Teaching & Research

Teaching and research are vital activities for the Department of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  Our department offers over 60 different courses to more than 1300 undergraduate majors and over 25 different courses to our 35 graduate students in three core areas—interpersonal and intergroup communication, media communication, and organizational communication.

Interpersonal and intergroup communication focuses on verbal and nonverbal communication processes in social, intimate, and group relations.  Media communication covers the uses, design, and effects of broadcast, online and digital media, in areas such as media law and policy, mass media effects, political communication, social media, and health communication.  Organizational communication centers on social interactions, collaborative technologies, messages, and networks in different types of organizations. 

Faculty and student research topics are related to these three core areas, but also intersect the areas, particularly as they focus on societal problems, such as credibility of the Internet, media and health campaigns, terrorism and global organizations, and communication with an aging population.

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