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Classes are designed to challenge your thinking and develop your professional skills. You’ll leave each class with a unique set of tools to approach new communications challenges.

Tailor your experience to your career goals by focusing on one of eight areas of specialization. Use the search widget below to sort classes by quarter, specialization, instructor and degree track for each quarter. Get a comprehensive view of the full academic year in our Course Guide.

View the University of Washington Academic Calendar for important dates, including quarter start and end dates, registration dates and deadlines, and campus holidays.

Registration numbers (SLNs) are located on the Time Schedule. Please read the Department’s statement on internet resource requirements for access to courses.

COMMLD 530B: Ethics of Storytelling

(

Graney-Saucke

)

- 2022-2023 | Winter 2023

Track Neutral | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 1/4 – 3/8, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 12781

Course Description:

Ethics plays a critical role in how we tell stories. What values are behind the story? Who is telling the story, and for whom? What is the intended outcome, and what could the potential impact be? What are the ethics around new media technology like deep fake as we continue to take stories at face value?

Ethics and subjective bias in storytelling can also be complex, and thus they require our attention and reflection in responsible and responsive creative communications. This course will address various storytelling mediums and scenarios where ethics in storytelling are actively at play. Students will engage in critical discourse and assignments to assess values that impact ethical decisions personally and professionally. Assigned media and reading material as well as student sourced case studies will be used in order to ensure diverse and current content. As a conclusion to the class, students will create a final video, audio, web or UX project that engages an ethical challenge.

Meets Law & Ethics requirement.

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COMMLD 503: Practicum in Marketing Campaign Strategy and Creative Assets

(

Baltus

)

- 2022-2023 | Winter 2023

Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Mondays 1/9 – 3/6, 6:00PM – 8:20PM | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 12773

Course Description:

In this practicum, students will design and deliver a marketing campaign strategy with creative assets for a real client: Meditation for Actors [meditationsforactors.com](MFA), an app “where wellness meets tech for the benefit of performing artists.” The purpose of the marketing campaign strategy is to help MFA be less ad hoc and more strategic in growing and engaging potential audiences. Students will map current outreach approaches, learn from some marketing research currently underway, and proactively identify and work through the process of understanding the needs of the client, who will provide real-time feedback. By the end of this practicum students will develop a pitch deck for the client with some potential creative assets.

About Communication and Leadership Practicum:

Communication and Leadership Practicum courses give you the opportunity to engage in contemporary professional practice by addressing the challenges of real-life organizations. Each section is matched with a client organization or group of client organizations, and focuses on a distinct professional skill or practice that is deemed essential across a variety of professional fields. Students can choose their section based on their interests and needs.

Designed to mirror a professional setting, our Practicum offer you the opportunity to work at a higher level and with greater responsibility than what you might encounter in an internship or in entry-level work. In the span of a quarter, you will enhance highly-desirable professional skills, produce work that you can include in your own professional portfolios, and most importantly, leave with a story–your story – of what you did in this project to create value for your client.

Credit/No Credit Only

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COMMLD 503B: Practicum: Consulting and Client Management

(

Wilson

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Tuesdays 10/04-12/06, 6:00PM – 8:20PM | Online
Registration SLN: 13011

Course Description

Grow It Forward Restoration connects volunteer gardeners to organizations working to restore native wildlife habitat. In this practicum, students will collect and analyze data, synthesize insights into coherent stories and produce a set of testimonials for the client that will provide relevant, engaging, real-life examples of how the program helped volunteers and habitat restoration organizations.

This practicum is designed to simulate a professional setting, where you may not be clear on what is expected of you and where you will succeed if you can learn to embrace ambiguity, see challenges as opportunities and demonstrate the ability to solve complex problems with aplomb. Students will examine the challenges faced by the client organization, collaborate with their team to manage a project, and meet with members from the client organization to report on progress and receive feedback on developing ideas and processes. At the end of the quarter, and with the support and feedback of the instructor, students will create a final deliverable for the client organization.

Credit/No Credit Only.

About 503 Communication and Leadership Practicum
Communication and Leadership Practicum courses give you the opportunity to engage in contemporary professional practice by addressing the challenges of real-life organizations. Each section is matched with a client organization or group of client organizations, and focuses on a distinct professional skill or practice that is deemed essential across a variety of professional fields. Students can choose their section based on their interests and needs.

