Communication, M.A.

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Required credits [33]

The School of Communication offers a program of graduate study leading to the degree of Master of Arts in Communication. The program provides students with an opportunity to acquire competence in a substantive area of communication inquiry and to develop expertise in methods and skills necessary for application of that knowledge to communication problems. Students benefit from exposure to social scientific and humanistic approaches to the study of communication. The school also offers courses for aspiring and practicing communication professionals with interests in integrated corporate communication, multimedia communication, and other areas.

Graduate classes in the School of Communication typically have 10 to 20 students, just the right size for dynamic class discussions and active learning through projects and presentations. They also are sized right for close relationships between faculty and students. Faculty can get to know their students and offer more personal and individualized instruction. Conveniently scheduled in the evenings, classes have a rich mixture of traditional full-time graduate students and working professionals taking a class or two each term. Students come from a broad range of backgrounds.

The program provides an opportunity for the student to work closely with a faculty advisor. Together, student and advisor design a unique program of study that encompasses both a background in communication research and theory, and a concentration in media, human communication, or integrated communication. Students are afforded the opportunity to participate in scholarly research activities and professional symposia. Cross-disciplinary study is also encouraged.

This individualized program of study prepares the student for further graduate study and/or for employment in government, nonprofit organizations, and private industry. Graduates typically are employed by media organizations, in the areas of human resources and corporate communications, and in a range of communication professions, such as advertising, integrated marketing communication, public relations, television, and radio.

Degree requirements include a thesis or a comprehensive written examination addressing the student’s area of specialization.

The School of Communication’s graduate course offerings extend beyond those listed here to include a number of timely special-topics courses. Recent special-topics courses have dealt with issues such as integrated corporate communication, new media, gender and communication, political campaign consulting, and global public-relations strategies.

Admission to the Program

The applicant must have a degree in communication or a related discipline from an accredited undergraduate institution, with a B average in the major field and an overall average of at least a B–. All applicants for admission to the graduate program are required to

file an official University application with the Center for Graduate and Adult Academic Services and submit official transcripts of all undergraduate work;
submit three letters of recommendation (recommendations should be requested from professors, employers, or colleagues who are familiar with the applicant’s ability to pursue graduate study); and
submit a letter of intent.

Students with undergraduate degrees in fields other than communication may be asked to complete appropriate undergraduate courses (without graduate credit) as preparation for graduate study in communication. Decisions regarding necessary remedial work will be made on an individual basis by the graduate program director and the student’s faculty advisor in consultation with the Graduate Admissions Committee of the School of Communication.

For the fall term, all application materials should be submitted by April 15. For the spring semester, application materials are due by November 15. Preference is given to applicants who submit by these dates, but applications at any time during the year are considered. Students are welcome to explore the program prior to formal admission by taking up to 6 credits of graduate communication courses.

All application materials should be sent to

Center for Graduate and Adult Academic Services
University of Hartford
200 Bloomfield Ave.
West Hartford, CT 06117

Students may also apply online or download an application from http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/cmm.

Requirements for Teacher Internship Awards

Teacher internships are available to full-time, matriculated graduate students in the School of Communication. They are awarded based on academic achievement, work experience, Graduate Record Examination scores, and letters of recommendation. Applicants with previous teaching and/or research experience are given preference, but qualified candidates without such experience may also receive awards.

The teaching internship involves a two-year program aimed at learning skills in teaching and researching communication using hands-on experience in the classroom and in research environments. Interns may teach laboratory sections of Introduction to Communication (CMM 110) or Improving Communication Skills (CMM 115), as well as conduct communication research as part of their training. They also attend weekly meetings with the internship coordinator.

Teacher internships include an academic scholarship and a small stipend. They are awarded each academic year, for up to two years, provided a B or higher is earned in each graduate course taken and internship responsibilities are adequately performed.

To be considered for an internship, all application materials must be received by March 1.

Transfer Credit

Normally, no more than 6 credits may be transferred toward the communication M.A. from other institutions. These are applied at the discretion of the director of graduate study.

Course Requirements

Thirty-three credit hours of approved graduate courses are required for the Master of Arts in Communication. The student and faculty advisor design a program of study that includes

CMM 650 - Seminar in Communication and CMM 655 - Communication Research Methods , to be taken as early as possible in the degree program [6 credits]
Courses agreed upon by student and faculty advisor [21 credits], up to 12 credits of which may be taken outside the department
CMM 790 - Thesis Preparation and CMM 791 - Thesis , or two additional graduate courses [6 credits]
Students must maintain a 3.0 GPA in order to graduate with the master’s degree.

