BA/BS in Communications

AIU's Communications Studies major responds to employer surveys that consistently rank strong communication ability as the quality they most want in new hires. The degree emphasizes oral performance alongside the full range of communication skills, requiring a minimum of 120 credit hours spread across general education, liberal-arts group requirements, and department courses. Within the major itself, students take a required core covering public speaking, an introduction to the discipline, argumentation and debate, communication theory, rhetorical criticism or research methods, and a senior project, then round out the major with upper-level electives chosen across the department's 2000- through 5000-level course offerings. The department points graduates toward business, government, education, law, and religious institutions, noting alumni who have gone on to work as lawyers, clergy members, communication consultants, managers, and government officials, illustrating how transferable the major's communication-focused training is across sectors.