The Communication Division sponsors a variety of programs and societies to supplement the regular academic schedule. These student organizations give opportunities for mass communication majors to meet and work with professional journalists, broadcasters, advertising agencies, and public relations experts and to enter professionally sanctioned state and national competitions. Regular activities for journalism and broadcasting majors include the annual journalism and telecommunications award banquets and participation in the California Newspaper Publishers Association convention, as well as the California Intercollegiate Press Association convention. AdWaves Communications , a student-run advertising agency, provides opportunities students to apply concepts and skills learned in classes for real advertising and communication situations. Internship programs permit advertising, journalism, organizational communication, public relations, and telecommunication majors to work in a professional capacity with advertising and public relations agencies, with local radio and television stations and newspapers, and with industrial concerns.
Students perform communication functions at the same time they complete their academic training.
The campus media and the forensics squad, centered in the Communication Division, are an important part of student life. Students on the forensics squad compete in debate and individual speaking events across the country. Communication Bachelor of Arts Degrees Human symbolic activity is the focus of the communication disciplines. The use of symbols differentiates humans from all other forms of life. Hence, the heart of a liberal education is an understanding of how human symbols function in relationships, cultures, and societies.