CMM 650 and CMM 655 are the only two required courses in the program. The remaining courses are electives that are selected in consultation with the student’s advisor. These elective courses are in three main areas: media, integrated communication, and human communication. Courses in the media area examine the structure of media industries, content produced by media outlets, and the influence of media on audiences. Courses in integrated communication, which is a blend of advertising and public relations, provide both grounding in theory in this area and projects in which students use these theories to create effective presentations in professional settings. The human communication area analyzes communication between people in various social contexts, including organizational, small-group, and interpersonal communication.

Based on these discussions with the advisor about one’s professional and intellectual goals, a student may decide to take courses primarily in one of these three areas, or select courses from multiple areas of interest.

For those students who wish to develop an unofficial area of specialization (which will not appear on students’ transcripts as such) in one of the three main areas, the list of recommended courses for each area is as follows:

Special-Topics Courses

Students can further develop a specialization by taking special-topics courses under the designations CMM 591 , CMM 592 , CMM 593 , and CMM 595 that are offered in each of these three areas that provide a timely focus on current topics and issues. Recent special-topics courses in these areas include the following:

Media

Popular Culture, Gender in Communication and Culture, Visual Literacy for Communication Professionals

Integrated Communication

Creating a Positive Brand Image; Corporate Communication: Writing for Impact; Science-Based Communication

Human Communication

Computer-Mediated Communication and Relationships, Teams and Team Work, Persuasion

Students are expected to complete all requirements for the master’s degree within five calendar years of the date of matriculation. In extenuating circumstances, this time limit may be extended by one year by the school’s graduate program director. Up to 6 credits may be transferred from an accredited communication graduate program.

Comprehensive Examination

Students in the graduate program who do not complete a thesis must pass a comprehensive exam in which they answer questions related to their area of specialization. Two full-time faculty members from the School of Communication who have agreed to be exam readers for a student prepare questions for the exam. One question addresses a content area that is the student’s area of specialization, and the second question may address either a second content area or methodology that is related to the student’s area of specialization.

The graduate director administers the exam on one designated day; students type their responses on a computer on campus. Comprehensive exams may only be scheduled between October 1 and December 1, and February 1 and April 15 of any academic year. The exams are not normally scheduled during the summer.

The program director designates where the examination will take place and provides the computer. Students have a total of four hours to compose answers for questions from both faculty readers. Students are allowed to use notes and other materials such as books and journals when composing the exam answers, but they are not allowed access to the Internet.

The student must attend an oral defense session at which faculty members question the student about the submitted answers. Both faculty readers review both answers and the student’s performance at the oral defense, and jointly decide if a student passes or fails. In the event that the readers cannot reach consensus, the graduate program director casts the deciding vote. If the graduate program director is one of the exam readers, the director of the School of Communication casts this vote instead.

In cases in which the student fails the exam, the student has only one opportunity to retake the exam, no later than the end of the following semester. The student must respond to new questions from two readers, who may be either the same people who were readers for the initial exam or different faculty members. If the readers are satisfied with the responses, the student passes the comprehensive exam. If the student does not pass the exam on the second try, the student is dismissed from the graduate program.

Students who fail the exam on the first attempt are encouraged to meet with the graduate director for advice and guidance on taking the exam the second time. Students who fail the exam on the second attempt can request that the decision be reviewed by the director of the School of Communication. If the director is one of the faculty readers, another faculty member in the school is selected to review the decision.

The comprehensive examination may not be taken before the student has completed 24 credit hours of graduate-level course work. Students who elect to complete a thesis are exempt from the comprehensive-exam process.

Accelerated Master of Arts in Communication

The purpose of this program is to enable a University of Hartford student to complete both a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Communication in five years. This program is designed for exceptional undergraduate students who have demonstrated a commitment to academic excellence and who know in their junior year that they wish to pursue a master’s degree.

In order to qualify for the program, a student must have an overall GPA of at least 3.0, based on a minimum of 70 credits, and have a GPA of at least 3.25 in the communication major, based on a minimum of 18 credits. Students must apply by April 1 of their junior year. These students will complete the standard application for graduate study, including three letters of recommendation, two of which must come from faculty in the School of Communication. The application will be reviewed by the graduate director and the Admissions Committee of the School of Communication. Students will be informed of the school’s decision by the end of the semester.

If given conditional acceptance to the Master of Arts program, students would become eligible to take 9 credits of graduate course work in communication that would be applied to both the 36 credits required for the B.A. in Communication and to the 33 credits needed for the M.A. in Communication. These credits would be completed during the summer between the junior and senior year and/or during the regular semester of the senior year.

Interested students should contact the graduate program director in the School of Communication during the spring semester of their junior year for more information.