Minors

Many departments have designed academic minors for the convenience of undergraduate students. A minor is a structured group of courses that leads to considerable knowledge and understanding of a subject, although with less depth than a major. Some employers consider minors desirable, and the corresponding major requirements at the University may stipulate a minor. Some students choose to complement their major program with a minor in a related field or even in an entirely different field of interest. Students interested in pursuing an academic minor should contact their college dean’s office and the department responsible for the minor program for guidance and advising.

Please note that undergraduate students can only complete a minor in addition to and as a complement to a major. The University does not award stand-alone minors.

Minor in Communication (before Fall 2011)
Any student wishing to minor in communication must meet college selective admission requirements (45 credits completed, 30 credits in USP courses, COM 101 and have a 2.6 cumulative grade-point average). The student must file an application for the minor in the Department of Communication Office and have approval from the department chair for COM courses selected to complete the minor.
1. COM 101 Introduction to Communications
2. COM 181 Basic Public Speaking    
     or
     COM 287 Persuasive Speaking
3. Three courses (nine hours) from the following:
COM 249 Mass Media and Mass Culture
COM 252 Introduction to Interpersonal Communication
COM 281 Communication in Small Groups
COM 325 Introduction to Organizational Communication
COM 350 Language and Communication
4. Three courses (nine hours) from the 400 level COM offerings

The new COM minor, beginning Fall 2011, is as follows: 
18 hours total consisting of the following courses:

• COM 101
• COM 287
• Two courses (6 hr) from COM 249, 252, 281, 325
• COM 351W and COM 365

Any student wishing to minor in media arts and studies (formerly telecommunications) should file an application with the School of Journalism and Telecommunications after meeting the following requirements:
Complete either TEL 101 or TEL 201
Complete 45 hours of university course work with a cumulative grade-point average of 2.6
Students cannot register for upper-level telecommunications courses until they have met the above requirements and have been accepted into the telecommunications minor program. After a student has been accepted as a minor, he or she will be assigned a faculty advisor.
The minor in media arts and studies (formerly telecommunications) requires a minimum of 21 hours to include the following:
1. TEL 101 Introduction to Media and Culture 
    TEL 201 Communication Technologies and Society 
2. Fifteen credits of additional course work with TEL prefix; six of the credits must be from among social-cultural media studies group of courses.