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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)
- 2023-2024 | Summer 2024
Track Neutral | 1-5 Credits
Application Required
Course Description:
Independent Research projects are student-driven, with faculty serving in a loose advisory capacity. This option is for students with a clear project in mind who will only need minimal faculty support to accomplish their end goal. See complete details and application instructions on the Guide to Independent Research page.
(
Bradshaw
)
- 2024-2025 | Autumn 2024
Track Neutral | Meets Research Methods Requirement | 5 Credits
Mondays 9/30 – 12/2, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | DEN 113
Registration SLN: 13072
Course Description
“Wellness” is one of those buzzwords that hovers over the top of various pop culture and advertising we consume. It’s a concept that permeates much of how we live and work in the world, and can often feel like a given. But what does “Wellness” actually mean? This course will dive deep into wellness and well-being as central concepts to mental, physical, and emotional modes of health in the 21st century. The goal is for communication professionals to better understand how modern “Wellness” campaigns connect all the way back to early 20th century American advertising campaigns, and why this history matters.
Yes, we will talk about GOOP, reflect upon Soul Cycle, and different popular diets like Paleo and Keto. But we will also explore them through a historical, cultural, economic and technological framework that connects the current moment to 20th century cultural anxieties of the physical and mental body, including the focus on losing unwanted weight and detoxifying the body from various ailments. Other wellness topics for the course will include productivity, health, corporate and social responsibility, clutter, burnout, and more.
The final assignment helps showcase the student’s ability to do preliminary research while taking complex ideas and distilling them into an understandable presentation 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.
(
Ross
)
- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023
Track Neutral | 2 Credits
Mondays 3/27-6/05, 6:00PM – 7:50PM | DEN 212
SLN: 21584
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.
(
Parikh
)
- 2024-2025 | Winter 2025
MCCN Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Thursdays 1/9 – 3/13, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | CMU 242
Registration SLN: 12720
Course Description:
This course is focused on ”integrated advocacy,” which is a strategy of communicating one’s advocacy efforts through multiple channels – like the marriage equality movement, net neutrality efforts by Google, Facebook and Netflix, and the passage of the Affordable Care Act of 2010. You will develop part of an integrated advocacy campaign working for a client in this class. Real-life challenges and advocacy needs of our clients will allow us to use integrated advocacy model in an applied sense. We will build stories around goals and solutions. We will come up with advocacy tactics and create an advocacy campaign that will ignite change. This is a hands-on course. The course will help you develop immersive storytelling skills, and practice community organizing. You will learn persuasive communication and engagement methods, and how to pack a punch with a campaign aimed at making change. Guest speakers and mentors with experience spearheading campaigns will serve as guides throughout the quarter. The course will culminate with a short advocacy pitch session.
“Changing the world” gets a lot of lip service – this class actually teaches you how to do it! Sejal’s experience on successful advocacy campaigns like the $15 minimum wage provides a backdrop for instruction in tested strategies and techniques that can be deployed to move the needle at the community, social and policy level. Watching my fellow students’ presentations at the end of the quarter, I felt like we were all really well equipped to go out and have a positive impact like never before. — Alex Stonehill, Associate Director, MCCN Cohort 19
Meets Law & Ethics requirement.
(
Park
)
- 2022-2023 | Spring 2023
MCCN Elective | 5 Credits
Saturdays 4/8, 4/22, 5/6, 5/20, 6/3, 9:00AM – 5:00PM | Online
SLN: 12569
Course Description
This course will take a close look at the evolution of multicultural marketing, industry best practices and foundational strategies related to multicultural communications. We will explore how agencies and companies have adapted, pivoted and transformed the way brands and organizations engage with diverse audiences. You’ll learn how to build marketing campaigns that are rooted in principles of diversity, equity and inclusion. Additionally, we’ll learn how to craft campaigns that are responsive to the increasingly diverse marketplace and ever-changing marketing landscape.
(
Bradshaw
)
- 2023-2024 | Autumn 2023
Track Neutral | Meets Research Methods Requirement | 5 Credits
Mondays 10/2-12/4, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | DEN 212
Registration SLN: 13020
Course Description
“Wellness” is one of those buzzwords that hovers over the top of various pop culture and advertising we consume. It’s a concept that permeates much of how we live and work in the world, and can often feel like a given. But what does “Wellness” actually mean? This course will dive deep into wellness and well-being as central concepts to mental, physical, and emotional modes of health in the 21st century. The goal is for communication professionals to better understand how modern “Wellness” campaigns connect all the way back to early 20th century American advertising campaigns, and why this history matters.
