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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 541: Crisis Communication

(

Visneski

)

- 2021-2022 | Autumn 2021

Track Neutral | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 09/29-12/08, 6:00PM – 9:50PM PDT | CMU 302
Registration SLN: 23175

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; internal and external; local, national, and international. 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 address how the tools of communication influence crisis communication strategies. In addition, it will identify the key issues that must be addressed during an organizational crisis (real or imagined) from a communications perspective. It will 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, it will 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.

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COMMLD 540 A: Building Teams and Community

(

Baltus

)

- 2021-2022 | Autumn 2021

Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Mondays 10/04-12/06, 6:00PM – 8:20PM PDT | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 13057

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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COMMLD 538: Storytelling and Communications for Mission-Driven Organizations

(

Melograna

)

- 2021-2022 | Autumn 2021

MCCN Track | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Mondays 10/04-12/06, 6:00PM – 9:50PM PDT | CMU 242
Registration SLN: 13056

Course Description:

Nonprofits, NGOs, campaigns and social enterprises are driven by their desire to make the world a better place. As their storytellers, our job is to make sure their messages reach the right audiences and recruit those audiences to the cause. Keeping in mind that mission-driven organizations will often work on complex issues involving vulnerable populations, our job is to pursue this work within an ethical framework that centers the concerns and desires of the people whom our clients serve. Upon completing the course, students will be able to work with mission-driven organizations as their primary storytellers.

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COMMLD 525: Brand Values, Creativity, and Innovation

(

Howard

)

- 2021-2022 | Autumn 2021

Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 10/05-12/07, 6:00PM – 9:50PM PDT | DEN 112
Registration SLN: 13055

Course Description:

This course will take a close up look at corporate brand values in marketing communications today. Brand values should be timeless and unchanging, but in a constantly fluctuating business environment, is this goal even possible? While high volume video advertising and A/B testing is exploding, paradoxically, messaging of corporate brand values is oftentimes minimized. Marketing today is composed of ever-changing algorithms, transactional communications, and confusing narratives.Should creativity play a bigger role in storytelling in today’s marketplace? Do customers even know what the companies they make purchases from actually stand for values-wise? Does it matter? How can companies still connect emotionally with consumers? Students will ideate a marketing film for a company or nonprofit of their choice. All the while, they’ll be considering deeply how emotion, story, and marketing message function in a project that resonates with the consumer while also reinforcing an organization’s belief system.

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COMMLD 524: Copywriting Fundamentals for Marketing

(

Schiller

)

- 2021-2022 | Autumn 2021

Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Sundays 10/03, 10/17, 10/31 9:00AM – 5:00PM PDT | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 23204

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 513: Content Marketing

(

Weaver

)

- 2021-2022 | Autumn 2021

MCCN Track | Meets Research Methods Requirement | 5 Credits
Saturdays 10/09, 10/23, 11/6, 11/20, 12/11, 9:00AM – 5:00PM PDT | CMU 302
Registration SLN: 13054

Course Description:

This course focuses on the approach and implementation of marketing programs that encourage community building and engagement. The course starts with how to build a content strategy that supports the organization and its audiences as a foundation for content marketing. Building from strategy, we’ll explore best practices and tactics to create impactful campaigns and adaptable content for a variety of channels and platforms. Class work focuses on building brand storytelling, effective messaging, and models for optimizing and measuring digital marketing.

Meets Research Methods Requirement.

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COMMLD 510: Leveraging Diverse Perspectives for Product Content Strategy

(

Davies

)

- 2021-2022 | Autumn 2021

Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Wednesdays 6:00PM – 8:20PM PDT | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 13053

Course Description:

This course will guide students through a variety of techniques and processes to building experiences that are inclusive, and designed to directly serve their intended audience. This includes a lightweight look at understanding and defining your audience, testing for a variety of accessibility challenges, designing for inclusion, and an overview of ways to get feedback from your audience. Students will then be able to leverage these techniques to evaluate experiences to identify opportunities to improve.

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COMMLD 501: Leadership and Communities

(

Yasin

)

- 2021-2022 | Autumn 2021

Track Neutral | Core Requirement | 2 Credits
Thursdays 09/30-12/09, 8:00PM – 9:20PM PDT | SAV 260
Registration SLN: 13052

Course Description:

This foundational class considers leadership development through the two lenses of story and community. Sustained community engagement in the service of a more equitable and just world requires strong leadership models. Personal history and cultural context influence leadership styles, so using cross-sector profiles and guest speakers, we will carefully consider a range of leaders, their life stories, communication styles, and how they connect meaningfully to customers, colleagues, and constituents.

