Undergraduate Program

The Communication major prepares you for a variety of career opportunities as well as preparing you for graduate work. To become a Communication major, you must be a student in good standing at WIU. This means that you need a grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 or higher to declare a major in Communication.

As a Communication Major you must complete:
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  • WIU's General Education requirements
  • 42 credit hours of required and elective Communication courses
  • WIU's Foreign Language/Global Issues (FLGI) requirement, which may be fulfilled by successfully completing one of the following: 1) an intermediate foreign language requirement; 2) a General Education global issues course; 3) a Communication (COMM) global issues course; or 4) an approved Study Abroad program.
  • An approved minor.

For students beginning major Fall 2021 or later:

Bachelor of Arts — Communication
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All students seeking the Bachelor of Arts in Communication must complete the requirements listed below. The minimum semester hour requirement for the baccalaureate degree is 120 s.h. Current WIU students must be in good standing (2.0 GPA or higher) to declare a major in Communication.

The BA degree in Communication is designed to allow maximum flexibility for students to pursue their own interests within the framework of the program. Some students may choose to focus their coursework in depth on central areas such as interpersonal communication, organizational communication or persuasion, while others may decide to pursue a broader and more eclectic understanding of communication by taking courses purely based upon their interests at the time.

Core Courses

There are four required core courses:

COMM 130, Introduction to Human Communication
COMM 247, Argumentation
COMM 311, Quantitative Research Methods in Communication
COMM 344, Interpersonal Communication

Communication Electives

Students will complete 30 semester hours (10 classes) of Communication courses of their choice based upon their personal interests and career goals. At least three of these courses (9 s.h.) must be completed at the 400-level.


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Recommended Minors

Selecting a minor usually depends on your interests and career goals. Currently, WIU communication students have selected minors in over 35 different departments that include Spanish, Music Business, English, Advertising and Public Relations, Broadcasting and Journalism, Event Planning and Management, Sociology, Psychology, Human Resource Management, Political Science, Marketing, Womens Studies, African American Studies, and Management, just to name a few. Please consult with your Communication Academic Advisor, who is knowledgeable of the available minors and their specific requirements.

Course Descriptions

For more information on the Communication program and course descriptions, see the WIU Undergraduate Course Catalog.