Courses Overview

Courses in the Integrated Marketing Communication program are broken into Foundation courses, Principles courses, Elective, Cognate and a Capstone Experience. The program consists of 33-36 credit hours taken over two years. Courses are designed to prepare students for a variety of careers in the dynamic field of communication. Please note that students choose one of three emphasis areas Integrated Marketing Communication, Digital Marketing Communication or Hispanic Marketing Communication.

The following course list is meant to give a general overview of the program. A specific plan based on student interest will be developed with an advisor after admission to the program. Students may choose to focus their program based on their personal area of interest. For an example of a typical student course load during the program please see the Sample Program.

Foundation Courses

Fundamentals of Integrated Marketing Communication Required
Computers in Communication Required
Statistical Methods in Communication Research Required

Principles Courses Choose 1 course depending on emphasis area

Emphasis Area	Course
Integrated Marketing Communication	Account Planning
Digital Marketing Communication	Desktop Multimedia
Hispanic Marketing Communication	Hispanic Marketing Communication
Please see graduate bulletin for specific course descriptions.

Elective and Cognate Courses

Elective courses and cognate courses are determined with the major professor and committee members. These courses are chosen depending upon special interests of the student and skills the student wishes to develop. Elective courses may include, but are not limited to:

Assessing Organizational Communication,
Media Consumer Behavior,
Organizational Communication Theory and Practice,
Content Analysis in Communication Research,
Systems Thinking and Project Management,
and New Communication Technology Theory and Research.

Cognate courses may come from one department outside communication, or from several departments where the content of the courses complement a course of study. Most often cognate courses come from business or instructional design, but there are no limits other than approval of the supervisory committee.

Capstone Experience

Capstone Course

Emphasis Area	Capstone Course
Integrated Marketing Communication	Marketing Communication Management
Digital Marketing Communication	Advanced Problems in Digital Media
Hispanic Marketing Communication	Advanced Problems in Multicultural Marketing Communication
Please see graduate bulletin for specific course descriptions.

Comprehensive Activity

Students select one of three options as a final, capstone experience in the master’s program:

Research Project - Students who choose the project or research option complete an applied project under the supervision of the major professor.
Residency - Students who choose the residency option complete what is analogous to an expanded internship. Normally a residency requires on-the-job work for approximately 20 hours in a semester. Residencies may not be taken during a six-weeks term in summer session.
Thesis - Students who choose the thesis option are required to complete a thesis as described in the Graduate Bulletin.

Certificate Programs

Students are encouraged to consider the following certificate programs:

Certificate in Digital Video Production
Certificate in Hispanic Marketing Communication
Certificate in Project Management