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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 540A: Building Teams and Community

(

Baltus

)

- 2023-2024 | Spring 2024

Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Tuesdays 3/26 – 5/28, 6:00pm – 8:20pm | CMU 242
Registration SLN: 12564

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 530A: Ethics of Storytelling

(

Graney-Saucke

)

- 2023-2024 | Summer 2024

Track Neutral | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 6/18 – 8/13, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 10833

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 540A: The Power of Revision

(

Baltus

)

- 2024-2025 | Autumn 2024

Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Mondays 9/30 – 12/2, 6:00pm – 8:20pm | CMU 242
Registration SLN: 13065

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.

Meets Professional Writing Requirement.

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COMMLD 540B: Human-Centered, AI Augmented Internal Comms

(

Abplanalp

)

- 2024-2025 | Winter 2025

Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 1/7 – 3/11, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 12714

Course Description:

This course explores the intersection of internal/ organizational communications and artificial intelligence (AI) with an emphasis on human-centricity and organizational culture. Topics will focus on organizational brand, leadership and voice; automation tools and techniques; pitfalls of artificial intelligence; and considerations for diversity, equity, and inclusion, anti-racism, and accessibility.

Students will examine the impact of AI on internal communications practices and strategies within organizations, including integration of AI technologies in communication development and its implications for leadership and decision-making. Students will also develop strength as human-centered, AI-augmented internal communicators, enhancing workflows and sharpening editorial acumen and critical thinking. Each week, students will engage in case study discussions to analyze real-world scenarios and explore the application of AI in different aspects of internal communications.

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COMMLD 540A: The Power of Revision

(

Baltus

)

- 2025-2026 | Autumn 2025

Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Mondays 9/29 – 12/1, 6:00pm – 8:20pm | CMU 242
Registration SLN: 13023

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.

Editing IS Writing! Leah Baltus approaches her craft with precision and clarity, and her mission is to pass on her knowledge to students in a highly structured way, with loads of productive feedback. Several students from this class have had their work published in professional/ trade outlets. If you want a surefire way to improve your writing effectiveness, this class is for you!–Gretchen Ludwig, Associate Director

Meets Professional Writing Requirement.

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COMMLD 540F: Health Communications

(

Sandine

)

- 2024-2025 | Winter 2025

Track Neutral | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Mondays 1/6 – 3/10, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | CMU 242
Registration SLN: 22260

Course Description:

Communicating the data” and “following the science” are inadequate if real people’s needs, behaviors, and values are not well understood and centered in our health policies and messages. In this course, students will deepen their knowledge of health equity, population health, and the determinants that impact health in the systems and environments we live in and rely on. At the same time, we will explore how mis- and dis-information, medical mistrust and hesitancy, and the influences of mass media shape and control narratives that have enormous impact on people’s lives.

This course is designed for students working both in health communications and outside of the health sector. We will explore health communication practices and engagement methods like crisis and risk communications, health literacy and promotion, and strategic communications. Activities and assignments will be designed to help communication leaders build practical skills, such as developing briefings and op-eds, facilitating discussions, and creating crisis comms plans.

The pandemic highlighted critical challenges in both equity and health communication. Today, every communication professional must grasp how to effectively communicate about health and navigate the complex public health systems that shape our lives. Taught by a leading expert in health communication, this class is essential for anyone looking to understand key health policies and how to convey them, no matter the industry they plan to enter. I highly recommend it. – Ekin Yasin, Director

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COMMLD 541B: Crisis Communication

(

Hennessey

)

- 2024-2025 | Winter 2025

Track Neutral | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 1/8 – 3/12, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | CMU 302
Registration SLN: 12715

Course Description

Crisis communications is about much more than “spin.”  Crises will happen – in government, in the corporate sector, in nonprofits and political campaigns.  What will differentiate you as a communicator is your ability to plan for it, navigate it in real time, and learn something from it.  There is opportunity in crisis.  A crisis forces us to look inside ourselves, at our policies, at our practices, and at how we do our business.

Of course, crisis communications has always been tough; social media and the advent of generative AI have just made it tougher.  We will navigate the latest cultural challenges, from “cancel culture” to messaging in our polarized society.  In this course, we will look at before the crisis (including planning), how we respond during the crisis (this includes the critical crisis communications plan) and after (this is where we cover actions one must take afterwards, including how to repair the damage done).  The class is designed to look at crises in various sectors and will include participation from professionals in the field.

Meets Law and Ethics Requirement.

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COMMLD 541B: Crisis Communication

(

Hennessey

)

- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023

Track Neutral | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 3/29 – 5/31, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | Online
SLN: 12565

Course Description

Effectively managing a crisis means not just employing PR strategies, but having a comprehensive communications plan already in place. This class will identify key communication issues that must be addressed during an organizational crisis, and examine how to engage traditional and social media, digital networks, federal, state, and local lawmakers, external and internal stakeholders, consumers and constituents. We will examine how organizations attempt to prevent and recover from crises, how the broadcast and print media cover different types of crises. As important, we’ll deconstruct and reinforce the personal ethics and behavior required by professionals in a crisis situation.

