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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 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

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COMMLD 530A: Storytelling with Data

(

)

- 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

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- 2025-2026 | Current Quarter | 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 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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COMMLD 540B: Strategic Marketing Communication: Creating Integrated Solutions for Responsible Impact

(

Keyes

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Mondays 10/03-12/05, 6:00PM – 9:50PM PST | CMU 230
Registration SLN: 23517

Course Description:

How should a government agency respond in a Twitter war? How do you score a review for your new product in an online magazine? What’s the best way for a nonprofit to survive a communication misstep in our current cancel culture? This course is designed to help you obtain the knowledge and skills needed to apply a critical thinking approach to communication opportunities and marketing challenges. From creating mission statements to producing videos, this course will teach participants to anticipate the communication needs of an organization and develop effective solutions. We will use a variety of real-world scenarios, interactive discussions and guest lectures to provide practical insight, relevant theory and memorable learning. By the end of this class, you’ll have the knowledge, tools and techniques to understand the components of a strategic marketing communication plan and how to use it to get the right results and build your portfolio for future academic and professional endeavors.

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COMMLD 530B: Ethics of Storytelling

(

Graney-Saucke

)

- 2022-2023 | Winter 2023

Track Neutral | Meets Law & Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Wednesdays 1/4 – 3/8, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 12781

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 530C: Building a Visual Campaign

(

Faris

)

- 2023-2024 | Autumn 2023

Track Neutral | 3 Credits
Sundays, 10/15, 10/29, 11/12, 9:00AM-5:00PM | CMU 126
Registration SLN: 23651

Course Description:

Images have a profound impact on our lives and have shaped our communities. Visuals reach people at an emotional level motivating us to act on a cause, influencing our decisions, or convincing us to buy one product over another. How do you bring visual content designed for a variety of channels together into a cohesive and compelling campaign? Through interactive coursework, thoughtful discussion, and real-world examples, students will walk away with the tools and knowledge to create campaigns that deliver results. Students will work in groups during three workshop-style days to develop and present a multi-channel visual campaign.

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COMMLD 541A: Crisis Communication: A Survival Guide for Communications Professionals

(

Schwartz

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

Track Neutral | Meets Law and Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 10/04-12/06, 4:00PM – 7:50PM | Online
Registration SLN: 13024

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 530C: Engaging Interviews

(

Dalch

)

- 2022-2023 | Winter 2023

Track Neutral | 2 Credits
Wednesdays 1/4 – 3/8, 6:00PM – 7:50PM | CMU 242
Registration SLN: 22223

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 531: Foundations of Video Storytelling

(

Christensen

)

- 2023-2024 | Autumn 2023

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 10/3-12/5, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | CMU 302
Registration SLN: 13010

Course Description

Approximately 183 hours of content is uploaded to YouTube every minute. Video isn’t the future of marketing, the revolution is already here and how brands leverage that storytelling capability sets them apart from the competition.

Whether you want to create video content as a full time job or you want to have the skill set in your back pocket as you navigate your communications career, this class will provide a strong foundation for maximizing video content in your marketing endeavors.

We will go over basics of how to use cameras but we will also talk about why content is successful and how we can best emulate those formulas. You are expected to exercise the craft of content creation while at the same time critically evaluating and deconstructing content you see in the marketplace.

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COMMLD 531: Foundations of Video Storytelling

(

Christensen

)

- 2024-2025 | Winter 2025

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 1/7 – 3/11, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | CMU 302
Registration SLN: 12711

Course Description

Approximately 183 hours of content is uploaded to YouTube every minute. Video isn’t the future of marketing, the revolution is already here and how brands leverage that storytelling capability sets them apart from the competition.

Whether you want to create video content as a full time job or you want to have the skill set in your back pocket as you navigate your communications career, this class will provide a strong foundation for maximizing video content in your marketing endeavors.

We will go over basics of how to use cameras but we will also talk about why content is successful and how we can best emulate those formulas. You are expected to exercise the craft of content creation while at the same time critically evaluating and deconstructing content you see in the marketplace.

