CMN-Communications
Course Descriptions

CMN 220. Public Presentation Skills for Environmental Professionals (3)
Three hours of lecture per week. Development of skills and fluency needed by environmental professionals in preparing, delivering and evaluating effectiveness of expository and persuasive oral presentations. Communication theory, rhetorical analysis, and visualizations of complex and technical data, self and peer evaluation, listening skills. Fall and Spring.

CMN 340. Electronic Information (3)
Three hours of discussion and group work per week. An introduction to effective strategies for searching for and evaluating information stored on the Internet; to the federal, state and international laws that apply to the Internet and its users; and to principles of community formation and maintenance as they apply to Internet communities. Spring.
Prerequisite: Junior status.

CMN 393. Environmental Discourse (3)
Three hours of lecture, discussion, workshops, group projects and presentations per week. The course includes theory and practice of language use, rhetorical analysis and strategies, gender issues, information and advocacy campaigns, and oral presentation skills. Emphasis on symbolic and metaphorical representations of environmental issues from popular culture to environmental impact statements. We will critique discourse in the context of environmental history, institutions, culture, society, gender, race, class and science. Fall.

CMN 440. Environmental Visualization (3)
Three hours of lecture and discussion per week. The course includes an overview of graphic perception and cognition, a theoretical framework for classifying graphics, and introductions to the use and misuse of visualizations in the effective communication of environmental processes and project proposals to multiple publics. Students will compile a critical workbook of examples and develop a series of preliminary visualizations. Fall. Prerequisite: Senior status in environmental studies communication and information option or permission of instructor.

CMN 493. Environmental Communication Workshop (3)
Three hours of cooperative learning activities, lecture and discussion per week. A workshop format on a specified environmental program or issue introduces the theories and skills of alternative dispute resolution approaches, public participation structures and dynamics, public policy decision-making and implementation, risk communication, leadership styles, and small group dynamics. Spring. Prerequisite: Senior status or permission of instructor.