At the University of San Francisco, students are expected to complete 44 units of coursework in the areas of foundations and advanced area studies. The 16 units of communication foundation courses are designed to be completed during the freshman and sophomore years, while the 28 units of advanced area studies are intended for completion during the junior and senior years. Four four-unit courses comprise the foundation courses, including Communication and Culture and Communication and Everyday Life. There are many advanced area studies courses to choose from, including Rhetoric of Law, Advertising Presentations and Language and Social Interaction.
Several colleges offer communications degree programs and majors in northern California, including California State University--Sacramento, Standford University and the University of California--Berkeley.
Communications majors at California State University--Fresno receive instruction in oral and written communication competencies while critically analyzing human discourse and learning social scientific and humanistic research methods. Core major requirements for an undergraduate degree are spread among three areas: personal and relational settings, advocacy in public settings and organizational and professional settings. Upper-division coursework is intended for completion during the junior and senior years.
Communications degree programs are offered by many universities in the region, including the University of California--Santa Barbara and California State University--Bakersfield.
The communications degree program at the University of California--San Diego focuses on several forms of communication, including spoken and written, as they occur in the technologically rich environment of the 21st century. The program draws from several other disciplines, including political science, anthropology and fine arts, to provide students with an awareness of how communication in its many forms affects society. Graduates of this program will gain a solid background of liberal arts instruction that will be used in the communications field or for graduate studies.
Students interested in majoring in communications will find several Southern California universities that offer the program, including Chapman University in Orange, Concordia University in Irvine and California State University--Dominguez Hills in Carson.
At the University of Southern California, communications majors will gain an understanding and ability to effectively manage communications in many different fields, including politics, education and marketing. Students will study the foundations of communication as well as where it is headed. Cultural, social, rhetorical and organizational communication processes are explored in-depth while students benefit from the program's position at the forefront of communications technology.
Several universities in the greater Los Angeles area offer communications degrees and majors, including the University of California--Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount University and Pepperdine University.