Total Semester Hours required for the Degree: 120 semester hours

Semester Hours required for the Communication Studies: Interpersonal Communication Option: 45 semester hours

This Option is designed for students who are interested in developing knowledge, skills, and abilities that facilitate effective communication in personal, professional, and group contexts. Option Core requirements examine interpersonal communication processes of influence, support, conflict, and intimacy among friends, family, romantic partners, and in the workplace. Graduates with an Interpersonal Communication Option are particularly well-prepared for positions which require working with individuals and groups from varying backgrounds, with differing needs and interests, and where the goals of communication are to inform/explain, influence, and/or negotiate resolution of problems or disputes. Interpersonal Communication students can tailor the program so as to prepare themselves for work in multiple or multi-faceted communicative environments (e.g. as an advisor, educator, mediator, liaison, change agent in profit, non-profit, and national and international contexts).