Community Service & Public Affairs

Community Service & Public Affairs

The Community Service and Public Affairs Pathway offers students a variety of courses meant to build the skills and experiences needed to practice communication for the common good. These courses focus on changing notions of citizenship, the norms of participation in our democracy, and the ethics of persuasion, argumentation, and social transformation. These courses also offer hands-on experiences for practicing leadership and handling conflict in real world situations. Students who focus their efforts in this pathway will therefore complete their Communication major with the skills required to work in the public sector and to act for social justice. This pathway is an ideal choice for students whose career goals focus less on accumulating wealth and power than on increasing understanding and tolerance, nurturing a sensitivity to diversity, and inculcating more respectful and thoughtful public deliberation.

Careers

Students who pursue this pathway may seek employment with nonprofit or non-governmental organizations or with local, state, or federal agencies. Examples of careers in community service for which our students may qualify include:

  • consumer advocate
  • public relations specialist for a nonprofit group
  • volunteer services coordinator
  • nonprofit communications specialist
  • fundraiser
  • web designer
  • community relations specialist
  • community liaison
  • lobbyist or special interest advocate
  • community organizer
Courses

All students who pursue this pathway will first take 2020, Communication and Citizenship.

The Community Service & Public Affairs pathway includes the following classes: 

  • 2030 Digital Democracy*
  • 2082 Intro to Enviromental Communication
  • 3271 Communication and Diversity*  
  • 3660 Social Media for Social Change*
  • 4040 Communication, Prisons, and Social Justice
  • 4082 Wilderness Communication
  • 4260 Communication and Conflict*
  • 4262 Mediation*
  • 4265 Gender and Communication
  • 4270 Intercultural Communication*
  • 4282 Environmental Communication
  • 4601 Food as Communication
  • 4682 Political Communication*
  • 4720 Global Communication
  • 4995 Nobel Cause (travel study to Guatemala in Maymester)

* = Online format available

More Information

Students who have questions about this pathway or these classes should contact Dr. Stephen John Hartnett at either 303-315-1914 or Stephen.Hartnett@ucdenver.edu.