Graduate Certificate in Strategic Communication
- Fall August 1st
- Spring December 1st
- Summer April 15th
- Global Campus: Yes
- 600 TOEFL Paper-based score
- 250 TOEFL Computer-based score
- 93 TOEFL Internet-based score
Degree Description:
Washington State University’s online Certificate in Strategic Communication is designed for those who want to excel in advertising, public relations, corporate communication, and communication management. The degree will advance and energize your career. Our multidisciplinary approach offers training in new and traditional media, critical for today’s strategic communications; teaches students how to gather and analyze information and use those findings in creating communication campaign; trains students, in the tradition of Edward R. Murrow, to create messages that are both strategic and responsible; includes weekly online instructor office hours, frequent student self-assessment tools, ongoing interaction with other students, and a flexible timeline for completion. The program offers hands-on training in the most advanced platforms, tools and techniques. You will work closely with industry professionals and faculty to learn audio and video software, graphic design tools, new media and publication layouts. By the time you are finished, you will have created multimedia materials that are evaluated by peers and produced as portfolio-quality items stored online. This work can be tailored to each individual career, or even your specific job needs.
Admission Requirements:
Application Materials
- Unofficial transcripts from all undergraduate institutions
- International students submit TOEFL
- Current professional resume that includes at least three professional references name and contact information
- Statement of Purpose articulating your perspectives, contributions, qualifications, and talents
Experience
The program is designed for individuals who are at least three years outside their undergraduate program and/or have at least three applied work experience. The coursework is bench-marked at a level best suited to those with solid work and life experience. Student engagement is built into each course and with it students benefit greatly from knowledge share and mutual exchange. We find that those with limited applied work experience are not fully equipped to contribute to those discussions in a meaningful way – nor are they as successful in completing the more complex course work. The decision to admit involves a full assessment of the applicant’s academic profile, the mix of experience they bring to the program and overall readiness for graduate-level work – not just undergraduate GPA or quality of their statement of purpose.
Student Learning Outcomes:
All graduates will:
- Excel in the fields of advertising, public relations, corporate communication, and communication management with demonstrated knowledge of strategic communication skills.
- Use advanced media tools, create data-based communication plans, and design and deliver integrated promotional campaigns across earned, owned, and paid channels.
- Acquire the skills to gather and analyze information and use those findings to create communication campaigns by designing courses rooted in research and theory in partnership with courses that teach best practices and industry standards in contemporary communication strategies and tactics.
Career Opportunities:
Advertising, public relations, corporate communication, and communication management.
Faculty Members:
Atwood, Brett D, M.A.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
Media convergence; new communication technologies; social media persuasion; virtual reality communication
Austin, Erica Weintraub, Ph.D.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
Professor and Director of the Murrow College Center for Media and Health Promotion.
Research interest:
Uses and effects of communication in decision making and social development, particularly in the areas of politics and health.
Borah, Porismita, Ph.D.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
Emerging technology research, message design and interventions, EMA methodology via mobile technology, and social media use in political campaigns and health promotion.
Boyd, Amanda, Ph.D.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
Risk perceptions and communication in the context of health and environmental communication, energy policy, indigenous health and media perceptions of risk.
Candello, Liz, Ph.D.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Cooney, Christopher, M.B.A.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
Content strategy, media training, brand platform development and best practices, marketing, Web communication and design.
Cooney, Rebecca Lynn, M.S.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
Media convergence, new communication technologies, social media persuasion, virtual world communication
Curtis, Christine Marie, M.A.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
Crisis communication, risk communication and uncertainty in emergency management.
Gallagher, Erin, PhD
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Hindman, Douglas Blanks, Ph.D.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
First Amendment
Media ethics
Media accountability systems
Hindman, Elizabeth Blanks, Ph.D.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
First Amendment, media ethics, and media accountability systems.
Hmielowski, Jay, Ph.D.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
Environmental communication, science communication and political communication.
How media influences institutional trust (i.e., trust in scientist or government), and how people’s level of trust affects attitudinal and behavioral outcome variables.
Hust, Stacey Jolene, Ph.D.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
Use of Media to Reduce Sexual Assault and Promote Healthy Sexual Relationships
Parent-Child Communication About Media and Health
Media Effects and Strategies to Prevent Alcohol Abuse
Gender and the Mass Media
Hutchens, Myiah, Ph.D.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
Political Discussion
e-Deliberation and e-Democracy
Information Seeking and Processing
Political Socialization
Irom, Bimbisar, Ph.D.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
Political transition between the ‘Old’ and the ‘New’ Left in the United States, post-9/11 American culture, multimodal composition and writing assessment.
Lee, Yoon-Joo, Ph.D.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
Advocacy Advertising
Corporate Social Responsibility
Health Communication
Health Promotions for Ethnic Minority
Social Media and Health Promotion
Paxson, Lucrezia, Ph.D.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
American media and U.S. foreign policy and American media coverage of the Middle East in the early 20th century.
Changing news delivery systems, their potential to bypass historic biases and fill gaps in U.S. media foreign coverage and how new delivery systems affect U.S. foreign policy.
Peterson, Jeffery C, Ph.D.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
Process-based and culture-centered health communication.
Pinkleton, Bruce E, Ph.D.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
Associate Director of the Murrow College Center for Media and Health Promotion. Communication campaigns, individuals’ use of the media, and media effects primarily in health and public affairs contexts.
Pintak, Lawrence E, Ph.D.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
America’s relationship with the Muslim world, the role of the media in shaping global perceptions and government policy, the future of journalism in a digital/globalized world, and the responsibilities of reporters covering conflict and social injustice.
Richardson, Robert, Ph.D.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Risenmay, Ryan, M.A.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
High-tech, media entertainment, retail, hospitality, and telecommunications industries.
Salazar, Cara, Ph.D.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
Physical and emotional health needs of sub-Saharan African widows
Health advocacy campaigns
Justice and global health initiatives
Tan, Alexis S, Ph.D.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
Communication strategies for reducing prejudice, and intercultural communication and stereotypes.
Waananen, Lisa, M.A.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
Research Interests: Data visualization
and online storytelling.
Wilder, Corrie, M.A.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
Consumer insights; advertising; social media; visual interpretation of data; user experience; online learning; blended learning; practice-based and team-based curriculum.
Willoughby, Jessica, Ph.D.
Serves as: member only of graduate committee
Research Interests
My research looks at health communication strategies with an emphasis on adolescents and mobile technologies.