Credit/No Credit only

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COMMLD 543: Leadership Approaches to Equity Initiatives in Organizations

(

Ross

)

- 2021-2022 | Summer

MCCN Elective | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 6/23-8/18, 6:00PM PDT – 9:50PM PDT | Online

Course Description

This course challenges and supports students to develop deeper self-awareness, hone stronger skills for learning across difference, and prepare themselves as organizational change-makers for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

For better or worse, organizational change initiatives impact individuals, groups, organizations, and ultimately societies. Thus, courageous leaders throughout organizations must learn how to improve their relevant knowledge, skills, and awareness iteratively, in order to contribute effectively to genuine change-making. The course is designed to meet students where they are and coach them toward significant growth in self-awareness, skills, and understanding. Students learn collaboratively together in order to explore interconnections among the dimensions of our intersectional identities. Those who complete this course gain confidence in their ability to learn about uncomfortable topics and expand their understanding of the roles of individuals, groups, organizations, and societal structures in making real system change.

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COMMLD 541: Crisis Communication

(

Schwartz

)

- 2021-2022 | Summer

Track Neutral | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 6/23 – 8/18, 5:00PM PDT – 8:50PM PDT | Online

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; internal and external; local, national, and international. 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 address how the tools of communication influence crisis communication strategies. In addition, it will identify the key issues that must be addressed during an organizational crisis (real or imagined) from a communications perspective. It will 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, it will 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.

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COMMLD 536: Intensive Video Storytelling: Conceptualizing, Shooting, and Editing

(

Keller

)

- 2021-2022 | Summer

Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Wednesday – Sunday 6/23 – 6/27, 9:00AM PDT – 5:00PM PDT | Online

Course Description:

This skills-based course explores how engaging online video relies on effective storytelling. It is designed to familiarize you with video tools associated with storytelling: specifically, how to develop, shoot, and edit video.

Storytelling has been part of the human experience since the formation of language. Today, the technology that surrounds the “tell” of a story (the modes and channels of communication) directly shapes a viewer’s experience. This course focuses on the practical decisions you make as you craft a narrative. How do the choices you make in the creation and delivery of your story affect the reception of your message?

Given the compressed five-day timeline of this course, we will emphasize skill building using devices you currently have available. The class will also include practice with the tools that have emerged during the pandemic for remote video production. Remote production will continue to be a part of the fabric of media creation even after the restrictions from the pandemic have been lifted. It is cost-effective and creates the opportunity to eliminate geography as a barrier to access.

*This is an intensive course taking place on five consecutive days, starting Wednesday June 23 – Sunday June 27. 

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COMMLD 535: Foundations of Audio Storytelling

(

Partnow

)

- 2021-2022 | Summer

Track Neutral Elective | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 6/22-8/17, 6:00PM PDT – 9:50PM PDT | Online

Course Description

Whether gathered around a radio in a living room or walking plugged in with headphones, the medium of audio storytelling has always offered the opportunity to build a mindset-shifting community around content. This course traces the evolution of audio storytelling from radio to podcasting that links to communities for various purposes: to educate, to entertain, and to inspire action — and the new golden age of podcasting that we find ourselves in means that audio storytelling has the potential for broad reach and powerful impact. Consideration is given to the core characteristics of strong storytelling, observed through an auditory filter. Class materials are twinned with a selection of cross-sector guest speakers who bring their own craft perspective. Students will experiment with designing their own short audio pieces.

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COMMLD 503E: Practicum in Podcast Strategy

(

Partnow

)

- 2020-2021 | Spring

Track Neutral Elective | 2 Credits
Tuesdays 3/30 – 6/1, 5:30PM – 7:20PM PST (Note: instructor and class will determine meeting dates with project needs) | Online

Course Description:

A strong branded podcast can reach new audiences and strengthen engagement with existing customers. It can fill communication gaps and build organizational identity. But a podcast with no audience or without a clear editorial mission can be a drag on time and resources. Before you ever press ‘record’ it is vital to first understand the organization’s communication needs and target audience. In this practicum students will work in teams, supported by a faculty mentor, to create a plan for a branded podcast concept and format. Students will meet with key organizational stakeholders to understand communication needs and potential audience interest. The final deliverable will be a description of the show and segments, a detailed plan or recording of a pilot episode, and a content outline for season one.

