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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 545 A/B: Engaging Interviews

(

Dalch

)

- 2023-2024 | Spring 2024

Track Neutral | 2 or 3 Credits
Wednesdays 3/27 – 5/29, 6:00pm – 7:50pm | CMU 302
2-Credit 545A Registration SLN: 21557
3-Credit 545B Registration SLN: 21559

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.

Section A will be 2 Credits. Section B will be 3 Credits with an additional interview project.

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COMMLD 544: Professional Short-Form Writing

(

Tomasic

)

- 2024-2025 | Autumn 2024

Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Wednesdays 9/25 – 12/4, 6:00pm – 8:20pm | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 13069

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 545 A/B: Engaging Interviews

(

Dalch

)

- 2024-2025 | Winter 2025

Track Neutral | 2 or 3 Credits
Tuesdays 1/7 – 3/11, 6:00pm – 7:50pm | CMU 242
2-credit 545A Registration SLN: 22261
3-credit 545B Registration SLN: 22262

Course Description:

Great conversations are at the heart of professional success—whether you’re interviewing users for product research, having discovery calls with clients, conducting interviews for publication, or building your professional network. This course teaches you how to master the art of purposeful professional conversations through preparation, presence, and genuine curiosity. You’ll learn how to design and lead different types of professional dialogues, from structured research interviews to dynamic networking conversations, while maintaining authenticity and engagement.

Through a blend of coaching techniques and practical frameworks, you’ll develop skills in active listening, strategic questioning, and conversation management. Students will engage in hands-on practice with various conversation types (UX research, client discovery, media interviews, and professional networking) with guest speakers from various industries invited to add real-world perspectives on applying these skills.

Section A will be 2 Credits. Section B will be 3 Credits with an additional interview project.

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COMMLD 544A/B: Professional Short-Form Writing

(

Shaban

)

- 2025-2026 | Autumn 2025

Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 or 5 Credits
Wednesdays 9/24 – 12/3, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | CMU 126
3-credit 544A Registration SLN: 13025
5-credit 544B Registration SLN: 23358

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.

Students can choose between a 3-credit and 5 credit option:

• Section A will be 3 Credits and meet the Professional Writing Requirement. It meets 6-8:20. 

• Section B will be 5 Credits and also meet the Professional Writing Requirement. It will meet for a longer period from 6-9:50 and include additional short form assignments over the course of the quarter. 

Meets Professional Writing Requirement.

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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 543: Leadership Approaches to Equity Initiatives in Organizations

(

Ross

)

- 2022-2023 | Winter 2023

MCCN Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 1/3 – 3/7, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | DEN 213
Registration SLN: 12789

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 546 A/B: Professional Long-Form Writing

(

Crofts

)

- 2024-2025 | Winter 2025

Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement (3 or 5 credit) or Research Methods Requirement (5 Credit) | 3 or 5 Credits | CMU 126
Sundays 1/12, 1/26, 2/9, 9:00am – 5:00pm | 3-credit section 546A | Registration SLN: 12717
Sundays 1/12, 1/26, 2/9, 2/23, 3/9, 9:00am – 5:00pm | 5-credit section 546B | Registration SLN: 12718

Please note: 546A is 3 credits, and 546B is 5 credits. These courses will run concurrently. Students registered for 546A (3 credits) will attend the first three dates, and students registered for 546B (5 credits) will attend all five dates.

Course Description:

Have you ever read an in-depth piece online that so moved you or shifted your thinking that you immediately sent it on to a friend or colleague? The “long-form” medium offers the writer ample space for synthesis, critique, and personal stories to capture the imagination, change the conversation, and inspire action. With a broad selection of writers, leaders, and cultural commentators as curricular guides, this course invites each student to hone their long-form professional writing skills (>1000 words) and deepen their understanding of the current professional communication long-form landscape.

With scaffolded steps to refine their writing voice and scope, this course serves both students with writing experience, as well as those keen to develop this foundational skill. All students are invited to submit their final piece for inclusion in the Spring 2025 volume of the online journal Mind Shift. In addition, we will consider the evolution of platforms, from colonial-era pamphlets to today’s crowded community of digital newsletters.

Anita teaches invaluable research and writing skills that pushed me to become a more curious thinker. She encourages her students to dive into multifaceted research on your choice of subject and produce a polished long-form piece. As a brand marketing professional, I’ve applied what I learned in Anita’s class by practicing clear written communication and empathetic collaboration. —Amanda Chou, MCCN cohort ‘22 alumni 

3-credit class Meets Professional Writing Requirement.

