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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 525: Brand Values & Creativity

(

Howard

)

- 2025-2026 | Autumn 2025

Open Elective | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 9/24 – 12/3, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
SLN: 13017

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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COMMLD 515: Advanced User Design: Generative AI Studio

(

Levine

)

- 2025-2026 | Winter 2026

MCDM Elective | Meets Research Methods Requirement | 5 Credits
Wednesdays, 1/7 – 3/11, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12644

Course Description

In the Generative AI UX Studio course, students dive into the dynamic intersection of traditional experience design and artificial intelligence, mastering the tools and frameworks that are reshaping how humans interact with technology. Through intensive hands-on projects, students craft intelligent, adaptive experiences that push beyond conventional interfaces, learning to orchestrate seamless interactions between users and AI agents while maintaining essential human-centered design principles. Students develop expertise in the emerging field of agentic design, creating sophisticated agent personas and behavioral frameworks that define how AI systems perceive, reason, and act on behalf of users – skills that are increasingly crucial in modern digital product development.

Working in collaborative teams that mirror industry practice, students navigate the complex interplay between design, AI capabilities, and user trust, developing working prototypes that demonstrate real-world application of these advanced concepts. Upon completion, students emerge with compelling portfolio pieces that showcase their ability to design next-generation experiences where AI enhances rather than replaces human interaction, positioning them as leaders in this transformative wave of UX innovation.

Meets Research Methods Requirement.

Course Prerequisites: COMMLD 511, 512, or 517.

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COMMLD 523: Foundations of Social Media Communications & Strategy

(

)

- 2025-2026 | Current Quarter | Spring 2026

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Saturdays 4/11, 4/25, 5/9, 5/23, 6/6, 9:00am – 5:00pm | Online
Registration SLN: 12410

Course Description

Communication on digital platforms and networks will be the forever norm of our society and human experience. In this course, we will learn, practice and investigate the fundamental principles of communication through social media. We’ll identify strategies used by social media platforms to maximize their key metrics and apply them to business metrics that brands and organizations use to fulfill their objectives and goals. At the end of this course, you’ll be able to identify areas of opportunity on social media platforms to create interesting campaigns, analyze emerging social trends to stay ahead of the curve, and use the tools and best practices of the world’s most powerful brands to engage audiences.

This course is a good match for students who:

• Have a keen interest in social media

• Want to learn about effective social media strategies

• Are using social media for their professional work and personal branding

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COMMLD 570: Leadership at All Levels

(

Myers

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Wednesdays 3/30 – 6/1 6:00PM – 8:20PM | CMU 242 | Partially In-Person
Registration SLN: 21310

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 522: Future of Marketing

(

Salkowitz

)

- 2023-2024 | Autumn 2023

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 10/3-12/5, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 13004

Course Description

Rapid evolution of digital media and technology continues to disrupt the business of marketing, making it essential for professionals in the field to keep abreast of trends in a number of areas. This class focuses on the technologies shaping marketing, advertising, media, public relations and communications in the 2-4 year horizon and explores strategies of successful marketing organizations, both digital and traditional.

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COMMLD 540A: Building Teams and Community

(

Baltus

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Mondays 10/03-12/05, 6:00PM – 8:20PM | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 13023

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: Storytelling with Data

(

Mcghee

)

- 2022-2023 | Winter 2023

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Thursdays 1/5 – 3/9, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 302
Registration SLN: 12780

Course Description:

This course teaches students to assemble visual evidence in service of a narrative story. It reflects the new reality that information graphics, maps, and data visualizations are no longer a supplement to text stories created by dedicated service desks, but are free-standing items produced by cross-disciplinary journalists with skills in data reporting and visual presentation.

This course leads students through the process of reporting, analyzing, and presenting a data-driven infographic feature story. Students will explore the gamut of influential and impactful visual stories: an explainer on Covid-19 transmission (the Washington Post’s most popular story of all time); articles exploring California wildfires and street protests in Hong Kong; and stories exploring larger historical and cultural themes like the rise of Confederate statues and such cultural questions as: why are women’s pants pockets so small and K-pop bands so big?

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COMMLD 530: Ethics of Storytelling

(

Graney-Saucke

)

- 2022-2023 | Summer 2023

Track Neutral | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
A Term: Tuesdays/Thursdays 6/20 – 7/18, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 14192

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 510A: Persuading Ethical UX Design

(

Evans

)

- 2023-2024 | Winter 2024

MCDM Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 1/9 – 3/5, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | CMU 230
Registration SLN: 12620

Course Description:

When you are in an ethical debate at work about a product or UX design that clearly focuses on business goals at the expense of customers, the experience can feel very isolating. What can you do?

In this course, you will learn how ethical debates have many moves in common, not unlike a chess game. You will learn moves you can make to stop debates before they start, like responsible setting of KPIs and brainstorming unintended consequences. You will also learn common arguments from folks in business, legal, executive, and product roles and how to counter them. Finally, you will learn all-new moves involving research, brand equity, and the psychology of moral judgments that give Comm Leaders an edge. 

This course is about learning how to do well by doing good. Assignments include weekly 5-slide persuasive decks and a final group-project making a storyboard of a full ethical debate. Readings will alert you to societal issues around Dark Patterns in UX design, Privacy and employee surveillance, Socially-responsible marketing and Ethical uses of AI.

This class is a good match for students who:

• have some understanding of the fundamentals of human-centric and UX design

• want to work on a portfolio-level group project built on the foundations of moral, psychological and business principles

• are keen to engage in ethical debats with peers and the instructor

Meets Law & Ethics requirement.

