In addition to courses, the department offers students extracurricular and individualized instruction to encourage professional development, civic participation, and personal growth. The nationally renowned Debate Team and Readers Theatre programs provide opportunities to develop presentation skills. Internships, as well as teaching and research apprenticeships, provide students with opportunities to apply their skills in business, teaching, and research settings. Students who major in Speech Communication compete effectively in the marketplace because they are creative and critical thinkers who can express themselves in a variety of situations. That is why a survey recently reported in the Wall Street Journal identified communication as the number one skill that employers are looking for in new employees, and more employees rate communication as very important to their success than any other skill.
Speech communication is a flexible major, so career paths vary widely.
Graduates of Speech Communication include the counsel for public affairs at a U.S. embassy, the vice president and treasury manager for Mellon Bank, the manager of human relations at Universal Studios, and a vice president at MBNA Marketing Systems, a personal injury attorney, a human resources specialist for United States Gypsum, and a corporate communications specialist for Sony Corporation.