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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.

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COMMLD 510: Content Marketing and Strategy for Communities

(

Weaver

)

- 2019-2020 | Autumn

MCCN Elective
Saturdays, 10/5, 10/19, 11/2, 11/16, 12/7 | 9:00am-5:00pm | CMU 302

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.

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COMMLD 543: Leadership Approaches to Equity Initiatives in Organizations

(

Ross

)

- 2019-2020 | Winter

MCCN Elective
Tuesdays, 1/7-3/10 | 6:00-9:50pm | TBD

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.

Student Testimonial:

“This was THE BEST class! It was a complete eye-opener. We discussed some of the issues that are so prevalent in our daily lives but we choose to stay quiet and not discuss. Sarah pushes students to think deeper about our own behaviors towards self as well as others. Most of us found ourselves open up so much that by the end of the class, we were always longing for more discussions. The quarter went by too fast but did leave us with lot of learnings.”

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COMMLD 540 A: Mastering the Communications & Marketing Mix: Thinking Like a Chief Marketing Officer

(

McCarthy

)

- 2019-2020 | Spring

MCCN Elective
Mondays, 3/30 – 6/5 | 6:00 – 9:50pm | CMU 126

Course Description:

This course will provide necessary background on the many disciplines in the communications and marketing mix, identify areas of convergence and divergence between these disciplines, and learn how to use these tools help an organization achieve its objectives or business goals. The course will teach participants to anticipate the communications needs of a company or organization’s leadership and include a range of assignments that ask students to apply course teachings to real-world scenarios with strategic thinking, brand development, and compelling storytelling.

Student Testimonial:

“Molly did a tremendous job leading this class. She assigned valuable readings — articles that I’ve since bookmarked and expect to reference for years to come. She assigned Harvard Business School case studies that inspired critical thinking and thoughtful discussion in our class. Molly also brought in impressive guest speakers from a range of disciplines within marketing and communications. She struck the perfect balance of analyzing both current trends and timeless marketing strategies. I would rank this class among the top few classes I took over the course of the Comm Lead program.”

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COMMLD 540: Building Teams and Community

(

Baltus

)

- 2020-2021 | Autumn

Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Mondays 10/5-12/7, 6:00pm – 8:20pm | Online

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 537: Principles of Storytelling for Organizations, Business, and Movements

(

Kessler

)

- 2020-2021 | Winter

Track Neutral Elective | 5 Credits
Saturdays 1/9, 1/23, 2/6, 2/20, 3/6 | 9:00am – 5:00pm | Online

Course Description:

Thinking Story is a foundational class that focuses on the art and craft of nonfiction storytelling to communicate ideas and emotion, build relationships and community, promote change and inspire action. The class reflects the need in all sectors for superb storytelling. The class explores, investigates and discusses the elements of narrative — what makes a story a story – and looks at examples of nonfiction storytelling across media (text, sound, still image, moving image and multimedia combinations). This platform-agnostic, birds-eye view of story is about learning how to reframe/ reconceptualize “information” and “report” as story, how to locate the small story that illuminates the larger issue, and what it takes to produce such work. At its heart, the class is about learning how to conceptualize issues, topics, brands, and ideas as narratives. Students will learn to “think story,” to pinpoint, pitch and gather material for the production of original, compelling and persuasive content.

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COMMLD 537: Principles of Storytelling for Organizations, Business, and Movements

(

Kessler

)

- 2021-2022 | Winter 2022

Track Neutral Elective | 5 Credits
Saturdays 1/8, 1/22, 2/5, 2/19, 3/5, 9:00AM – 5:00PM | CMU 126 | Hybrid
Registration SLN: 12700

Course Description:

Thinking Story is a foundational class that focuses on the art and craft of nonfiction storytelling to communicate ideas and emotion, build relationships and community, promote change and inspire action. The class reflects the need in all sectors for superb storytelling. The class explores, investigates and discusses the elements of narrative — what makes a story a story – and looks at examples of nonfiction storytelling across media (text, sound, still image, moving image and multimedia combinations). This platform-agnostic, birds-eye view of story is about learning how to reframe/ reconceptualize “information” and “report” as story, how to locate the small story that illuminates the larger issue, and what it takes to produce such work. At its heart, the class is about learning how to conceptualize issues, topics, brands, and ideas as narratives. Students will learn to “think story,” to pinpoint, pitch and gather material for the production of original, compelling and persuasive content.

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COMMLD 510 B: Introduction UX Writing & Content Design

(

Romero

)

- Current Quarter | 2024-2025 | Spring 2025

Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Tuesdays 4/1 – 6/3, 6:00pm – 8:20pm | CMU 230
SLN: 12572

Course Description

User Experience (UX) Writing involves the words used in a website, app, or other digital experience flow. The job of UX Writing is to make sure those words help make that experience simple, conversational, and easy to use. This course will use design thinking to guide you through solving complex UX issues using workshops, real-world examples, emerging AI tools and techniques, and creating your own unique UX writing flows and portfolio.

This class is a good match for students who:

• Are planning to pursue a career in the UX and/or marketing field

• want to gain team-based competencies aligned with industry practice

• want to showcase UX writing flows in their UX portfolio

Meets Professional Writing Requirement.

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COMMLD 551: The Law and Ethics of Organizations

(

Tausch Lapora

)

- 2019-2020 | Spring

MCCN Elective, Meets Law and Ethics Core Requirement
Wednesdays, 3/30 – 6/5 | 6:00-9:50pm | CMU 126

Course Description:

All organizations — private, public and non-profit — inevitably encounter legal and ethical challenges when building and engaging with their communities and networks. Leaders must be able to identify, anticipate, and problem solve issues such as how to create and maintain legal and ethical organizations, and how legal relationships are created. They must also grapple with challenges such as to whom legal and ethical duties are owed, and what advocacy strategies to employ when defining deliverables and implementing initiatives. This course considers and juxtaposes the legal and ethical realities of community building through a cross-sector approach. We will survey a wide array of case studies, many with a social justice backdrop, in which law and ethics may overlap, conflict, or contain gaps. We will engage in practical story exercises that maximize understanding of how law and ethics impact how organizations communicate to clients, customers, and constituencies. Throughout the course, you are encouraged to bring in legal and ethical issues from your professional experiences to enrich discussion of course topics.

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COM 597: Leadership and Teams

(

Philipsen

)

- 2017-2018 | Spring

MCCN Elective
Tuesdays, March 27th-May 29th, 6-9:50pm | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 12418

Course Description:

In this highly interactive course you will learn to notice, describe, and assess how formal and informal leaders organize and participate in workplace meetings in ways that enhance group creativity and effective problem solving. The course integrates the classic wisdom on effective leadership in workplace groups with the newest research on virtual teams, computer-assisted group problem solving, and the facilitative potential of leader communications. In the course you will learn and practice a research method and skill—the real-time analysis of leader behavior in work group interactions, and you will learn how this skill will enable you to enhance the creative and problem solving performance of workplace groups in which you participate and t hat you lead. Taking this course can help you develop your personal capacity as a constructive participant in work groups and teams. It can also provide you with research-based understandings of how various leadership communications can facilitate the effectiveness of work groups, as well as equip you to do qualitative real-time analyses of the functioning of work teams of which you are a member, observer, or facilitator. Finally, it will introduce you to methods of analyzing and assessing the role that groups can play in the work of particular networks, communities, or organizations, including the benefits and costs to an organization of work in groups.

Student Testimonial:

“I really found this to be one of the most valuable courses yet that I have taken while in the CommLead program. Dr. Philipsen is a wonderful teacher and has an instruction style that resonates with me. He is a great listener and is deeply engaged in all aspects of in-class discussion. While he is approachable and laid-back, he asks incisive questions and elicits critical thought from all members of the class. The content of the course is especially pertinent for any CommLead students who are in or who anticipate being in positions of leadership in their respective fields. I learned a tremendous amount about different group discussion and creative work processes, and the science that serves as the foundation for those processes. There is so much from this class that is directly and immediately applicable to group interactions in professional settings. This course was fantastic, and I am a better leader because of it.”

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COMMLD 560: Qualitative Research in Communities and Organizations

(

Coutu

)

- 2018-2019 | Winter

MCCN Elective | Meets Research Methods Core Requirement
Wednesdays, 1/9-3/13 | 6:00-9:50pm | CMU 242
Registration SLN: 12631

Course Description: 

Each organization and community has its unique “culture.” As technology has both enhanced and disrupted how we traditionally connect to each other, harnessing the culture within these specific social structures is an increasingly valuable strategy in the networked age. If we can discern the cultural foundation of an organization or community, we can interact with, and motivate its members more effectively and efficiently. In this course, you will learn how to determine the heart of a particular, localized culture of an organization (businesses, non-profits, civic entities) or community. Specifically, you will learn how to see the cultural values, rules, and symbols of a culture as vital resources for promoting successful collaboration within and across groups. This is a crucial undertaking for 21st century leaders who seek to inspire and transform through communication. Student Testimonial: “Communicating Through Culture was the most unexpectedly rewarding class I ever took. When the quarter began, I had no idea what to expect, and I was leery of the plentiful, heavily academic readings listed in the syllabus. I ended up enjoying the class so much I was sad when the quarter ended! Lisa took an arguably esoteric subject matter (the ethnography of communication) and not only did she help me to understand it, but she bridged the gap between academia and industry. I came out of the course with a newly positive attitude toward research and a keen interest in knowing more about how people communicate.”

 

Student Testimonial: “Communicating Through Culture was the most unexpectedly rewarding class I ever took. When the quarter began, I had no idea what to expect, and I was leery of the plentiful, heavily academic readings listed in the syllabus. I ended up enjoying the class so much I was sad when the quarter ended! Lisa took an arguably esoteric subject matter (the ethnography of communication) and not only did she help me to understand it, but she bridged the gap between academia and industry. I came out of the course with a newly positive attitude toward research and a keen interest in knowing more about how people communicate.”

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COMMLD 540: Mastering the Art & Science of Professional Communication

(

McCarthy

)

- 2018-2019 | Spring

MCCN Elective
Mondays, 4/1/19-6/10/19 | 6:00-9:50pm | CMU 242
Registration SLN: 12431

Course Description:

This course will provide necessary background on the many disciplines in the communications and marketing mix, identify areas of convergence and divergence between these disciplines, and learn how to use these tools help an organization achieve its objectives or business goals. The course will teach participants to anticipate the communications needs of a company or organization’s leadership and include a range of assignments that ask students to apply course teachings to real-world scenarios with strategic thinking, brand development, and compelling storytelling.

Student Testimonial:

“Molly did a tremendous job leading this class. She assigned valuable readings — articles that I’ve since bookmarked and expect to reference for years to come. She assigned Harvard Business School case studies that inspired critical thinking and thoughtful discussion in our class. Molly also brought in impressive guest speakers from a range of disciplines within marketing and communications. She struck the perfect balance of analyzing both current trends and timeless marketing strategies. I would rank COMMLD 540 among the top few classes I took over the course of the Comm Lead program.”

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COMMLD 530: Storytelling and Communication for Mission-Driven Organizations

(

Melograna

)

- 2019-2020 | Autumn

MCCN Elective | Meets Law and Ethics Core Requirement
Mondays, 9/30-12/2 | 6:00-9:50pm | CMU 126
Note: Due to the holiday the final class will be Monday, December 9.

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 560: Communication and the Environment

(

Russell

)

- 2019-2020 | Winter

MCCN Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement
Wednesdays, 1/8-3/11 | 6:00-9:50pm | CMU 302

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. 

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COMMLD 540: Distributed and Diverse Teams

(

Chang

)

- 2020-2021 | Autumn

Track Neutral
Saturdays/Sunday, 10/10, 10/11, 10/24, 11/21, 9:00am – 5:00pm | Online

Course Description:

Through this practical and applied course, students will build their leadership and communication effectiveness to work in distributed teams at the global, national, or local levels. With increasing interconnectedness that builds larger and more complex teams and also reduces face/face time of those teams, competencies in distributed leadership are a rapidly evolving must-have set in any professional context but especially in the field of communications. And yet opportunities to sharpen those nuanced skills remain less than optimal. Students will embark on a full-immersion experience by working in distributed teams using a combination of relevant practical materials and readings, ongoing team and individual assignments, personal self-reflection and improved self-awareness and the planning and execution of a class-wise exercise such as a strategy retreat or other learning event. Topics covered will include project planning, goal setting, managing through direct and indirect influence and communicating with impact over the e-highways. Distributed team technology will anchor the students together as they move through coursework that will help them to stretch, struggle, and succeed. By the end of the course, students will be able to not only recognize their progression but will also be able to more effectively articulate the related competencies using terminology and language relevant for professional pursuits. Please note that this course models distributed team leadership in that students will have a weekly distributed leadership team call and work in addition to the 4 on-site classes; this applied approach to the course offers deeper leadership transformation as well as practical skill development.

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COMMLD 540: Human Centered Design for Change Leadership

(

Cioffi

)

- 2020-2021 | Winter

MCCN Elective | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 1/6-3/10 | 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Online

Course Description:

Effective change leadership requires broad community engagement and clear communication about the process. Collaborative practices can address individual and group resistance to change. In organizations of many sizes, across multiple sectors, urgent questions about core mission, internal structures, and products and services must be newly addressed given the shifting contexts at every fundamental level. In many sectors, entire infrastructure change is being openly discussed and requested. Leading strategic organizational change, or providing communications support for that leadership, relies on pivotal human-centered design tools (HCD) and their application to achieve measurable success.

In this course we will examine case studies at varying stages of a HCD process. Students will manage research and incubation, communicate it effectively to stakeholders, and deliver a creative agency-level proposal for a client facing organizational change. Students will learn to manage a complex project proposal from start to finish and work effectively in teams to communicate a proposed prototype process using HCD principles and practices. The client relationship will be offered by the instructor or students will be able to propose their own client relationship.

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COMMLD 535: Foundations of Audio Storytelling

(

Partnow

)

- 2021-2022 | Autumn 2021

Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 09/29-12/08, 6:00PM – 9:50PM PDT | CMU 242
Registration SLN: 23404

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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© Copyright 2025 Department of Communication. University of Washington