5-credit class meets either Research Methods or Professional Writing requirement. Class cannot be used to meet both requirements.

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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 544: Professional Short-Form Writing

(

Tomasic

)

- 2023-2024 | Autumn 2023

Track Neutral | Meets Professional Writing Requirement | 3 Credits
Wednesdays 9/27-12/6, 6:00PM – 8:20PM | CMU 302
Registration SLN: 13017

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 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 535: Foundations of Audio Storytelling (e.g. Podcasting)

(

Partnow

)

- Current Quarter | 2024-2025 | Spring 2025

Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 4/1 – 6/3, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | CMU 302
SLN: 12584

Course Description

The podcasting industry has surged in recent years, with podcasts also becoming an increasingly important part of marketing and communication campaigns. Since it is the only medium that audiences can consume while engaged in a multitude of other activities, audio storytelling has a unique advantage to inform, entertain and call to action.

This course will teach you how to use audio to tell a powerful story. You will learn how to create your own short sound-rich, nonfiction audio story driven by characters and scenes. You will move through the process of research, reporting, interviewing, writing, editing, and mixing an audio story, as well as pitching a story for radio or podcast. By the end of the class you will have a working knowledge of the basics of audio storytelling and production. You will feel more confident about how to support visual storytelling with audio, as well as how to work with a larger production team on audio projects.

This course is a good match for students who:

• Are seeking an individualized, project-based course

• Want foundational storytelling and editing skills that can translate into any medium

• Would like to learn how audio can elevate and transform storytelling

This class greatly elevated my ability to concisely tell stories!—Jacob Christensen, Foundations of Video and Advanced Video Practicum Instructor, and MCDM cohort ‘15 alumni

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COMMLD 560A: Inclusive Design & Product Equity

(

Liu

)

- 2023-2024 | Summer 2024

Track Neutral | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Mondays 6/17 – 8/12, 5:30pm – 9:20pm | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 14185

Course Description:

This course offers a comprehensive exploration of the critical intersection between Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and technology. In an era where technology such as artificial intelligence and machine learning plays an ever-expanding role in shaping our world, we should interrogate who gets to build it, use it, and profit from it. As future technology leaders it is imperative to not only be well versed in DEI but to create necessary solutions that democratize technology rather than allow it to perpetuate systems of inequality.

Meets Law & Ethics Requirement.

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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 551: The Law and Ethics of Community Building

(

Tausch Lapora

)

- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023

MCCN Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 3/29 – 5/31, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | DEN 258
SLN: 12567

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.

Meets Law & Ethics Requirement.

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COMMLD 551: The Law & Ethics of Organizations

(

Tausch

)

- Current Quarter | 2024-2025 | Spring 2025

MCCN Elective | Meets Law & Ethics OR Research Methods Requirement | 5 Credits
Thursdays 4/3 – 5/29*, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | CMU 302
SLN: 12588

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 examines the legal and ethical realities of leadership 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 and consider real-world scenarios 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.

Meets Law & Ethics Requirement OR Research Methods Requirement

Note: This course will end on 5/29 instead of 6/5 for Screen Summit. Asynchronous work will be included to make up for that session.

There’s a reason that final projects from this course consistently are nominated for the Comm Lead Department of Communication Research Award (one of B. Tausch’s students won in 2023), and it has all to do with the superb design of the course and how students are motivated by B.’s committed and thoughtful instruction to produce award-winning work. Legal studies can feel like another language, but not in this class: B. makes great use of real world scenarios to bring law and ethics alive in a professional communication context. — Anita Verna Crofts, Comm Lead Artist in Residence

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COMMLD 560A: Communicating Across Power and Identities

(

Ross

)

- 2023-2024 | Spring 2024

Track Neutral | 2 Credits
Wednesdays 3/27 – 5/29, 6:00pm – 7:50pm | DEN 213
Registration SLN: 12571

Course Description:

This course provides a primer on equity concepts, such as identity, power, privilege, and systems of oppression. Through reflective writing and facilitated discussions of curated readings, students explore how their identities impact their effectiveness in communicating across interpersonal difference. Designed for students who seek a welcoming space in which to learn modes of inquiry for iterative self-preparation for collaborations across power and identities.

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© Copyright 2025 Department of Communication. University of Washington

© Copyright 2025 Department of Communication. University of Washington