Welcome to the Department of Communication at the University of Colorado Denver!
If you’re reading this message, then you’re serious about learning more about the Department of Communication at the University of Colorado Denver. Thank you! Allow me to tell you why I love this department and think you will too.
Joining our department means joining a dynamic community of learners and scholars dedicated to using communication to create a more equitable and humane world. That’s our mission. We work to advance it every day to achieve our vision: promote innovation in student learning, excellence in research, and a commitment to social justice. In doing so, we uphold our values: cultivate creativity and compassion, encourage civic engagement, foster diversity and global humility, facilitate career development, and increase access to higher education. To see how we enact our mission, vision, and values, just look at a fraction of the countless community projects, civic events, and research programs that our faculty, students, and staff undertake.
In joining our department, you will be joining a worldwide community of students and scholars of Communication. Communication means different things to different people, but to me, it means the best part of being human. All animals communicate, but humans have a unique ability to use symbols to inform and influence each other. Our communication can have a profound impact on our lives and those around us. It can build up or tear down. It can educate or mislead. It can heal or harm. We must therefore be mindful of what we say and how we say it. We also communicate via listening, that is, by creating space for respectful consideration of another’s perspective and experience. In Speaking into the Air: A History of the Idea of Communication, John Durham Peters writes, “‘Communication’ is a rich tangle of intellectual and cultural strands that encodes our time’s confrontations with itself. To understand communication is to understand much more.” Indeed, our task as students of communication is ultimately to understand ourselves and others – to recognize and appreciate “the delight that difference makes possible.”
I have been a member of the department since 2009. When I first joined, I knew it was a special place. Today, I still work with many of the people I first met back then—a testament to our department’s enduring sprit of collegiality and care. These colleagues, and all those who have joined since, have become master teachers, world-renowned scholars, and university, disciplinary, and community leaders. They have also become dear friends, and I am grateful to work with such outstanding educators. Over the years, I have watched them teach and learn with hundreds (if not thousands) of students who have, in turn, become successful alumni who have used their communication education to transform lives and shape our world. Welcome!
Sincerely,
Hamilton Bean, PhD, MBA, APR
Chair of the Department of Communication