Students in the communication studies major will:

1. Demonstrate effective critical and creative thinking skills evident in their ability to analyze and synthesize materials from a variety of sources and perspectives and applied to solving different types of problems.
2. Possess a working knowledge of several foundational theories across the communication discipline and understand how those theories inform the practice of communication.
3. Demonstrate knowledge and proficiency of public presentations, including organization, research, argumentation, delivery, visual aids, and audience adaptation.
4. Display knowledge of and ability to locate and utilize research materials to construct arguments and support positions.
5. Demonstrate appropriate and effective written communication using discipline-relevant formats (APA and AP styles) correctly.
6. Demonstrate professionalism with regard to business attire, appropriate email usage, business letter writing, interviewing skills, personal social media content, and ability to interact in professional contexts.
7. Display knowledge and application of both personal and professional standards of ethics.






Students in the criminal justice major will:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of the criminal justice system, its components, and how the system impacts individuals and communities.
2. Know the major theories and concepts in the fields of criminal justice and criminology and how they apply to human behavior and the development of criminal justice policy.
3. Demonstrate knowledge of how human diversity and ethical arguments impact the criminal justice system and criminal justice policy decisions.
4. Exhibit the ability to evaluate existing research, conduct research, analyze data, and present findings on topics related to the field of criminal justice.
5. Know how to effectively communicate within the discipline including writing papers, presenting research, and communicating with a variety of audiences within the criminal justice field.
6. Demonstrate preparation for the workplace or advanced study.






Students in the multimedia journalism major will:

1. Understand the fundamentals of multimedia journalism as they relate to the industry, professional & personal levels of content creation to the point that a student would be able to pass a basic diagnostic examination of these fundamentals.
2. Put together the elements of multimedia journalism to create a series of well-structured stories for the purpose of starting a portfolio that would be accepted by a media organization.
3. Be proficient in evaluating the work of professional journalists based on the standards of journalistic writing established by professional media organizations.
4. Create a feature article that meets the journalistic standards and rubrics set by the department.
5. Create original stories for distribution via the web by putting mediated elements together to form a coherent or functional article/interactive content.
6. Make judgments about the quality of academic work based on the standards of the academy and standard academic peer review.
7. Put together the elements of communication research to create the artifacts of communication research.
8. Evaluate the work of journalists based on the standards of journalistic writing and the standards of a given news organization.
9. Create a coherent & functional print edition of the news based on other's work that meet the basic standard of journalistic quality.
10. Put together the elements of multimedia journalism to create a series of well-structured stories for the purpose of starting a website.






Students in the PPE major will:

1. Critically evaluate arguments and reason logically.
2. Critically assess ethical issues.
3. Demonstrates knowledge of social institutions through concentrated engagement with contemporary and enduring social issues.
4. Perform quantitative analysis.
5. Synthesize and evaluate information through an application of knowledge and methods across the three disciplines.






Students in the political science major will:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of key concepts and theoretical frameworks in American, comparative, and international politics.
2. Demonstrate competency in critical and analytical reasoning skills necessary for the study of political science.
3. Communicate effectively through strong writing and oral skills.
4. Demonstrate competency with tools underlying modern social science research, including statistical or qualitative analysis.
4. Participate as a civically engaged member of society.






Students in the sociology major will:

1. Use critical-thinking skills and understand the need to apply these skills broadly to all aspects of life.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of human relationships, social process and institutions.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the nature of, causes of and extent of social phenomena.
4. Know the major theories and research findings in the field of sociology and how they apply to social behavior.
5. Demonstrate the ability to research, analyze and write about issues sociologically.
6. Learn to write and orally present research findings.