Welcome to Communications
Students in the college's communications program become familiar and skilled in written and verbal communication, accompanied by an understanding of how those skills can be applied.
Communications students also become familiar with the ways in which technology is changing the role of the media in government, the environment, and commerce today, while learning the complexities of media ethics, and the responsibilities and practices of fair and accurate journalism.
Because the practice of Communications requires a range of subject-area expertise, each student is encouraged to develop a unique focus within the general communications curriculum. Such a focus will integrate a student’s interests with their coursework in the Environmental Liberal Arts and other academic disciplines. To support this engagement, a combination of coursework and publishing opportunities emphasize fields in which Green Mountain College offers expertise, including environmental communication, environmental writing, and media advocacy.
Communications students complete their coursework with a professional portfolio that synthesizes coursework with the experience gained through an off-campus internship or a media practicum at campus publications and community communications projects.
Communications graduates may continue their studies with a range of graduate degrees. Career choices include editorial positions for media publications, positions as information specialists for government, business and non-profit organizations, and work in strategic communications and media advocacy.
Green Mountain College offers a Communications degree with two concentrations and a Communications minor.
1.
Communications: Media Practices.
Students complete a unified core and advanced and applied courses from which they craft a unique communication expertise. Students are advised to complete Communications and general electives that support in-depth specialization as communicators as well as specific subject-area expertise. Minors or double-majors are encouraged.
2.
Communications: Media Advocacy.
Students complete a similar core and advanced courses as the Media Practices concentration, with the addition of coursework and internships that support interdisciplinary advocacy campaigns. Students in this concentration select an “Area of Practice” to add focused studies in a discipline supporting their professional goals as media advocates.
3.
A Minor in Communications integrates with any major the college offers. The minor adds core communication skills to support media publishing and communication of the subject-area expertise from the student’s major field of study.
These programmatic learning goals correlate with specific values and competencies identified by accrediting councils in the field. Students are introduced to these learning goals in a variety of courses that integrate history, theory and practice. A level of mastery is developed as students publish a digital portfolio that documents professional practices and engagement with college and community publishing projects. Within this portfolio students are expected to refine and demonstrate mastery of a personal communications focus while achieving the comprehensive goals of the Communications program.