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COMMLD 525: Brand Values & Creativity

(

Howard

)

- 2023-2024 | Summer 2024

Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 6/26 – 8/14, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Online
Registration SLN: 14159

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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COMMLD 530A: Storytelling with Data

(

Mcghee

)

- 2024-2025 | Autumn 2024

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 9/25 – 12/4, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | CMU 302
Registration SLN: 13058

Course Description:

This course teaches students to assemble visual evidence in service of a narrative story. It reflects the new reality that information graphics, maps, and data visualizations are no longer a supplement to text stories created by dedicated service desks, but are free-standing items produced by cross-disciplinary journalists with skills in data reporting and visual presentation.

This course leads students through the process of reporting, analyzing, and presenting a data-driven infographic feature story. Students will explore the gamut of influential and impactful visual stories: an explainer on Covid-19 transmission (the Washington Post’s most popular story of all time); articles exploring California wildfires and street protests in Hong Kong; and stories exploring larger historical and cultural themes like the rise of Confederate statues and such cultural questions as: why are women’s pants pockets so small and K-pop bands so big?

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COMMLD 523: Foundations of Social Media Communications & Strategy

(

Tang

)

- 2024-2025 | Spring 2025

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Saturdays 4/5, 4/19, 5/3, 5/17, 5/31, 9:00am – 5:00pm | Online
SLN: 12578

Course Description

Communication on digital platforms and networks will be the forever norm of our society and human experience. In this course, we will learn, practice and investigate the fundamental principles of communication through social media. We’ll identify strategies used by social media platforms to maximize their key metrics and apply them to business metrics that brands and organizations use to fulfill their objectives and goals. At the end of this course, you’ll be able to identify areas of opportunity on social media platforms to create interesting campaigns, analyze emerging social trends to stay ahead of the curve, and use the tools and best practices of the world’s most powerful brands to engage audiences.

This course is a good match for students who:

• Have a keen interest in social media

• Want to learn about effective social media strategies

• Are using social media for their professional work and personal branding

{ Expand Course Description + }

COMMLD 530A: Storytelling with Data

(

Mcghee

)

- 2025-2026 | Autumn 2025

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 9/24 – 12/3, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 13018

Course Description:

This course teaches students to assemble visual evidence in service of a narrative story. It reflects the new reality that information graphics, maps, and data visualizations are no longer a supplement to text stories created by dedicated service desks, but are free-standing items produced by cross-disciplinary journalists with skills in data reporting and visual presentation.

This course leads students through the process of reporting, analyzing, and presenting a data-driven infographic feature story. Students will explore the gamut of influential and impactful visual stories: an explainer on Covid-19 transmission (the Washington Post’s most popular story of all time); articles exploring California wildfires and street protests in Hong Kong; and stories exploring larger historical and cultural themes like the rise of Confederate statues and such cultural questions as: why are women’s pants pockets so small and K-pop bands so big?

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COMMLD 520A: Principles of Marketing

(

Ninivaggi

)

- 2025-2026 | Winter 2026

Open Elective | 5 Credits
Mondays, 1/5 – 3/9, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12645

Course Description

This course provides a foundational understanding of marketing principles and their application within business, nonprofit, and public-sector organizations. Students will learn through the lens of integrated marketing, a key skill in today’s marketing landscape. Our focus will be on understanding the key elements of a marketing strategy, including goal setting, audience identification, planning, and landscape analysis. Students will learn practical and commonly-used tools like SWOT analyses, stakeholder maps, brand positioning exercises, and messaging frameworks. 

Building on this foundation, the course will also explore elements of brand and behavior change marketing, with real-world applications in areas such as public health, sustainability, and social impact. Students will complete the course with increased confidence in designing and executing strategies that work across public relations, creative, digital, and operational functions in complex organizations.

Through lectures, case studies, guest speakers, in-class activities, and group projects, students will connect theory with practice, based on their areas of interest and expertise. Students will develop portfolio-level plans to support their career goals. This class is a fit for students who plan to pursue more advanced coursework, and those with an interest in marketing, communications, public affairs, or brand strategy careers where cross-functional collaboration is essential.

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COMMLD 525: Brand Values

(

)

- 2025-2026 | Current Quarter | Spring 2026

Open Elective | 5 Credits
Thursdays 4/2 – 6/4, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12411

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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COMMLD 582: Communicating Trust and Credibility for Emergent Technologies

(

Lohmann

)

- 2021-2022 | Spring 2022

MCDM Elective | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Saturdays (In-Person) 4/2, (Virtual) 4/16, 4/30, 5/14, 5/28, 9:00AM – 5:00PM | Partially In-Person | CMU 242
Registration SLN: 21480

Course Description:

This course introduces students to the art of honestly advocating for emerging technologies that an organization has decided to adopt and deploy. It provides a foundation to ensure students understand how to effectively inform stakeholders that these new solutions are both useful, safe and align with values that prioritize the good of the community as a whole. Yet, there’s a fine line between storytelling and propaganda, especially when it comes to making the case around these powerful innovations. What are the ethics of effective advocacy?
How can propaganda be differentiated from honest storytelling? How do we most effectively champion appropriate technologies to our employees, customers, clients or constituents?

We will also examine questions about the platforms and technology themselves: What reference should we use to recognize that emerging technologies are serving as trustful conduits and not propagating misinformation or disinformation? What communications methods, platforms and amplifiers are being used to spread propaganda and fake news, and how does this impact democracy? By learning how to critically think about such questions, students will learn how to communicate clearly and ethically in favor of the use of nascent technology solutions that might impact an organization or community.

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© Copyright 2025 Department of Communication. University of Washington

© Copyright 2025 Department of Communication. University of Washington