A curricular profile of U.S. communication departments

Curriculum Planning: Trends in Communication Studies, Workplace Competencies, and Current Programs at 4-Year Colleges and Universities

“…As the data in Table 1 indicate, since Wardrope's (1999) survey of communication department heads there has been a dramatic increase in the number of departments nationwide offering courses in Interpersonal Communication ('25%). In fact, nearly every department surveyed offered a course in Interpersonal Communication (96.6%).…”

“…Additionally, the list provides institutions from 48 of the 50 states (sans Wyoming and Vermont). This sampling frame of 403 institutions allowed us to collect comparative data using Wardrope's (1999) typology of communication curricula which consists of 30 course offerings (see Table 1). Because Wardrope (1999) used the NCA Directory (N 0420) as a sampling frame and only sampled four-year institutions, we used the same sampling procedures for replication purposes.…”

“…This is particularly true of leadership skills ''such as motivating others, coordinating groups and tasks, [and] serving as a representative for the group'' (Shivpuri & Kim, 2004, p. 40). In fact, both employers and college department heads rank leadership as very important, while fully 88% of employers acknowledge that leadership is used in employee selection, only slightly less important in hiring decisions than interpersonal skills and knowledge Because the current study employed the same course categories Wardrope (1999) used to more carefully identify trends in curricular offerings, no category existed for leadership courses. More importantly, despite the availability of leadership textbooks within the discipline (see, for example : Hackman & Johnson, 2003;Northouse, 2007), few courses devoted to leadership could be identified.…”

“…Recognizing that communication curricula seemed responsive to professional demands, Wardrope (1999) raised concerns about other potential influences on curriculum development such as culturally diverse student populations and the increasing importance of communication technology. He surveyed communication department chairpersons to ascertain the frequency of courses offered, expected to be offered or desired in communication curricula.…”

Who are the early adopters of new academic fields? Comparing four perspectives on the institutionalization of degree granting programs in US four-year colleges and Universities, 1970–2005

“…We measured four inter-institutional stratification variables corresponding to dimensions of hierarchical differentiation within the structure of US four-year colleges and 7 Although some communications curricula provide practical training for technical positions in the mass media industries, communications is primarily a liberal arts discipline in which most courses focus on rhetoric, communications practices in different institutional settings and cultures, public opinion, and the organization and consequences of mass media industries (Bertelsen and Goodboy 2009;Wardrope 1999).…”