Designed to mirror a professional setting, our Practicum offer you the opportunity to work at a higher level and with greater responsibility than what you might encounter in an internship or in entry-level work. In the span of a quarter, you will enhance highly-desirable professional skills, produce work that you can include in your own professional portfolios, and most importantly, leave with a story–your story – of what you did in this project to create value for your client.

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COMMLD 541B: Crisis Communication: Response with Responsibility in the Digital Arena

(

Visneski

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

Track Neutral | Meets Law and Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 10/04-12/06, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | DEN 111
Registration SLN: 23675

Course Description:

Nothing is more dramatic than a crisis. When an organization, company, industry, or individual in the public eye is in a crisis, communication is one of the crucial routes back to normalcy. Oftentimes, organizations find themselves unprepared when a crisis hits and only then think “Oh goodness, we should get a crisis communications plan in place!” Trying to “spin” a bad situation can both be unethical, and ineffective, damaging reputation, and subsequently business.

This course will teach you how to be rapidly responsive, responsible, and to avoid common pitfalls in crisis comms. We will examine how organizations attempt to anticipate and recover from crises, how the broadcast and print media cover different types of crises, how crisis communications fails, and how it succeeds.

Meets Law and Ethics Requirement.

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COMMLD 530A: Engaging Interviews: How to Get What You Need from Interview Subjects & Clients

(

Dalch

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

Track Neutral | 2 Credits
Mondays 10/03-12/05, 6:00PM – 7:50PM | DEN 213
Registration SLN: 23585

Course Description:

Being a great interviewer takes a combination of preparation, presence, and curiosity––whether that interview is with a subject for a published piece or a fact-finding mission with a client. In this class you will learn how to prepare without over preparing, create rapport with your interview subject, and cultivate curiosity and presence while in an interview––so that you can get what you need while creating an engaging experience for both subject and listener/viewer.

The art of inquiry will be approached through a coaching lens in which the interviewer is both directive and actively listening/responding to allow for discovery. Students will also learn about different scenarios in which interviewing skills will be useful (eg, client consulting, podcasting, video, etc.) with guest speakers from various industries invited to add their unique perspectives.

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COMMLD 540B: Strategic Marketing Communication: Creating Integrated Solutions for Responsible Impact

(

Keyes

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Mondays 10/03-12/05, 6:00PM – 9:50PM PST | CMU 230
Registration SLN: 23517

Course Description:

How should a government agency respond in a Twitter war? How do you score a review for your new product in an online magazine? What’s the best way for a nonprofit to survive a communication misstep in our current cancel culture? This course is designed to help you obtain the knowledge and skills needed to apply a critical thinking approach to communication opportunities and marketing challenges. From creating mission statements to producing videos, this course will teach participants to anticipate the communication needs of an organization and develop effective solutions. We will use a variety of real-world scenarios, interactive discussions and guest lectures to provide practical insight, relevant theory and memorable learning. By the end of this class, you’ll have the knowledge, tools and techniques to understand the components of a strategic marketing communication plan and how to use it to get the right results and build your portfolio for future academic and professional endeavors.

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COMMLD 503A: Practicum: UX Design in Action

(

Gordon

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Mondays 10/03-12/05, 6:00PM – 8:20PM | Online
Registration SLN: 13010 (application required)

Course Description
In this practicum, students will work on a real-world design problem—forming a partnership among design students, instructor, and a client.  Students will work in a team-based context and apply their design-thinking skills to improve a business’ website by reducing user frustrations and helping the business reach its goals.

The final deliverable will be a client presentation highlighting what frustrations were discovered through research and testing, how the design thinking process was applied to maximize user and business needs, and will include a prototype to visually express the proposed solution incorporating the totality of the evaluation.

Credit/No Credit Only.

**Since this class takes foundational concepts to the next level, students who register must have either already taken one of our intro courses (511 or 512) or Psychology of UX (517) or have equivalent UX experience. Please fill out the application when it is available to the best of your ability. If your form is approved, you will receive an add code to register for the course. Note: applications will be time stamped, and qualified applicants will be added to remaining class spots on an equitable basis determined by time of application and remaining time in the program. The application is available here and will begin accepting responses on Tuesday, June 21, at 12:00pm PDT (noon).