Yes, we will talk about GOOP, reflect upon Soul Cycle, and different popular diets like Paleo and Keto. But we will also explore them through a historical, cultural, economic and technological framework that connects the current moment to 20th century cultural anxieties of the physical and mental body, including the focus on losing unwanted weight and detoxifying the body from various ailments. Other wellness topics for the course will include productivity, health, corporate and social responsibility, clutter, burnout, and more.
The final assignment helps showcase the student’s ability to do preliminary research while taking complex ideas and distilling them into an understandable presentation 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.
(
Park
)
- 2024-2025 | Autumn 2024
MCCN Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Saturdays 9:00am – 5:00pm, 9/28, 10/12, 10/26, 11/9, 11/23 | Online
Registration SLN: 13074
Course Description
This course will take a close look at the evolution of multicultural marketing, industry best practices and foundational strategies related to multicultural communications. We will explore how agencies and companies have adapted, pivoted and transformed the way brands and organizations engage with diverse audiences. You’ll learn how to build marketing campaigns that are rooted in principles of diversity, equity and inclusion. Additionally, we’ll learn how to craft campaigns that are responsive to the increasingly diverse marketplace and ever-changing marketing landscape.
Meets Law & Ethics Requirement.
(
Park
)
- 2025-2026 | Autumn 2025
Track Neutral | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Saturdays 10/4, 10/18, 11/01, 11/15, 12/06, 9:00am – 5:00pm | Online
Registration SLN: 13031
Course Description
This course will take a close look at the evolution of multicultural marketing, industry best practices and foundational strategies related to multicultural communications. We will explore how agencies and companies have adapted, pivoted and transformed the way brands and organizations engage with diverse audiences. You’ll learn how to build marketing campaigns that are rooted in principles of diversity, equity and inclusion. Additionally, we’ll learn how to craft campaigns that are responsive to the increasingly diverse marketplace and ever-changing marketing landscape.
Meets Law & Ethics Requirement.
(
Parikh
)
- 2022-2023 | Winter 2023
MCCN Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Thursdays 1/5 – 3/9, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 242
Registration SLN: 12790
Course Description:
This course is focused on ”integrated advocacy,” which is a strategy of communicating one’s advocacy efforts through multiple channels – like the marriage equality movement, net neutrality efforts by Google, Facebook and Netflix, and the passage of the Affordable Care Act of 2010. You will develop part of an integrated advocacy campaign working for a client in this class. Real-life challenges and advocacy needs of our clients will allow us to use integrated advocacy model in an applied sense. We will build stories around goals and solutions. We will come up with advocacy tactics and create an advocacy campaign that will ignite change. This is a hands-on course. The course will help you develop immersive storytelling skills, and practice community organizing. You will learn persuasive communication and engagement methods, and how to pack a punch with a campaign aimed at making change. Guest speakers and mentors with experience spearheading campaigns will serve as guides throughout the quarter. The course will culminate with a short advocacy pitch session.
Meets Law & Ethics requirement.
(
Russell
)
- Current Quarter | 2024-2025 | Spring 2025
Track Neutral | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 4/1 – 6/3, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | CMU 242
SLN: 12591
Course Description:
The climate crisis and other environmental problems are not strictly scientific issues, they are also design and communication issues. This course teaches students to look at the environment from the perspectives of communication (for example, which topics are resonant with audiences, whose views get amplified and whose get shut down, which ideas are backed by money and which are people-powered) and design (for example, our public space, our stuff, how we get around, what we wear and the structures we live in.) These perspectives can empower us–no matter our profession, background or political affiliation–to see and respond to the climate and other environmental crises in more creative and impactful ways.
This course is co-taught by Adrienne Russell and Dominic Muren
Meets Law and Ethics Requirement.
