Organizational Communication, B.S.
The bachelor of science degree program in organizational communication provides specialized, interdisciplinary instruction in professional aptitudes associated with workplace and community roles, guiding students' learning about effective, ethical work in modern organizations. This degree program offers coursework in partnership with the Pamplin School of Business, each explaining key concepts and practices that underlie human and technical organizational communication systems.
Aside from learning communication's constitutive role in organizing, organizational communication students develop understandings and competencies in ethical collaboration and leadership abilities for a variety of contemporary contexts, including ways communication processes sustain and change organizations' relational, community, and cultural environments. Students in this program also develop the applied understanding they need to coordinate and manage the work of a variety of organizations.
This degree prepares students for specialized graduate study in communication and related fields, and for professional work in several organizational roles and contexts. Organizational communication students are actively guided to explore the professional training available to them through a host of community-based academic internships.
University Core Curriculum Requirements — 40 credit hours
All University of Portland students progress through a set of shared course options as part of the University’s liberal arts Core Curriculum. This curriculum offers a foundation of multiple lenses to address enduring questions of human concern, integrating the liberal arts, the University mission, and the knowledge, skills, and values needed in a diverse society and in the workplace.
See Core Curriculum Requirements
The core requirement for the Commitment to Diversity, Inclusion & the Common Good Habit is satisfied by CST 225 within the major
CST300/320/330 and CST 475/497 are the designated Writing in the Discipline courses for the B.S. in Organizational Communication.
College of Arts and Sciences B.S. Requirements — 6 credit hours
See College Requirements, B.S.
Major Requirements — 54 credit hours
Required Courses — 18 credit hours
| CST 101 | Introduction to Communication Studies | 3 |
| CST 107 | Public Speaking for Change | 3 |
| CST 233 | From Corporations to Social Movements: Understanding Organization Communication | 3 |
| BUS 200 | Principles of Marketing | 3 |
| CST 225 | Interpersonal Communication: Relating to Others | 3 |
| CST 332 | Transforming Small Group Communication | 3 |
Research Methods Courses - 6 credit hours
Select two of the following courses:
| CST 300 | Quantitative Research Methods | 3 |
| CST 320 | Rhetorical Theory and Criticism | 3 |
| CST 330 | Qualitative Research Methods | 3 |
Upper-division Business Courses - 6 credit hours
Students choose two 3-credit hour upper-division BUS courses in consultation with their academic advisors.
Upper-division CST Courses - 21 credit hours
Students select seven 3-credit hour upper-division CST courses in consultation with their academic advisors. At least three of these courses must be 400-level.
Senior Project - 3 credit hours
Select one of the following to be completed senior year:
Any additional credit hours required to complete a minimum of 120 credit hours
Total Credit Hours: 120