About 503 Communication and Leadership Practicum
Communication and Leadership Practicum courses give students an opportunity to engage with and understand the uses of course concepts in contemporary professional practice by addressing the challenges of real-life organizations.
Each section of the Comm Lead Practicum focuses on a distinct professional skill or practice that is deemed essential across a variety of professional fields. Students can choose their section based on their interests and needs. Each section is matched with a client organization or group of client organizations who are interested in partnering with Communication Leadership students.

In the span of a quarter, students analyze the issues faced by the client organization(s), collaborate and brainstorm collectively in small teams, and with the support of their faculty mentor create a deliverable for the client organization(s) that relates to the specific practice. Students may also create creative samples as part of the project. In doing so, students can develop and enhance skills, build foundations of practice, and produce work that they can include in their own professional portfolios.

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COMMLD 560C: Wellness Narratives

(

Bradshaw

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

Track Neutral | Meets Research Methods Requirement | 5 Credits
Mondays 10/03-12/05, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | DEN 258
Registration SLN: 13029

Course Description:

This course dives into wellness and well-being as central concepts to mental, physical, and emotional modes of health in the 21st century.  What does wellness and wellbeing mean as part of our modern lives? We will explore the historical rise of self-help narratives during the turn of the 20th Century through advertising and therapy culture. From there, we will explore the rise of consumerism and health through the television set and formats like Reality TV and the Talk Show to better understand the evolution of wellness into the 21th century. This framing will help us consider health and wellness as part of a complex media ecosystem. That is, 20th century cultural anxieties of the physical and mental body, including the focus on losing unwanted weight and detoxifying the body from various ailments carries into the contemporary moment. Topics for the course will include productivity, health, corporate and social responsibility, clutter, burnout, and more.  The goal of this course is for students to better understand the historical, cultural, economic and technological foundations of wellness specifically in the United States and why this history matters. Students will research and write a White Paper focused on a particular wellness issue. The final assignment helps showcase the student’s ability to do preliminary research while taking complex ideas and distilling them into an understandable paper for an executive audience. We will do weekly reflective journal exercises throughout the quarter that engage with the readings and screenings from the course. Come prepared to engage in discussion, deep dive into wellness research, and hone your writing skills!

Meets Research Methods Requirement.

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COMMLD 560D: Communication for Change Management

(

Hall

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Saturdays – In-Person (10/1: 9:00AM-5:00PM), Online (11/5 and 12/3: 9:00AM-1:00PM) | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 13030

Course Description:

The world we live in continues to change at an intense rate. In order to succeed in this uncertain future, organizations must adapt to tough market conditions by changing their strategies, their structures and infrastructures, their boundaries, their mindsets, their leadership behaviors and of course their expectations of the people who work within them. The COVID-19 pandemic has shocked the global health care system and the global economy. The Seattle Times reported in April 2020 that the global economy will suffer the worst year since the Great Depression of 1930.  There could not be a more critical time to take a course on change management. Key skills taught in this course will prepare a professional for the shifting workforce.  Upon completing the course, students will be able to guide organizations to implement change management programs that support employees and reflect organizational culture.

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COMMLD 570: Leadership at All Levels

(

Myers

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Wednesdays 09/28-12/07, 6:00PM – 8:20PM | DEN 213
Registration SLN: 13033

Course Description:

Leadership shows up everywhere, every day–and it is open to us all. Building on the Comm Lead leadership coursework, this course will take the theoretical development of one’s leadership style and bring it into practice with one’s work style. Classes will focus on mini-workshops around the following topics: decision-making processes, presentation skills, practical communications, how-to be a team player (including how-to run a meeting, how-to write an email), and drafting your optimum work experience. Students will complete the class knowing how to address bias and success inhibitors within any organization; develop skills for collaborative and successful leadership at any level; and understand how to empower their workplace for everyone. Guest speakers will share stories from leadership perspectives at different companies and how they approach their own development and empowerment.

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COMMLD 524: Copywriting Fundamentals for Marketing

(

Schiller

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Sundays 10/2, 10/16, 10/30 9:00AM – 5:00PM | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 13017

Course Description:

This advanced marketing writing class is designed for students who can already write well, but want formal training in persuasive copywriting techniques – the kind that drive people to call, buy, join, or sign-­up. If you’ve ever agonized over finding just the right words to achieve your goals, this class is designed to get you there faster. It introduces some of the most effective and well-­tested methods used by professional storytellers to outsell and outrun the constantly changing market. Students will learn how to use techniques based in psychological research to get measurable lift in subject line open rates, landing page conversion rates, app store downloads, and more. Using a combination of readings, case studies and practical writing assignments students will learn the art and science of creating top-­performing marketing text.

