UNDERGRADUATE BULLETIN 1999 - 2002	[ Previous Page | Table of Contents | Next Page ]

The study of rhetoric and communication enables students to become more aware of their own communicative repertoire. It makes them more critical when consuming discourse and more thoughtful when producing it. The courses in this major seek to enable students to make informed choices and intelligent decisions on matters that have more than one answer. Rhetoric assumes that all people are capable of and subject to persuasion and teaches students not only how to argue effectively, but also how to critique arguments for their consistency, validity, and consequences. Rhetoric is among the oldest of the liberal arts and is primarily concerned with the production and evaluation of symbolic action designed to influence thought and behavior in specific ways. Rhetoric evaluates messages along lines suggested by the rhetor's aims, the audience's expectations, and the demands of the occasion for the sake of which discourse is produced. Rhetoric examines the sources of belief, the bases of opinion, and the ways in which discourse brings people together or drives them apart.

While courses in rhetoric and communication strive for a thematic consistency, the student majoring in rhetoric and communication chooses a focus in one of three areas:

• Rhetorical studies that focus on the history, theory, and public context
• Communication studies that focus on the history, theory, criticism and practice of communication and persuasion in interpersonal, small group, and organization context
• Media studies that focus on the mediate communication and persuasion to mass audiences

A degree in rhetoric and communication is not vocational in design, although many of the Department of Communication's graduates hold important positions in industry, education, the media, government, law, and various other professions. An understanding of communication as a human activity, as defined above, makes the department's graduates attractive candidates when seeking employment or obtaining admission to graduate programs. For more information on the major or the Department of Communication, see http://www.pitt.edu/~website/communication/.

• Major Requirements

  The rhetoric and communication major requires the completion of 33 credits with a grade of C or better (if the course is to count toward the major), including the following courses:

  • Three core courses, which are prerequisites for the field courses in their respective areas of concentration:
    • COMMRC 0300 (Communication Process)
    • COMMRC 0310 (Rhetorical Process)
    • COMMRC 0320 (Mass Communication Process)

  • Two method courses:
    • COMMRC 0520 (Public Speaking) and one of the following:
      COMMRC 0500 (Argument), 0510 (Debate), 0530 (Interpersonal Communication), 0540 (Discussion), or 0550 (Speech Composition)

  • Six field courses, including four courses from the chosen area and one from each of the two other areas listed, are recommended. (Students are strongly advised to choose one field in which to concentrate their study. All field courses require a substantive research and writing component. Completion of the composition requirement is a prerequisite for all 1000-level courses).

Rhetorical Studies field courses