Communication Management M.S.
Degree: Master of Science
https://www.towson.edu/cofac/departments/mass-communication/communication-management/index.html
Program Director: Dr. Lingling Zhang
Phone: 410-704-3458
Email: lizhang@towson.edu
The Master of Science in Communication Management offers both professional and research-oriented course work with an emphasis on public relations and strategic communication. It is a hybrid program in which students can complete at least 50% (a total of 18 units) of the 36-unit degree requirement online. Our applied courses help provide the knowledge and skills to research, plan, implement, and evaluate activities designed to achieve communication goals in a variety of professional settings. Our theory and method courses provide students with the academic tools needed to complete the final components of the program—comprehensive exams, a graduate professional project, or a thesis project. In addition to Mass Communication courses, students will be able to choose from a variety of elective courses offered across the university graduate programs.
The master’s program is appropriate for both career-oriented individuals who want to advance in their chosen fields and for students who intend to pursue further graduate studies.
Accelerated Bachelor’s-Master’s Program
Students may earn the M.S. in Communication Management through the Department of Mass Communication accelerated bachelor’s to master’s program. The accelerated program allows students to earn both their bachelor’s and master’s degrees in less time through an individualized plan. Prospective applicants should contact the program director for details.
Please see the Undergraduate Catalog for information on the accelerated bachelor's-master's program.
Admission Requirements
Application deadlines and a full listing of materials required for admission can be found on the website.
Degree Requirements
Students in the Master of Science in Communications Management must meet the following degree requirements:
- Completion of a total 36 units of course work. All students will complete 15 units of required courses. Thesis students will complete 15 units of electives and 6 units of thesis coursework. Non-thesis students will (a) complete 21 units of electives and take 3 comprehensive exams or (b) complete 15 units of electives and 6 units of graduate project. A minimum of 27 units must be earned at the 600-800 levels.
- Students may register for the thesis/graduate project after completing 24 units of course work.
- Students may take their comprehensive exams during their last semester of course work.
- To receive a Master of Science in Communication Management, students may not have earned more than one C for any of the required or elective courses.
Non-Thesis Options
The students with an applied focus will have two options to complete the program. The first option is to take 36 units of courses and pass three comprehensive exams to complete the program. The second option is to take 30 units of courses and 6 graduate project units to complete the program.
The Comprehensive Exam Option: The comprehensive exams will be written, on-campus examinations in the following areas of the communications field: theory, research methods and a communication subject area chosen by the student. The examination questions will be approved by the graduate director and supervised by faculty who teach those courses. Only Mass Communication graduate and associate graduate faculty can submit comprehensive exam questions. Students may take comprehensive exams after they have completed 30 units of courses.
NOTE: Students must pass all three comprehensive exams. To provide flexibility in faculty evaluation of comprehensive exam answers, there will be three categories of passing: Low Pass, Pass or Pass with excellence. If students fail an exam for a particular subject, they can retake it once. If students fail an exam a second time, they will be dismissed from the program.
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | ||
| MCOM 605 | COMMUNICATION THEORY | 3 |
| MCOM 606 | PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION | 3 |
| MCOM 631 | QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS IN COMMUNICATION | 3 |
| MCOM 632 | QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS IN COMMUNICATION | 3 |
| MCOM 640 | SOCIAL MEDIA AND CONTENT STRATEGY | 3 |
| Electives | ||
| Select 21 units (at least 12 units from MCOM) from the Electives listed below | 21 | |
| Total Units | 36 | |
The Graduate Project Option: Students who plan to conduct a graduate project to complete the degree can choose to take 30 units of courses and 6 graduate project units. These students will complete a professional project to showcase their successful acquisition of knowledge from the courses in the graduate program under the guidance of a faculty adviser from the department. These students will choose an organization as the client, develop the project to help the client solve some communication related problems, and report the findings in writing. Both secondary and primary data analysis are required for the graduate project. Students may register for graduate project units only after they have completed 24 units of course work. The focus of the graduate project should be based on students’ interests, and will have to be approved by the faculty adviser. Students choosing the graduate project option should sign up for 6 units of MCOM 881 Graduate Project in Communication supervised by a member of the graduate faculty in the Department of Mass Communication.
NOTE: If students fail the MCOM 881, they can retake it only once. If students fail it twice, they will be dismissed from the program.
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | ||
| MCOM 605 | COMMUNICATION THEORY | 3 |
| MCOM 606 | PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION | 3 |
| MCOM 631 | QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS IN COMMUNICATION | 3 |
| MCOM 632 | QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS IN COMMUNICATION | 3 |
| MCOM 640 | SOCIAL MEDIA AND CONTENT STRATEGY | 3 |
| Graduate Project | ||
| MCOM 881 | GRADUATE PROJECT IN COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT | 6 |
| Electives | ||
| Select 15 units (at least 12 units from MCOM) from the electives listed below | 15 | |
| Total Units | 36 | |
Thesis Option
Students with a research focus, or who plan to continue their academic studies past a master’s degree, can choose to take 30 units of courses and 6 thesis units. These students will be required to write a thesis under the guidance of a faculty adviser from the department and defend their thesis in front of a department committee. Students may register for thesis units only after they have completed 24 units of course work. The topic of the thesis should be based on students’ interests, but it must also be relevant to the communication discipline. The topic will have to be approved by the adviser and thesis committee.
Students must defend a thesis proposal, which will be approved by the thesis committee before the student can begin collecting his/her data for the thesis. Thesis students will sign up for 6 units of a thesis supervised by a member of the graduate faculty in Mass Communication and Communication Studies: MCOM 897 or MCOM 898.
NOTE: If students fail the proposal defense (and/or thesis defense), they can retake it only once. If students fail their proposal or thesis defense twice, they will be dismissed from the program.