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COMMLD 560B: Communicating Across Power and Identities

(

Ross

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

Track Neutral | 2 Credits
Tuesdays 10/04-12/06, 6:00PM – 7:50PM | DEN 258
Registration SLN: 13028

Course Description:

This course provides a primer on concepts of identity, power, privilege, and systems of oppression. Through reflective writing and facilitated discussions of curated readings students explore how their personal and professional identities impact their effectiveness in communicating across interpersonal difference. Designed to welcome those who may have previously avoided discussing uncomfortable topics, this introductory course empowers students with modes of inquiry that enable their essential self-examination and self-preparation for any future equity-related organizational collaborations.

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COMMLD 560A: Communication and the Environment

(

Russell

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

MCCN Elective | Meets Law and Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 09/28-12/07, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 242
Registration SLN: 23357

Course Description:

Over the past 30 years since climate change became widely acknowledged, there has been much investigation and speculation as to why forces of climate denialism remain so strong and, more broadly, why we are failing to do more to respond to anthropogenic climate change. This course uses climate change as a critical lens to examine the forces shaping the contemporary information landscape, with a focus on efforts by various groups including NGOs, politicians, industry leaders, scientists, journalists, among others to shape environmental discourse and policy.

Meets Law and Ethics Requirement

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COMMLD 544: Professional Short-Form Writing

(

Tomasic

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Wednesdays 09/28-12/07, 6:00PM – 8:20PM | CMU 302
Registration SLN: 13025

Course Description:

This collaborative hands-on course explores the kind of short-form writing that dominates today’s rapidly evolving professional communications space — the digital space where lines between content and form increasingly blur and where always-on media feeds deliver a mix of advertising, marketing, public relations, human resources, personal brand-building and journalistic reporting and research. It’s a space that presents new writing challenges every day: professional emails, office memos, newsletters, website copy, funding proposals, executive summaries, op-eds, tweets, blurbs, blogs. Much of this material is badly done. Most of it is mediocre. The best of it, though, sings out and demands our attention, demonstrating mastery in the kind of critical thinking and dedicated practice that delivers copy sharply focused and sure in matching voice and material with form and audience. This course is part professional-communications criticism class and part writing workshop. It’s about learning how to identify good writing; it’s about understanding the process that produces good writing; and it’s about practicing that process yourself.

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COMMLD 541A: Crisis Communication: A Survival Guide for Communications Professionals

(

Schwartz

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

Track Neutral | Meets Law and Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 10/04-12/06, 4:00PM – 7:50PM | Online
Registration SLN: 13024

Course Description:

The 24-hour news cycle, social media, and online reporting fundamentally changed how institutional leaders, executives, celebrities, politicians, and organizations address crises big and small. Effectively managing a crisis means not just employing PR strategies, but developing a comprehensive communications plan that disseminates actionable content and engages all stakeholders with equal focus across multiple and diverse networks.

This course will identify the key communication issues that must be addressed during an organizational crisis (real or imagined). We’ll examine implementation strategies to engage traditional and social media; digital networks; federal, state and local lawmakers; external and internal stakeholders; and consumers or constituents. As important, we’ll deconstruct and reinforce the personal ethics and behavior required by professionals in a crisis situation. This class uses current events, interactive discussions, real-time exercises, and engaging guest lectures to provide practical insight about effective techniques and lessons learned.

Meets Law and Ethics Requirement.

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COMMLD 540A: Building Teams and Community

(

Baltus

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Mondays 10/03-12/05, 6:00PM – 8:20PM | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 13023

Course Description:

Building meaningful community around your work begins with your team. This course focuses on cultivating community from the inside out, in a series of concentric and overlapping circles. First it addresses ways to bring people together within the workplace and make sure they feel valued through rewarding opportunities to brainstorm, collaborate and critique. Then it explores what it means to set communication norms within an organization and how those norms affect an organization’s culture and identity. Finally, it provides a methodology for deepening connections with external audiences, conducting credible outreach, building load-bearing bridges and inviting widespread engagement that leads to social impact.

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© Copyright 2025 Department of Communication. University of Washington

© Copyright 2025 Department of Communication. University of Washington