Communication Studies Minor

Lee Mayfield, Advisor

Phone: (540) 568-3427

The minor in Communication Studies is designed to provide students with principles and theories of communication processes that shape our relationships, workplaces, and social change. Students have flexibility in choosing courses for the minor to complement many major fields of study and prepare them to be informed and ethical communicators.

Minor Requirements

Communication Studies Minor

A minor in communication studies requires 18 hours of course work in communication studies beyond the General Education requirement, including SCOM 240 , SCOM 240L and a minimum of nine hours at the 300 level and three hours at the 400 level. Before a student begins a minor in communication studies, the school director and the student’s advisor must approve his/her planned program of study.

Admission to the Minor

Admission to JMU does not guarantee admission to the School of Communication Studies. All students interested in minoring in the program must apply for a limited number of spaces by enrolling in and successfully completing SCOM 240  and SCOM 240L . In order to register for these classes, students must declare the Communication minor to register for SCOM 240  and SCOM 240L . The School of Communication Studies reviews performance in the SCOM 240 /SCOM 240L   class to make decisions about acceptance into the minor each semester.

Admission to the minor is based on availability to the most qualified students as determined by performance in SCOM 240  and SCOM 240L .

Students who are not admitted are permitted one more attempt to successfully meet performance requirements in SCOM 240 /SCOM 240L   by enrolling the next regular semester or in the summer if the student desires. For students retaking SCOM 240 /SCOM 240L  (whether repeat or repeat/forgive), the school will look only at their highest grades earned when evaluating their second attempt.

Once admitted into a Communication Studies minor, a student cannot retroactively apply more than nine hours of SCOM courses, including SCOM 240  and SCOM 240L , to his/her minor (SCOM 121 /SCOM 122 /SCOM 123   does not count towards those nine hours).