PROCMN 500 | PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION ORIENTATION AND RESIDENCY I | 2 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This multiple day immersive residency is held in late summer before the start of fall quarter classes. This residency orients the new incoming cohort of students to university, college and program resources, faculty, and staff, including the Vincentian mission and the professional communication program vision, goals, and curriculum. During the residency, students will engage in peer-to-peer cohort-building activities, including engaging with and learning from the prior cohort about succeeding in grad school. Incoming students will also learn from and network with a diverse range of professional communication leaders from Chicago-area organizations and beyond, faculty and staff, as well as with alumni. Students will be introduced to the program final project expectations and will complete a paper on "how to succeed in grad school" based on a reciprocal mentoring relationship (aka co-mentoring) established across cohorts.
Status as a Professional Communication student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
PROCMN 501 | THE FUTURE OF PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This course provides an introduction to the field of professional communication, examining communication roles, organizational environments, and changing workforce dynamics driven by business and societal trends, issues, and events. The instructor and students will peer together into the "crystal ball" and look at where professional communication is today and where it may be going in the future, based on major business and societal trends, issues, and events. Students will engage with senior communication leaders from diverse backgrounds and lived experiences; the class will critically reflect upon these conversations on the future of professional communication. Students will also share and discuss as a shared learning community their own "trendspotting resources" for succeeding as professional communicators.
Status as a Professional Communication student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
PROCMN 510 | DIGITAL MEDIA SKILLS FOR PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This course will introduce techniques and tools for communication professionals to effectively communicate creative ideas, organize and facilitate online meetings, create digital and multimedia products, and devise strategies suitable for social media engagement and event planning. The course topics include but are not limited to presentation design, virtual meeting management, podcast and short video interview creation, social media strategy, and event coverage.
Status as a Professional Communication student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
PROCMN 520 | WRITING FOR PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION CAREERS | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
A key goal of good writing is to inform and persuade the target audience in any format. This course aligns with the demands on communications professionals to produce clear, clean, concise copy quickly and efficiently. Students will acquire an appreciation of the art and practice of good writing by diagnosing their own writing challenges, recognizing and analyzing what makes writing "good," and acquiring the necessary tools to become a better writer and a sharper editor. We emphasize both process and product. Students will read relevant material on writing best practices, and work through a series of exercises to troubleshoot their own work. They will learn to deconstruct their writing process and rebuild it with a renewed focus on credibility and professionalism in all their written work.
Status as a Professional Communication student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
PROCMN 530 | PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION LAW, POLICY AND ETHICS | 2 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This course will provide an overview of key areas of law and policy relevant to Professional Communication, including analysis of the ethical issues that permeate those legal issues.
Status as a Professional Communication student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
PROCMN 540 | RESEARCH METHODS AND INSIGHTS FOR PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Communication professionals rely on internal and external research to guide communication strategy. This course will overview applied quantitative and qualitative research methods, including (but not limited to) secondary data acquisition and analysis, in-depth interviews, focus groups, and surveys. Students will practice techniques in measurement and sampling, statistical analysis, thematic analysis, data visualization, and effective research reporting in a professional context.
Status as a Professional Communication student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
PROCMN 550 | EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IN TEAMS | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Effective Communication in Teams will offer communication practitioners the skills they need to build, manage, and evaluate team projects within an organizational context. The course draws on insights from research, best practices, and real-world scenarios. Students will utilize a communicative lens to explore diversity, define roles, build culture, manage conflict, and improve performance in a team context. Coursework includes individual and group projects.
Status as a Professional Communication student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
PROCMN 560 | TOPICS IN PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This course examines a broad range of topics related to professional communication. The course may address such topics as digital communication, corporate social responsibility, strategic communication for advocacy, the use of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and metaverse in professional communication, global communication, social media, influencer marketing, brand communities, artificial intelligence and communication, or fashion public relations and advertising.
Status as a Professional Communication student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
PROCMN 570 | EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION WITH EMPLOYEES | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This course will offer communication practitioners critical insights and skills for effective communication with employees. More specifically, the course reviews best communication practice for effectively recruiting, selecting, onboarding, and integrating new employees; examines current research and practical advice on effective supervision, feedback and performance appraisal activity; explores communication strategies for diffusing common workplace relationship dysfunctions and conflicts; and reviews effective communication practices for building community and inclusive cultures at work.
Status as a Professional Communication student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
PROCMN 580 | DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This course is designed to equip professionals with a comprehensive foundation and applied skill set for fostering diversity, equity and inclusion in the contemporary workplace. The course focuses on the role of concrete communication practices, the centrality of words and actions, in competent and inclusive performance and leadership. Furthermore, the course offers best practices and specific tools for proactive change in--and the recruitment, retention, and promotion of--diverse talent in the workplace.
Status as a Professional Communication student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
PROCMN 590 | CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER: ADVISING AND COUNSELING LEADERSHIP | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This course examines the roles, responsibilities and competencies of the Chief Communications Officer (CCO) and other senior communications professionals, with a focus on serving as a trusted advisor and counselor to organizational leadership (i.e., C-suite leaders and boards of directors) and bringing stakeholder perspectives to the table. Students will develop their business acumen as communication managers through learning the key language, thinking and issues of the organizational leaders that CCOs and their communications teams help advise in the creation of business and social value. As part of the final class project, students will learn directly from and network with senior communicators of leading organizations.
Status as a Professional Communication student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.
PROCMN 599 | PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION FINAL PROJECT AND RESIDENCY II | 6 quarter hours
(Graduate)
In this capstone course, students will exhibit their learnings through producing a professionally oriented final project plan that addresses a professional communication challenge or opportunity in the workplace. Various types of final projects will be offered as options. Students will complete a final project where they develop actionable recommendations in response to an approved partner organization's real-world communication challenge or opportunity. Through collaboration in this course and the Pro Comm Final Project Showcase event, students will come together as a learner community to discuss their work and network through a culminating residency activity, in which they share their projects (e.g., via small group discussions) with faculty/staff, communication professionals and the incoming cohort.
Status as a Professional Communication student or department consent is a prerequisite for this class.