BS in Communication Concentrations
Interpersonal/Organizational Communication
Outstanding communication skills are essential to our personal and professional lives. Whether you are trying to seal the deal in the board room, or simply converse with your family, you will know how to think critically about communication processes and their impact on our world.
Communication plays a vital role in management, sales, corporate communication and public service careers. In our interpersonal and organizational communication concentration, you will study persuasion, small groups, conflict, gender, culture, public speaking, media and family relations. This concentration prepares students seeking real world applications of theory as well as those who intend to pursue graduate education.
Media Studies
Media Studies is a field of study within the Communication discipline that is rooted in social science and critical and cultural traditions. It deals with the content, history and effects of the media, provides critical and cultural analysis of all forms of media products, and examines their effects on society and culture. If you are in the Media Studies Concentration, you will garner the skills critical to effective communication in a media-saturated world, and think critically and use the media effectively to inform, persuade and entertain via radio, television, newspapers, magazines, popular music, film and the Internet. You will master interaction with a variety of media, not only as a consumer, but also as a critical participant via research, critical thinking, and learning practical skills:
1. Research the knowledge and the skills to conduct academic and market research and analyze big data;
2. Gain critical thinking skills in critical and cultural studies classes, which are fundamental to media research and analysis in your field;
3. Develop practical skills that are transferable to the job market (such as writing, presentation, and content development for digital media) to increase your marketability and to align your skills better with the industry’s needs.
Possible Career Paths:
- Social Media Coordinator
- Digital Content Manager
- Web Designer
- Media Educator
- Media Researcher
- Media Buyer
- Media Sales Representative
- Media Analyst
- Media Manager
- Media Critic
- Media Content Developer
- Cultural Analyst
Journalism
Do you love to write? Do your parents ask, “Why do you ask so many questions?” Do your friends roll their eyes at you and say, “Why do you want to know this?” Are you passionate to have your voice heard? To make a difference? Then a Journalism concentration might be for you.
We prepare students for a surprising variety of jobs and careers. Just ask Corinne Gretler, a consumer reporter for Bloomberg News in Switzerland. Or Alex Gajewski, an associate producer for ESPN. There’s Tamara Scott, who’s an anchor and multimedia journalist at WAVY 10 News in Norfolk, Virginia. Allie Moore, a longtime features and travel writer in Barcelona, Spain. Stephen Igoe, who founded the sports news website, Hoist the Colours. And many more, including a recipient of the Edward R. Murrow award and six journalist Emmys.
We have graduates producing segments at MSNBC, AccuWeather, HuffPost.com, National Geographic and TV stations all over. Our grads write for and edit newspapers, manage social media for professional sports teams, and are on-air radio personalities. We have specialty journalists at ProgressNC Action, The Golf Shop Radio, NC Stop Human Trafficking, and Bassmaster – the perfect place for a bass fishing buff to use the multimedia skills he learned as a student at ECU.
What if you later change your mind and no longer want to do journalism? You’ll have company. We have many such grads in administrative or promotional positions at the NFL, the National Archives, Aerotek, East Carolina University, and more. Several of our graduates went on to find success in law school or graduate programs. In all these examples, the skills they learned in a journalism concentration got them there.
Here’s the point: all kinds of employers want – no, are begging – for people who can write well, present themselves well, and understand and reach a constituency in a world where messages are otherwise lost or confusing. If you want to work hard, follow the news, think critically about the world around us, and make a difference, consider Journalism.
Public Relations
Designed for students interested in developing strategic messages, managing communication campaigns and practicing communication involving complex social organizations, the public relations concentration teaches applied and theoretical skills for the public relations practitioner. Students pursue a curriculum that includes the interpersonal, media and cultural courses necessary to broaden the perspective of today’s public relations professional.