About 503 Communication and Leadership Practicum

Communication and Leadership Practicum was designed as a complement to COMMLD 502, intended to help shape the beginning of the Communication Leadership journey. The course gives students an early 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.

he 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.  

Structure of Class

Class will convene online during the time indicated by section for a minimum of 5 classes led by a faculty mentor. This may occur every other week, or at different intervals that serve the needs of the project. On dates that the faculty mentor is not in attendance, students will have that time together to work with their teams.

During the times that faculty mentors are in attendance, students will report out on the current status of their projects, hear from experts about best practices, receive feedback, and provide feedback to one another. At the end of the quarter, students will present their project deliverables to the client organization, faculty, and their peers. 

In addition to the final presentation, students will plan to meet with the client organizations mid-way through to report out on the current status of their projects and receive important feedback on their developing ideas and processes. Depending on client availability for these two meetings, time may need to be rescheduled from the regular class meeting time, with consideration of faculty mentor and student schedules.

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COMMLD 503D: Practicum in Creating a Digital Communications Plan for Organizations

(

Tang

)

- 2020-2021 | Spring

Track Neutral Elective | 2 Credits
Thursdays 4/1 – 6/3 5:30PM – 7:20PM PST (Note: instructor and class will determine meeting dates based on project needs) | Online

Course Description:

Every organization needs to have a digital and social media plan. With the accelerating pace of social trends, creating a digital strategy is like trying to hit a moving target. This practicum will give you a framework for how to create a digital communications plan that is impactful, unique and future-proof. You’ll be able to create modern marketing plans and social strategies that fit any organization, brand or messaging objective. You’ll learn the best practices for creating digital communication strategies that stand out, latch onto audiences, and compel them to take action.

You’ll present your digital communications plan to the client at the end of this course.

About 503 Communication and Leadership Practicum

Communication and Leadership Practicum was designed as a complement to COMMLD 502, intended to help shape the beginning of the Communication Leadership journey. The course gives students an early 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.

he 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.  

Structure of Class

Class will convene online during the time indicated by section for a minimum of 5 classes led by a faculty mentor. This may occur every other week, or at different intervals that serve the needs of the project. On dates that the faculty mentor is not in attendance, students will have that time together to work with their teams.

During the times that faculty mentors are in attendance, students will report out on the current status of their projects, hear from experts about best practices, receive feedback, and provide feedback to one another. At the end of the quarter, students will present their project deliverables to the client organization, faculty, and their peers. 

In addition to the final presentation, students will plan to meet with the client organizations mid-way through to report out on the current status of their projects and receive important feedback on their developing ideas and processes. Depending on client availability for these two meetings, time may need to be rescheduled from the regular class meeting time, with consideration of faculty mentor and student schedules.

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COMMLD 540: The Power of Revision

(

Baltus

)

- 2020-2021 | Spring

Track Neutral Elective | 2 Credits
Tuesdays 3/30 – 6/1, 6:00PM – 7:50PM PST | Online

Course Description:

No matter what kind of writing you do, editing skills are essential to producing your best work. In this course, experienced writers will learn a rigorous, methodical approach to revision that transforms a rough draft into a compelling finished piece. You’ll gain the awareness and control you need to diagnose and address problems, develop ideas and themes, create structure, and craft a story. You’ll also hone your ability at the line level, learning ways to make your writing clearer and more precise by eliminating clichés, clunky phrases, and extraneous words. As an editing workshop, this course emphasizes the importance of giving and receiving kind, productive feedback. It focuses on longer-form texts for public audiences, such as blog posts, executive op-eds, and news releases, though its principles are applicable to all forms of writing and creative iteration.

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COMMLD 580: Leadership in Emerging Technologies & Trends

(

Hosein

)

- 2020-2021 | Spring

Track Neutral Elective | 2 Credits
Wednesdays 3/31 – 6/2, 5:30PM – 7:20PM PST | Online

Course Description:

In this course, you’ll gain a solid understanding of emerging technologies in the context of social change. We’ll develop a set of questions and conceptual tools that will help you critically assess technologies in early periods of development and adoption. We’ll also explore strategies that you can use to help companies and organizations better plan for, adapt to and advocate for more equitable solutions.

What You’ll Learn

  • How to critically examine narratives used to explain new technologies and their development
  • The fundamentals of key emergent technologies, including artificial intelligence, smart devices and automation, and their potential human impact
  • How to advocate for technology that solves a problem without amplifying existing inequity

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© Copyright 2025 Department of Communication. University of Washington

© Copyright 2025 Department of Communication. University of Washington