HARRISONBURG, Va. – This fall, James Madison University announced that the School of Communication Studies will be offering a Master of Arts program in Communication and Advocacy. The new graduate program will begin fall 2013.
Advocacy Studies professor, Alison Bodkin, says that “the graduate program will give students opportunities to advance their studies and to open up a breadth of interests that they did not know of.”
According to the Master of Arts in Communication and Advocacy website, students who are interested in the Communication and Advocacy graduate program will be required to have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university. Satisfactory scores on the Graduate Record Examination as well as overall GPA will also be taken into admission consideration.
The graduate program allows students to choose between two concentrations in health or environmental communication. The program will require 36 credit hours of graduate coursework. According to the website, students should complete 18 credit hours of core course work in advocacy studies, applied interpersonal and organizational communication as well as communication research methods. Students will choose their concentration after nine credit hours of study in advocacy topics both in academic and professional contexts. Six credit hours of thesis or internship credit will be required for students to gain experience in the field. The graduate students should also complete at least three credit hours of elective course work in any academic program.
Director of the Master of Arts program in Communication and Advocacy, Melissa Aleman, says that “students can choose from a variety of career paths, whether that be in Strategic Communication, Public Relations, Communication Consulting, Media Relations, Environmental Communication, Environmental Advocacy, Communication Development and Management, Patient and Healthcare Advocacy, Research and Program Development, Community Outreach and Relations, Advocacy/Civic Program Coordination or Health Communication and Outreach.” She also explains that “through theoretical research, campaign theories and work in advocacy organizations will help prepare students for their selected career path.”
According to the website, the deadline for students interested in applying for the graduate program is February 15. Applicants will submit their graduate applications at http://www.jmu.edu/grad/admissions/Comm_&_%20Adv.pdf. A written offer of admission will be sent to the applicant if they are accepted into the program. The letter of acceptance will include the effective date of admission as well as the faculty adviser assigned to the applicant.
“I loved attending graduate studies at Miami University of Ohio; I realized that everyone’s education is richer, more relevant and recent. Everyone is challenging each other to be better,” explains Bodkin.
The School of Communication Studies is part of the College of Arts and Letters at James Madison University. Their mission is the teaching of communication theory and criticism, the development of communication and advocacy skills, the research of communication processes and practices, and the application of generated knowledge about human communication toward the betterment of self and community. Visit http://www.jmu.edu/commstudies for more information.
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