This course is a good match if you are:
• Passionate about the environment and social change;
• Interested in understanding the challenges and opportunities faced by environmental groups, journalists and scientists;
• Curious about how design can be applied for environmental impact
(
Wu
)
- 2022-2023 | Winter 2023
MCCN Elective | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 1/4 – 3/8, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | Online
Registration SLN: 12791
Course Description:
This course will take a close look at the evolution of multicultural communications, best practices and foundational strategies related to creating a more diverse, ethical and inclusive engagements. We will explore how agencies and organizations have adapted, pivoted and transformed the way brands and organizations engage with diverse audiences. You’ll learn how to build campaigns that are rooted in principles of diversity, equity and inclusion. Additionally, we’ll learn how to craft campaigns that are responsive to the increasingly diverse marketplace and ever-changing communications landscape.
(
Park
)
- 2023-2024 | Spring 2024
MCCN Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Saturdays 4/6, 4/20, 5/4, 5/18, 6/1, 9:00am – 5:00pm | Online
Registration SLN: 12572
Course Description
This course will take a close look at the evolution of multicultural marketing, industry best practices and foundational strategies related to multicultural communications. We will explore how agencies and companies have adapted, pivoted and transformed the way brands and organizations engage with diverse audiences. You’ll learn how to build marketing campaigns that are rooted in principles of diversity, equity and inclusion. Additionally, we’ll learn how to craft campaigns that are responsive to the increasingly diverse marketplace and ever-changing marketing landscape.
(
Park
)
- 2023-2024 | Autumn 2023
MCCN Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Saturdays 09/30, 10/14, 10/28, 11/18, 12/02, 9:00AM – 5:00PM | Online
Registration SLN: 13021
Course Description
This course will take a close look at the evolution of multicultural marketing, industry best practices and foundational strategies related to multicultural communications. We will explore how agencies and companies have adapted, pivoted and transformed the way brands and organizations engage with diverse audiences. You’ll learn how to build marketing campaigns that are rooted in principles of diversity, equity and inclusion. Additionally, we’ll learn how to craft campaigns that are responsive to the increasingly diverse marketplace and ever-changing marketing landscape.
(
Howard
)
- 2022-2023 | Winter 2023
Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Tuesdays 1/3 – 3/7, 6:00PM – 8:20PM | DEN 113
Registration SLN: 12792
Course Description:
In August 2019, the Business Roundtable, a group of 181 CEOs from the largest corporations in the world, created, signed, and distributed a formal document, “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation.” This communication stated that this group was committed to leading their companies for the benefit of all stakeholders — shareholders, communities, employees, suppliers, and customers.
In this course, we’ll examine this diverse set of stakeholders and take a closer look at how they interact with corporate leaders and each other internally and externally. What role will marketing communication professionals have in making companies’ messaging more stakeholder focused and inclusive going forward?
From Elon Musk’s Twitter fiasco to the unexpected and unclear work policies at Amazon, we’ll examine why companies which do not support stakeholder theory lose value. And why the ones that do gain it.
(
Kim
)
- 2023-2024 | Autumn 2023
Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Tuesdays 10/3-12/5, 6:00PM – 8:20PM | DEN 210
Registration SLN: 13022
Course Description:
An important way brands communicate who they are and what they do, is through community – through collaborations, partnerships and impact programs. This course will explore how partnerships and collaborations with like-minded brands or orgs, along with the communication strategy around them, grows your audience while furthering your mission. This course looks at how the right partnerships and collaborations help tell your story while deepening your relationship to your audience, the partner brand and others. This will include looking at both business partnerships (ones that further brand awareness, customer growth and sales) as well as social impact partnerships (ones that further customer loyalty, through things like givebacks, impact programs and public service). Lastly this course will also look at using your mission to create community impact programs and how to build powerful campaigns around them to grow your audience and engagement and create opportunities for others to share your story.
(
)
- 2023-2024 | Summer 2024
Track Neutral | 1-5 Credits
Application Required
Course Description:
An internship can be a useful way to give students a fundamental understanding of the industry and to accelerate one’s career path. Internships should be directly relevant to the student’s field of study (degree or specialization). Part-time jobs not related to the degree will normally not be approved for internship credit, as the purpose of an internship is to apply what you have been learning in your degree to a real world work experience. See complete details and application instructions on the Guide to Internships page.
commlead@uw.edu
206.543.6745
4101 E Stevens Way NE, Seattle, WA
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University of Washington
Department of Communication