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | ||
| MCOM 605 | COMMUNICATION THEORY | 3 |
| MCOM 606 | PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION | 3 |
| MCOM 631 | QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS IN COMMUNICATION | 3 |
| MCOM 632 | QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS IN COMMUNICATION | 3 |
| MCOM 640 | SOCIAL MEDIA AND CONTENT STRATEGY | 3 |
| Thesis | ||
| Select 6 units from one of the following: | 6 | |
| MCOM THESIS | ||
| MCOM THESIS | ||
| Electives | ||
| Select 15 units (at least 12 units from MCOM) from the electives listed below | 15 | |
| Total Units | 36 | |
Department Electives
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| MCOM 502 | LITERARY JOURNALISM | 3 |
| MCOM 507 | MULTIMEDIA REPORTING | 3 |
| MCOM 519 | CORPORATE COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT | 3 |
| MCOM 533 | MEDIA ETHICS | 3 |
| MCOM 543 | INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING | 3 |
| MCOM 547 | ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS | 3 |
| MCOM 550 | PUBLIC OPINION AND THE PRESS | 3 |
| MCOM 551 | PUBLIC RELATIONS FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS | 3 |
| MCOM 553 | STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS AND INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGNS. | 3 |
| MCOM 570 | SPECIAL TOPICS IN MCOM | 3 |
| MCOM 603 | CRITICISM IN MASS MEDIA | 3 |
| MCOM 611 | SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS | 3 |
| MCOM 616 | CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY AND STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION | 3 |
| MCOM 617 | INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION | 3 |
| MCOM 620 | MEDIA AND HEALTH COMMUNICATION | 3 |
| MCOM 621 | MASS MEDIA LAW AND REGULATIONS | 3 |
| MCOM 638 | MANAGING COMMUNICATION IN A CULTURALLY DIVERSE SOCIETY | 3 |
| MCOM 639 | MASS COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE | 3 |
| MCOM 651 | MEDIA AND POLITICS | 3 |
| MCOM 660 | CRISIS COMMUNICATION | 3 |
| MCOM 670 | SPECIAL TOPICS IN MASS COMMUNICATIONS (More than one Special Topics course may be offered during the same term) | 3 |
| MCOM 795 | INDEPENDENT STUDY IN MASS COMMUNICATION | 3 |
Electives from Outside the MCOM Department
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| ART 610 | FOUNDATIONS OF USER EXPERIENCE (UX) DESIGN | 3 |
| ART 620 | USER EXPERIENCE (UX) TYPOGRAPHY | 3 |
| ART 641 | USER EXPERIENCE (UX) DESIGN, THEORY AND METHODS | 3 |
| ART 765 | USER INTERFACE (UI) DESIGN | 3 |
| ISTC 541 | FOUNDATIONS IN LEARNING TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGN | 3 |
| ISTC 605 | E-LEARNING DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT | 3 |
| ISTC 655 | DEVELOPING DIGITAL MULTIMEDIA MATERIALS FOR LEARNING DESIGN | 3 |
| PHIL 563 | BUSINESS ETHICS | 3 |
| POSC 509 | COMPARATIVE POLITICAL SYSTEMS | 3 |
| POSC 527 | POLITICAL THEORY I | 3 |
| POSC 528 | POLITICAL THEORY II | 3 |
| POSC 585 | SEMINAR IN POLITICAL THEORY | 3 |
| PRWR 617 | EDITING | 3 |
| PRWR 619 | GRANT AND COMMUNITY WRITING | 3 |
| PRWR 621 | BUSINESS WRITING | 3 |
| PRWR 623 | TECHNICAL WRITING AND INFORMATION DESIGN | 3 |
| PRWR 625 | DESIGN LAYOUT AND PRODUCTION | 3 |
| PRWR 627 | CULTURAL RHETORICS AND LITERACIES | 3 |
| PRWR 628 | DESIGNING CONTENT FOR THE WEB | 3 |
| PRWR 670 | TOPICS IN WRITING 1 | 3 |
| PRWR 713 | FREELANCE WRITING | 3 |
| PRWR 729 | CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTING | 3 |
| SOSC 605 | AMERICAN POLITICS IN THE 21ST CENTURY | 3 |
| SOSC 606 | SOCIOLOGICAL INSIGHT | 3 |
| WMST 550 | B-MORE: BALTIMORE AND URBAN COMMUNITIES | 3 |
| WMST 603 | THE DIVERSITY OF WOMEN | 3 |
| WMST 605 | WOMEN IN AN INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT | 3 |
| WMST 607 | ADVANCED FEMINIST THEORY | 3 |
| WMST 611 | WOMEN, PUBLIC POLICY AND SOCIAL CHANGE | 3 |
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Students in the Communication Management master’s program must have graduate director approval before signing up for a Topics in Writing course.
NOTE:
- Up to 6 units of graduate courses may be transferred from other approved universities, subject to approval by the graduate program director.
- No more than 9 units of 500-level courses can be taken.
- Some required and elective courses have prerequisites. Students are responsible for making sure they have met these prerequisites prior to taking the course.
- Some courses may not be offered each term. Students should consult each term’s schedule of classes when determining which courses to take.
- No more than two 3-unit Independent Study courses may be applied to the degree; and, all Independent Study courses need to be approved by the program director prior to enrollment.
- Students may take graduate-level electives not listed above only if approved by the graduate program director.
- Students will be able to use and produce qualitative and quantitative research techniques to gather and evaluate data appropriate to communication practices.
- Students will be able to apply academic writing practices to develop literature reviews and research reports using appropriate academic reference styles.
- Students will be able to identify and analyze appropriate communication theories and understand how to apply them in practice.
- Students will understand and apply the communication process that connects organizations and audiences in mutually beneficial relationships.