This class is a good match for students who:

• want to work in marketing and a foundational knowledge of how compelling video content is created;

• want to specialize in video content creation long term;

• are prepared for a time-consuming and rigorous learning experience.

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COMMLD 525: Brand Values & Creativity

(

Howard

)

- 2024-2025 | Spring 2025

Track Neutral | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 4/1 – 6/3, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | DEN 258
SLN: 12579

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 520C: Market Research Approaches in the Age of AI

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- 2025-2026 | Current Quarter | Winter 2026

MCDM Elective | Meets Research Methods Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays, 1/6 – 3/10, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 12647

Course Description

Marketers are blind without research. From learning unmet needs, to shaping solutions, to setting prices and optimizing creatives, input from customers is how you go from good to great. The aim of this course is not to teach you sampling, statistics, and analytics, but rather to be an expert in knowing what research to resource when, what quality looks like, and how to persuade change. 

The instructors are two client-side researchers at Microsoft who do just that. Plan to learn about 20 different research approaches that the global market-research industry has grown to answer the most common questions, and that most marketers “buy rather than build.”  Know when to ask for an ethnography, a pricing model, a journey study, or a campaign effectiveness study, among many others, and to know what makes them good, what “money slides” each produces, and the typical moves in persuading change with the results. Get your hands dirty in class with all the work needed to do research other than the math (making stimuli, writing survey questions, designing logical paths, and visualizing data with the best art and storytelling) and explore with us how AI can speed up and streamline much of it. We will build the class around a hypothetical tech product “an AI privacy defender” and by the end of the class, we’ll know what research to ask our VC to fund to bring it to market. 

This class is a good match for students who:

• Know some fundamentals of marketing

• Want to create a pitch deck for venture capital funding of an incubation tech product

• Have little desire to do math, but want to wield its power

Meets Research Methods Requirement.

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COMMLD 541B: Crisis Communication: Response with Responsibility in the Digital Arena

(

Visneski

)

- 2022-2023 | Autumn 2022

Track Neutral | Meets Law and Ethics Requirement | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 10/04-12/06, 6:00PM – 9:50PM | DEN 111
Registration SLN: 23675

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 533: Storytelling for Emergent Platforms

(

Cioffi

)

- 2023-2024 | Autumn 2023

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Saturdays 10/7, 10/21, 11/4, 11/18, 12/2, 9:00AM – 5:00PM |
First Class: Cloud Room Seattle: 1424 11th Ave Ste 400, Seattle, WA 98122
All remaining classes: Startup Hall (2nd Floor Condon Hall)
Registration SLN: 23355

Course Description

Emerging models of interactive and immersive storytelling are disrupting the ways we can reach and engage with audiences. In this course we will examine the unique ways that media and user-generated content can tell one cohesive story across platforms in a distributed way; and how this is a pivotal part of the current and future Web 3.0 ecosystem. We will focus our design thinking on audience engagement, UX, built worlds for virtual and interactive experiences, and the role of trust and truth in platforms – students will learn about best practice uses of VR/AR, branch narratives, game development and integration of traditional video in mobile UX.  We will be coupling a critical look at these emerging models while working through the technical aspects of story creation and the implementation of media production tools and platforms.

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COMMLD 520D: Product Marketing

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- 2025-2026 | Current Quarter | Winter 2026

MCDM Elective | 5 Credits
Tuesdays 1/6 – 3/10, 6:00pm – 9:50pm | Room on Time Schedule
Registration SLN: 22335

Course Description:

This course explores how modern organizations bring products to market by connecting customer insight, storytelling, and strategy. Students will learn the core functions of product marketing within technology and SaaS organizations and examine how effective collaboration among product, sales, marketing, and customer success teams drives successful product launches. Through hands-on projects and real-world case studies, students will practice applying research, storytelling, and data-driven decision-making to launch and promote products that resonate with diverse audiences and deliver measurable results.

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© Copyright 2025 Department of Communication. University of Washington

© Copyright 2025 Department of Communication. University of Washington