2024-2025 Pierce College Catalog
Communication Studies (AA-DTA) Course Map
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 Return to: Course Maps and Programs by Career Pathway
Created by Pierce faculty, this map outlines the initial coursework for this career field and for transfer to a four-year institution. It provides you a clear path to complete your degree by listing a specific set of courses relevant to your program and career. The map is designed with the appropriate number of credits and meets degree requirements. Courses are organized in a recommended sequence; please schedule accordingly. If a course is unavailable, select the next appropriate course within the sequence. If you want to change a course on this map you must speak with an advisor to assure you meet all degree requirements. For each course, a purpose statement explains how the content relates to your career field. On this map, there may be instances when you will be required to select a course from several options. Use these purpose statements and notes to choose the course that best aligns with your interests and needs. You will also find action items to complete to assure you progress and graduate on time. While this map is a great guide to courses required to complete an Associate in Arts - Direct Transfer Agreement (AA-DTA) Degree Requirements Degree, you are responsible for fulfilling all degree requirements. Questions? Your Success Network is ready to help you!
Important note about transfer: colleges and universities may change their requirements at any time, so this map is not a guarantee of transfer. You will need to check transfer requirements with your intended four-year school.
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2. Introduction to Communication
Action Item: Meet with Advisor
Use your Success Network! In your first quarter, meet with your advisor to revisit your career and transfer path, make adjustments to your goals as needed, and plan for your next steps.
4. English Composition I
- ENGL& 101 English Composition I (5 credits)
Course purpose: Clear and strategic written communication with others is a central feature of all communications careers. The skills you will learn in ENGL& 101, such as exposition and persuasion, which will dovetail with material covered in CMST& 220. Note: Your advisor will assist you in reviewing your Guided Self Placement and selecting either the 5-credit or the 7-credit co-requisite ENGL& 101 + ENGLC 101 course.
6. Introduction to Sociology
8. Natural Science Course Recommendation
- BIOL& 100 Survey of Biology (5 credits)
Course purpose: Students in communication need to develop skills in observation, testing, and analysis. BIOL& 100 explores the living world including the study of cells, genetics, ecology, diversity of life and physiology in order to establish a foundation of understanding and respect of life. - PHYS& 110 Physics for Non-Science Majors (5 credits)
Course purpose: Students in communication need to develop skills in observation, testing, and analysis. PHYS& 110 explores the physical world by relating everyday experiences to the principles and laws of physics.
9. Humanities Course Recommendation
Choose one
- PHIL& 115 Critical Thinking (5 credits)
Course purpose: This course provides tools/filters for you to make better choices in communication. Critical thinking is especially important in a field like communication where there aren’t easy answers for interacting with others. - PHIL 150 Introduction to Ethics (5 credits)
Course purpose: Making and understanding ethical communication choices is important to those studying communication. Ethics in communication is commonly studied and the field of rhetoric is tied to early philosophers such as Socrates, Aristotle, Isocrates, Cicero and Quintillian.
10. General Psychology
- PSYC& 100 General Psychology (5 credits)
Course purpose: Psychology is the scientific study of how people behave, think and feel. It is important to account for these factors in the sending and receiving of messages/communication. This course presents concepts from communications courses in an alternative scientific lens, thus enhancing experience with the complexity of rhetoric and communication.
11. Humanities Course Recommendation
Sequence 11 - There are 3 specialization areas in this map: Interpersonal, Intercultural, and Public Address. If following the Intercultural and Public address paths select one course from this grouping. If following the interpersonal path it is recommended to select a course from sequence #16 group A (interpersonal). Second World Language option is offered here for meeting transfer requirements.
Choose One
- HUM 105 Black American Thought and Cultures (5 credits)
Course purpose: Many topics and theories covered in this course are also applicable in communication courses. This course offers a chance for students explore how culture and race are communicated through the channels of literature and rhetoric. - HUM 106 Ethnic Thought and Culture (5 credits)
Course purpose: Many topics and theories covered in this course are also applicable in communication courses. This course offers a chance for students explore how culture and race are communicated through the channels of literature and rhetoric. - HUM 109 Introduction to The Harlem Renaissance (5 credits)
Course purpose: Many topics and theories covered in this course are also applicable in communication courses. This course offers a chance for students explore how culture and race are communicated through the channels of literature and rhetoric. - ENGL 207 Native American Literatures (5 credits)
Course purpose: This course would be recommended for the intercultural scholar and/or the rhetorical scholar. This course showcases not only cultural transmission of ideas, insight into the historical rhetorical patterns of Native Americans, as well as the impact of colonial powers on communication. - ENGL 239 World Literature (5 credits)
Course purpose: This course offers students an opportunity to expand their understanding of intercultural communication by analyzing and writing about the literature of regions around the world.
12. English Composition II
13. Social Science Course Recommendation
14. Intercultural Communication
16. Social Science Course Recommendation
Choose one course from one specialization area.
Group A - Interpersonal Specialization
- PSYC& 200 Lifespan Psychology (5 credits)
Course purpose: This course dovetails with the pursuit of interpersonal communication but with a scientific bent that would appeal specifically to nursing majors and health care professionals. - PSYC 210 Social Psychology (5 credits)
Course purpose: Social psychology surveys how people are affected by the world around them. Social influence includes obediency, conformity, and sales and negotiation strategies. Social relations includes stereotyping, love and liking. Social thinking includes identity, how we think about ourselves and how we explain the world. - PSYC 230 Intro to Personality (5 credits)
Course purpose: Communication scholars recognize that the personality of an individual has a significant impact on the ways in which a person communicates in a dyad. Because many theories in Communication are also found in Psychology this course adds to a students’ understanding of interpersonal theory. - SOC 211 Family and Intimate Relationships (5 credits)
Course purpose: Students in interpersonal communication must also have an understanding of family dynamics and intimate relationships as these are important contexts for the communication scholar, especially a student pursuing interpersonal communication as a specialty. - SOC 220 Gender Roles in Society (5 credits)
Course purpose: Interpersonal interaction requires understanding of how aspects of gender and social interaction affect human communication. This course provides an understanding of how humans behave in this context.
Group B - Intercultural Specialization
- ANTH& 206 Cultural Anthropology (5 credits)
Course purpose: This course fits well with intercultural communication and explores specific culture groups that model intercultural communication trends. Major topics include the concept of culture, ethnographic research, divergent social roles and identity, family systems, and the impacts of colonialism, modernization and globalization. - SOC 235 Race and Ethnicity (5 credits)
Course purpose: Interpersonal interaction requires understanding of how aspects of race and ethnicity affect human communication. This course provides an understanding of how humans behave in this context and rationales for those behaviors.
Group C - Public Address Specialization
- HIST& 156 History of US I (5 credits)
Course purpose: Background in history offers students a look into how cultural values, perceptions and experience manifest into law, as well as into organizational ruling structures. US History I covers everything prior to 1840. - HIST& 157 History of US II (5 credits)
Course purpose: Background in history offers students a look into how cultural values, perceptions and experience manifest into law, as well as into organizational ruling structures. US History II covers 1840-1900. - HIST& 158 History of US III (5 credits)
Course purpose: Background in history offers students a look into how cultural values, perceptions and experience manifest into law, as well as into organizational ruling structures. US History III covers 1900 - present. - HIST& 159 History of US IV (5 credits)
Course purpose: Background in history offers students a look into how cultural values, perceptions and experience manifest into law, as well as into organizational ruling structures. US History IV covers 1939 - present.
17. Small Group Communication
18. Survey Environmental Science
19. Social Science Course Recommendation
Choose one course from sequence #16 options, that you have not completed.
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