Strategic Communications: Theory and Implementation

Catalog description

This course provides students with a comprehensive understanding of professional strategic communications via examining key theoretical and conceptual fundamentals of persuasive communication, attitude formation and change, and mass communication, while examining applied implications that affect the strategic communications industry. Students in this course will be: 1) exposed to academic research that analyzes and explains how and why the implementation of strategic communication works, and 2) shown how this information can be tested, extended, and applied to goal-oriented communication campaigns. Through comprehending both the theoretical underpinnings of strategic communications practices and their proper application, students will gain valuable knowledge that applies to both scholarly pursuits -- which help to develop theory and knowledge -- and professional pursuits, in which theoretical advancements can provide real-world solutions. Strategic communications professionals need to comprehend a wide range of theoretical frameworks to understand how theory and research can inform the implementation of communications plans and decision-making. Students in this course will gain knowledge in traditional and contemporary academic research that examines the mechanisms of persuasive and mass communication in affecting consumers' beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Students will examine the interplay of these theories and identify key gaps in the literature and/or untested potential relationships that could help better explain how strategic communications plans work or should work. Based on this insight, students will apply their theoretical knowledge to realistic industry situations and will be able to offer specific suggestions and communication strategies to solve actual problems. Students will learn how the implementation, testing, and extension of relevant theory can guide precise strategic-communications decisions and strategies that lead to specific outcomes among varied target audiences and consumers. The material covered in this course forms the foundation of understanding how the field of strategic communications functions and how this knowledge can be advanced and applied to achieve desired, communication-based results for any entity.