Communication, MA
Director: Heather Harris, MFA
Phone: (716) 375-2075
Fax: (716) 375-2588
Email: hharris@sbu.edu
Website: https://online.sbu.edu/programs/master/communication
Mission
We are committed to preparing students to be extraordinary and ethical gatherers, analyzers, designers, and communicators of information to diverse audiences. We value creativity and analysis equally, and prepare students to use symphonic thinking in the quest for creative solutions to communications problems. Operating with a reverence for freedom of expression, in an open web environment, we emphasize an understanding our social impact worldwide as professional communicators. We promote personal responsibility, accuracy, professional standards, diversity and ethical principles in all that we do.
Program Overview
The Jandoli School's Master of Arts in Communication graduate program is designed for people with a desire to master and lead the growing, dynamic, broad spectrum of contemporary marketing communication. It builds skill in integrating the development and management of all marketing communication tools across all mediums to build positive, ethical and lasting relationships with consumers, stakeholders and other audiences, with empathy and mindfulness of diversity of audience. The Jandoli School’s Master of Arts in Communication graduate program is both a creative and an analytical endeavor that is structured as: problem definition, problem solution, and execution. Students graduate with vision, skills and professionalism required to identify a communications problem, strategically plan a solution utilizing traditional, digital, and experiential marketing communication approaches, and the ability to measure and make meaning from data and analytics to assess the results.
Completion Time and Program Structure
Online Only
The Communication master's program is fully online and students work at their own pace to complete the program in a timeframe that best meets their individual needs. On average students complete the program in 18 - 24 months. Courses are offered over seven-week periods during the fall, spring and summer semesters.
Admission Requirements
To be admitted into the Master of Arts in Communication program students must present:
- Completed application for admission
- Undergraduate transcripts with a GPA of 2.8 or higher
- Two letters of recommendation (one from an employer or professor)
- Submission of an essay on specified topic
- Additional information, if requested by program director
Graduation Criteria
To be awarded the Master of Arts in Communication, a student will be evaluated on:
- A cumulative GPA of at least 3.0
- Completion of all 33 credits
- Successful defense of a comprehensive original Communications Campaign Plan focused on your area of specialization (submitted in lieu of a comprehensive exam or thesis.)
* At the conclusion of the problem definition phase culminating with COM 555 Embracing Research: Fieldwork - students must pass a mid-point review where they summarize their learning from the problem definition phase. Upon approval of the mid-point committee, students proceed to problem solution phase of the program.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Core Curriculum | 18 | |
| FINDING YOUR VOICE: INTRO TO MARKETING COMMUNICATION | ||
| EMBRACING THE BRAND: STRATEGY AND EXECUTION | ||
| EMBRACING THE AUDIENCE:EMPATHY & ETHICS | ||
| EMBRACING STRATEGIC THINKING:MARKETING STRATEGY AND PLANNING | ||
| EMBRACING ANALYSIS: MAKING MEANING FROM DATA | ||
| EMBRACING RESEARCH: MARKETING COMMUNICATION RESEARCH | ||
| Specialization (see below) | 12 | |
| Capstone | 3 | |
| MASTERING THE RESEARCH: FIELDWORK | ||
| MASTERING THE FIELD: THESIS | ||
| MASTERING THE PROJECT: FINAL DEFENSE | ||
| Total Credits | 33 | |
The MA in Communication from St. Bonaventure was developed for students who come from an array of undergraduate backgrounds. Our curriculum is carefully designed to reflect the real world where information, data and communications interact, helping you cultivate interdisciplinary knowledge. Tailor your communication master's degree with a specialization in the in-demand areas of integrated marketing communication, content marketing or public relations.
Our Content Marketing specialization will help you master the skills to strategically create and distribute impactful content, allowing brands and organizations to tell their great stories to wide and diverse audiences. It’s a strategic blend of creativity, customer empathy and technology. In this program you will learn:
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Content Marketing | 12 | |
| INTEGRATING DIGITAL MEDIA, MOBILE & EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES | ||
| INTEGRATING CONTENT MARKETING: STRATEGY & PLANNING | ||
| INTEGRATING CONTENT CREATION: VISUAL, COPY & OPTIMIZATION | ||
| INTEGRATING VISUALS: COMMUNICATION DESIGN | ||
Our Integrated Marketing Communication specialization will provide you with the skills and confidence to boldly craft a vision, research the marketplace, write the strategy, design innovative concepts and produce exciting creative and demonstrate its ROI.
Here, you will learn to create authentic, measurable, research-based, relationship-focused ideas and integrate them into powerful messages that will inform and influence, change minds and challenge common perceptions, all in an ethically and socially responsible method.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Integrated Marketing Communication | 12 | |
| INTEGRATING DIGITAL MEDIA, MOBILE & EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES | ||
| INTEGRATING CREATIVE: STRATEGY & DESIGN | ||
| INTEGRATING PR IN A GLOBAL MARKET | ||
| INTEGRATING VISUALS: COMMUNICATION DESIGN | ||
Our Public Relations specialization will help you guide these conversations through meaningful messages, earned media placement, engagement with publications, influencers, and consumers, and the creation of events and experiences that sway opinions of both internal and external key stakeholders.
If today’s world has taught us anything, it is that companies and organizations must communicate and react quickly to events of all varieties. Public Relations professionals are an integral part of that process by creating crisis communications and change management, monitoring media mentions, influencing the narrative and providing information of value to all parties involved.
Enrollment in the Public Relations specialization is temporarily halted. Please check with our graduate admissions office if you are interested in this track.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Public Relations | 12 | |
| INTEGRATING PR IN A GLOBAL MARKET | ||
| INTEGRATING MEDIA RELATIONS | ||
| INTEGRATING CRISIS COMMUNICATION | ||
| INTEGRATING EVENT MANAGEMENT & EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING | ||