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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 570: Leadership at All Levels

(

Myers

)

- 2020-2021 | Autumn

Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Wednesdays 9/30-12/9, 6:00pm – 8:20pm | Online

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 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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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 520A: Principles of Marketing

(

Meyer

)

- 2023-2024 | Autumn 2023

Track Neutral Elective | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 10/3-12/5, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | DEN 112
Registration SLN: 23412

Course Description

This course is designed to provide you with an understanding of foundational marketing concepts and their application within business and non-business organizations. We start with an overview of marketing strategy, including strategic goal setting and planning and assessment of the market environment (company customers, and competitors), and then review fundamental elements of the marketing mix – product, price, placement (distribution) and promotion. We’ll go deeper into marketing communications, including product/service launches, branding, and integrated campaigns. We will explore all this through a dynamic mix of lectures, case studies, guest speakers, videos, in-class discussions, and individual and group projects.

At the end of the course, you will know how to develop a marketing plan, including how to perform market segmentation, targeting, and positioning; implement branding concepts; execute market research tools and techniques; analyze consumer/audience behavior, introduce new products or services, and develop advertising and integrated communications campaigns.

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COMMLD 520A: Principles of Marketing

(

Meyer

)

- 2024-2025 | Autumn 2024

Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Mondays 9/30 – 12/9, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 13053

Course Description

This course is designed to provide you with an understanding of foundational marketing concepts and their application within business and non-business organizations. We start with an overview of marketing strategy, including strategic goal setting and planning and assessment of the market environment (company customers, and competitors), and then review fundamental elements of the marketing mix – product, price, placement (distribution) and promotion. We’ll go deeper into marketing communications, including product/service launches, branding, and integrated campaigns. We will explore all this through a dynamic mix of lectures, case studies, guest speakers, videos, in-class discussions, and individual and group projects.

At the end of the course, you will know how to develop a marketing plan, including how to perform market segmentation, targeting, and positioning; implement branding concepts; execute market research tools and techniques; analyze consumer/audience behavior, introduce new products or services, and develop advertising and integrated communications campaigns.

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COMMLD 541A: Crisis Communication

(

Schwartz

)

- 2024-2025 | Summer 2025

Track Neutral | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 6/25-8/20, 4:00pm – 7:50pm | Online
SLN: 10757

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 520A: Principles of Marketing

(

Meyer

)

- 2025-2026 | Autumn 2025

Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Mondays 9/29 – 12/1, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 13013

Course Description

This course is designed to provide you with an understanding of foundational marketing concepts and their application within business and non-business organizations. We start with an overview of marketing strategy, including strategic goal setting and planning and assessment of the market environment (company customers, and competitors), and then review fundamental elements of the marketing mix – product, price, placement (distribution) and promotion. We’ll go deeper into marketing communications, including product/service launches, branding, and integrated campaigns. We will explore all this through a dynamic mix of lectures, case studies, guest speakers, videos, in-class discussions, and individual and group projects.

At the end of the course, you will know how to develop a marketing plan, including how to perform market segmentation, targeting, and positioning; implement branding concepts; execute market research tools and techniques; analyze consumer/audience behavior, introduce new products or services, and develop advertising and integrated communications campaigns.

This class is a good match for students who:

• Want a foundational understanding of how marketing strategies and tools function in the world of business and organizations

• Plan to pursue marketing roles within organizations not limited to communication or creative

• Want to learn to create a portfolio-level marketing plan for an actual client

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COMMLD 540: The Power of Revision

(

Baltus

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Tuesdays 3/29 – 5/31 6:00PM – 8:20PM | CMU 242 | Partially In-Person
Registration SLN: 12608

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 563: Multicultural Marketing: Creating Equitable and Inclusive Communications

(

Park

)

- 2021-2022 | Autumn 2021

MCCN Track | 5 Credits
Saturdays 10/02, 10/16, 10/30, 11/13, 12/04 9:00AM – 5:00PM PDT | CMU 242
Registration SLN: 13058

Course Description:

This course will take a close look at the evolution of multicultural marketing. We will explore how agencies and companies have adapted, pivoted and transformed how we engage with diverse audiences. You’ll learn how to build marketing campaigns that is rooted in principles of diversity, equity and inclusion and is responsive to the increasingly diverse marketplace.

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COMMLD 570 B: Leadership at All Levels

(

Myers

)

- 2021-2022 | Autumn 2021

Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Wednesdays 09/29-12/08, 6:00PM – 8:20PM PDT | CMU 230
Registration SLN: 13061

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 544: Professional Short-Form Writing

(

Tomasic

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Wednesdays 3/30 – 6/1 6:00PM – 8:20PM | CMU 230 | Partially In-Person
Registration SLN: 21578

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 570 C: Professional Visibility and Personal Branding for Communications Professionals

(

Sampaco

)

- 2021-2022 | Autumn 2021

Track Neutral | 1 Credit
Wednesdays 9/29, 10/13, 10/27, 11/10, 12/1, 6:00PM – 7:50PM | CMU 326
Registration SLN: 23780

Course Description:

Career success is not just about what you know or who you know. It’s about who knows you. If you want others in your industry to know who you are and to recognize your value, you must be intentional about how you show up, how you communicate about yourself, and how you make others feel. Taught by a TV news anchor with more than 10 years of on-camera experience, this course is for ambitious professionals who want to set themselves up for success by growing their professional visibility and advocating for themselves at work. Career strategy, personal branding, and public speaking are core elements of this course. You’ll learn how to improve your on-camera speaking skills (ex. Zoom meetings), how to articulate your value to a prospective employer or client, how to talk about your accomplishments, and how to grow your professional credibility using social media. You will practice speaking in front of audiences (in person or virtually) and receive feedback on how to improve your verbal and non-verbal communication skills, culminating in your final assignment, an “About Me” video (geared towards prospective employers or clients) that you can attach to your LinkedIn profile. Guest speakers will also share strategies for growing their professional visibility and how they approach self-advocacy in the workplace. Women, students of color, and international students are strongly encouraged to register for this course.

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COMMLD 580: Leadership in Emergent Technologies and Trends

(

Hosein

)

- 2021-2022 | Autumn 2021

Track Neutral | 2 Credits
Tuesdays 10/05-12/07, 5:30PM – 7:20PM PDT | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 23071

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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COMMLD 551: The Laws and Ethics of Organizations

(

Tausch Lapora

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

MCCN Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 3/29 – 5/31 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 126 | Partially In-Person
Registration SLN: 12609

Course Description

All organizations — private, public and nonprofit — 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 how to legally and ethically create, grow, and maintain organizations. This course considers and juxtaposes the legal and ethical realities of community building through a cross-sector approach, particularly by utilizing racial equity and anti-oppression frameworks and grounding in behavioral ethics (decision-making and heuristics). 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 simulations, real-world scenarios and games to maximize understanding of the impact of law and ethics on organizational communications 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. No prior experience in law is required.

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COMMLD 535: Foundations of Audio Storytelling

(

Partnow

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 10/04-12/06, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 322
Registration SLN: 13021

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 525: Brand Values & Creativity

(

Howard

)

- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023

Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 3/28 – 5/30, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | DEN 113
SLN: 12556

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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© Copyright 2025 Department of Communication. University of Washington

© Copyright 2025 Department of Communication. University of Washington