Meets Law and Ethics Requirement.

Instructor Bio coming soon. In the mean time, feel free to connect with them on LinkedIn.

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COMMLD 541A: Crisis Communication

(

Visneski

)

- 2023-2024 | Autumn 2023

Track Neutral Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 10/3-12/5, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | Online
Registration SLN: 13015

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 541: Crisis Communication

(

Hennessey

)

- 2023-2024 | Spring 2024

Track Neutral | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Mondays 3/25 – 5/20, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Online
Registration SLN: 12566

Course Description

Crisis communications is about much more than “spin.”  Crises will happen – in government, in the corporate sector, in nonprofits and political campaigns.  What will differentiate you as a communicator is your ability to plan for it, navigate it in real time, and learn something from it.  There is opportunity in crisis.  A crisis forces us to look inside ourselves, at our policies, at our practices, and at how we do our business.

Of course, crisis communications has always been tough; social media and the advent of generative AI have just made it tougher.  We will navigate the latest cultural challenges, from “cancel culture” to messaging in our polarized society.  In this course, we will look at before the crisis (including planning), how we respond during the crisis (this includes the critical crisis communications plan) and after (this is where we cover actions one must take afterwards, including how to repair the damage done).  The class is designed to look at crises in various sectors and will include participation from professionals in the field.

Meets Law and Ethics Requirement.

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COMMLD 543: Leadership Approaches to Equity Initiatives in Organizations

(

Ross

)

- 2024-2025 | Winter 2025

MCCN Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 1/8 – 3/12, 6:00pm – 8:50pm | DEN 258

Registration SLN: 12716

Course Description:

In this leadership development course students grow intra-personally in order to more effectively communicate and collaborate to change organizational systems and cultural norms toward greater equity, justice, diversity, access, belonging, and inclusion.

The course is designed to meet students where they are and coach for growth in self-awareness, communication skills, and comprehension of equity concepts. Students learn interactively together in order to explore interconnections among dimensions of our intersectional identities and experiences of power, and to expand our collective understanding of how organizations, and the people within them, function within larger societal systems of power.

Dual tracks of learning structure the quarter: shared equity related content learning and independent individually-bespoke topical inquiry. Students transform their understanding of their identities and agency, gain confidence for communicating about often-taboo topics, experience iterative reflection as a social justice practice, and expand their comprehension of the distinct roles of individuals, groups, organizations, and societal structures in making genuine system change.

Sarah’s course was intentional and thought-provoking and provided me with the tools to assess and navigate current and future workplace dynamics. I am now able to critically question and analyze organizational health.–AK Sterling, MCCN cohort ‘19 alumni

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COMMLD 544: Professional Short-Form Writing

(

Tomasic

)

- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023

Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Wednesdays 3/29 – 5/31, 6:00PM – 8:20PM | DEN 110
SLN: 12566

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.

Meets Professional Writing Requirement.

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COMMLD 541B: Crisis Communication

(

Hennessey

)

- 2023-2024 | Autumn 2023

Track Neutral Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 9/27-12/6, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | DEN 112
Registration SLN: 13016

Crisis communications is about much more than “spin.”  Crises will happen – in government, in the corporate sector, in nonprofits and political campaigns.  What will differentiate you as a communicator is your ability to plan for it, navigate it in real time, and learn something from it.  There is opportunity in crisis.  A crisis forces us to look inside ourselves, at our policies, at our practices, and at how we do our business.

Of course, crisis communications has always been tough; social media and the advent of generative AI have just made it tougher.  We will navigate the latest cultural challenges, from “cancel culture” to messaging in our polarized society.  In this course, we will look at before the crisis (including planning), how we respond during the crisis (this includes the critical crisis communications plan) and after (this is where we cover actions one must take afterwards, including how to repair the damage done).  The class is designed to look at crises in various sectors and will include participation from professionals in the field.

Meets Law and Ethics Requirement.

{ Expand Course Description + }

COMMLD 544: Professional Short-Form Writing

(

Tomasic

)

- 2023-2024 | Spring 2024

Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Wednesdays 3/27 – 5/29, 6:00pm – 8:20pm | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 12568

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.

Meets Professional Writing Requirement.

{ Expand Course Description + }

COMMLD 541A: Crisis Communication

(

Visneski

)

- 2024-2025 | Autumn 2024

Track Neutral | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 9/25 – 12/4, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Online
Registration SLN: 13067

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.

{ Expand Course Description + }

COMMLD 541: Crisis Communication

(

Visneski

)

- 2025-2026 | Autumn 2025

Track Neutral | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 9/24 – 12/3, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Online
Registration SLN: 13024

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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© Copyright 2025 Department of Communication. University of Washington

© Copyright 2025 Department of Communication. University of Washington