communication in Groups and Organizations | 3 |
CMST 2656 | Interpersonal Communication | 3 |
CMST 3700 | Designing Communication Research | 3 |
CMST 4899 | Senior Project | 3 |
Social Media Track | ||
JOUR 2624 | Communication Technology - Photo and Video | 3 |
CMST 3717 | Intro to Media Relations Campaigns | 3 |
CMST 3740 | Social Media Communication | 3 |
CMST 3757 | Media Relations Writing | 3 |
CMST 4850 | Social Media Campaigns | 3 |
CMST 4851 | New Communication Media | 3 |
CMST 5860 | Persuasion and New Media | 3 |
Minor Requirements (note that some minors require more than 12 credits) | 12 | |
Electives (note that students must complete 39 hours of upper division courses; 37xx and above) | 23 | |
Total Semester Hours | 120-122 |
Year 1 | ||
---|---|---|
Fall | S.H. | |
YSU 1500 | Success Seminar or Strong Start Success Seminar or Intro to Honors | 1-2 |
CMST 1545 | Communication Foundations | 3 |
ENGL 1550 or ENGL 1549 | Writing 1 or Writing 1 with Support | 3-4 |
MATH 2623 | Quantitative Reasoning | 3 |
GE: Social & Personal Awareness | 3 | |
Semester Hours | 13-15 | |
Spring | ||
CMST 2600 | Communication Theory | 3 |
CMST 2630 | Social Media Literacy | 3 |
CMST 2656 | Interpersonal Communication | 3 |
ENGL 1551 | Writing 2 | 3 |
GE: Lab Science | 4 | |
Semester Hours | 16 | |
Year 2 | ||
Fall | ||
CMST 2655 | Communication in Groups and Organizations | 3 |
FNLG 1550 | Elementary Foreign Language | 4 |
General Elective | 3 | |
GER Social & Personal Awareness | 3 | |
GER Natural Science | 3 | |
Semester Hours | 16 | |
Spring | ||
JOUR 2624 | Communication Technology - Photo and Video | 3 |
FNLG 2600 | Intermediate Foreign Language | 4 |
General Elective | 3 | |
GER Arts & Humanities | 3 | |
GER Social Sciences | 3 | |
Semester Hours | 16 | |
Year 3 | ||
Fall | ||
CMST 3700 | Designing Communication Research | 3 |
CMST 3717 | Intro to Media Relations Campaigns | 3 |
CMST 3740 | Social Media Communication | 3 |
Minor Course | 3 | |
GER Arts & Humanities | 3 | |
Semester Hours | 15 | |
Spring | ||
CMST 3757 | Media Relations Writing | 3 |
CMST 4850 | Social Media Campaigns | 3 |
GER Social Science | 3 | |
Upper-division Minor Course | 3 | |
Upper Division General Elective | 3 | |
Semester Hours | 15 | |
Year 4 | ||
Fall | ||
CMST 4851 | New Communication Media | 3 |
Upper-division Minor course | 3 | |
General Elective | 5 | |
Upper-division General Elective | 3 | |
Semester Hours | 14 | |
Spring | ||
CMST 4899 | Senior Project | 3 |
CMST 5860 | Persuasion and New Media | 3 |
General Elective | 3 | |
Upper-division Minor course | 3 | |
General Elective | 3 | |
Semester Hours | 15 | |
Total Semester Hours | 120-122 |
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Regardless of track, students graduating with a B.A. degree in communication studies will:
- Students graduating with a B.A. degree in Communication Studies will interpret, evaluate, and apply communication scholarship.
- Students graduating with a B.A. degree in Communication Studies will perform verbal and nonverbal behaviors that illustrate self-efficacy.
- Students graduating with a B.A. degree in Communication Studies will demonstrate communication expertise in their career development.
- Students graduating with a B.A. degree in Communication Studies will identify communication theories, perspectives, principles, and concepts.
Students completing their degree in communication studies are uniquely qualified to enter the job market and compete effectively throughout their careers for advancement and promotion.
Through course offerings and applied learning experiences, the communication studies program combines a rich liberal arts emphasis with a much needed specialized professional and career focus for undergraduate students.