Whether you're just starting your college journey or advancing through graduate studies, the Communication Studies program at the IU School of Liberal Arts in Indianapolis offers a dynamic and inclusive environment for exploring how communication shapes our world. From day one, you'll learn to analyze and create messages that respond to the challenges of a communication-driven society.
You’ll learn from award-winning researchers and educators as you build practical communication skills for success in personal, professional, and community settings. Courses will emphasize critical thinking, cultural awareness, and real-world application, preparing you for leadership in fields like media, public affairs, education, law, and beyond.
Our curriculum grows with you. First-year students build foundational oral and written communication skills, while upper-level and graduate students dive deeper into research, design, and ethical scholarship.
At every level, you’ll be part of a learning community where all perspectives are respected, and collaboration is key. You’ll be empowered to become a thoughtful, ethical communicator ready to lead and make a meaningful impact.
To further support your growth, you can take advantage of resources like our Speaker’s Lab, where you can sharpen your public speaking skills through hands-on practice and personalized coaching. This experience builds confidence, enhances clarity and persuasion, and helps you develop a strong, adaptable voice for academic, professional, and community settings. By graduation, you’ll be equipped with top-tier communication skills that employers across every industry are actively seeking and ready to lead, collaborate, and solve problems in any profession.
Undergraduate Program
Customize your communication studies journey
Our robust Communication Studies undergraduate program gives you options to personalize your academic experience that fits your goals. From pursuing a bachelor of arts degree to adding a minor or stacking a certificate, each path equips you with valuable skills that translate across careers and industries.
B.A.: Go all-in with a deep dive into communication theory, media, and real-world practice.
Minor: Add communication skills to any major to boost your resume.
Certificate: Focused, career-ready communication training in key areas like intercultural health or theatre and performance.
As a major in Communication Studies, you’ll learn the theories of human communication and how to apply those theories in a variety of contexts, including interpersonal relationships, small group interaction, organizations, cultural interaction, and media.
You’ll graduate with talents and knowledge that will serve you well in any personal, community, and professional setting. In Communication Studies, you can pursue diverse topics and explore your curiosity about communication’s effects on daily life and ways in which it affects the world around us.
The Communication Studies curriculum provides a foundation for pursuing careers that apply communication principles, such as content creation, public relations, sales, marketing, video or film production, corporate media production, radio and podcasting, training and development, human resources, public affairs, consulting, and events planning. In addition, it prepares you for graduate work in many areas, including communication, informatics, humanities, or social sciences, or in professional programs such as law, business, health, and social work.
The accelerated Communication Studies B.A./Applied Communication M.A. is a five-year degree option that allows you the opportunity to obtain an advanced degree with only one additional year of study. You’ll have three years of undergraduate coursework, a fourth year of combined undergraduate and graduate coursework, and a fifth year of exclusively graduate coursework.
This option allows you to complete both degrees in less time and at a lower cost. The dual B.A./M.A. is available to Communication Studies majors and is by invitation of Communication Studies faculty only.
For more information, contact Jen Bute, graduate director.
Amplify Your Voice, No Matter Your Major
Our Communication Studies minor is designed to complement any major and elevate your career potential. You'll build a strong foundation in how people connect—whether one-on-one, within organizations, or in front of an audience.
Communication is at the heart of every profession. This minor equips you with versatile skills that employers value across industries that range from business and healthcare to public service and the arts.
Skills You’ll Gain
Confident, effective face-to-face communication
Presentation skills that engage and inform
Persuasive techniques to influence and inspire
Whether you're preparing for graduate school, launching a career, or simply want to become a more impactful communicator, this minor helps you stand out.
Choose from a variety of specialized minors:
Communication Studies
Corporate and Organizational Communication
Health Communication
Media Arts and Studies
Public Communication and Persuasion
Theatre
Earning an undergraduate certificate is a great way to sharpen your skills without the time commitment of a full degree. If you already have some professional experience, you can build on what you know and become an even stronger communicator in your workplace or community.
IU Online Certificate in Human Communication in a Mediated World
In a world of constant face-to-face and digital interactions, this certificate helps you become a confident, adaptable communicator across settings. You'll learn to connect with others, present ideas clearly, and navigate both traditional and tech-driven communication styles that employers value.
This certificate is not available to Communication Studies majors.
Certificate in Intercultural Health
This certificate is a four-semester course of study designed for Nursing and Public Health majors at IU Indianapolis. You’ll combine language study in Chinese, French, or Spanish with hands-on clinical training in bilingual settings. This program builds your cultural and linguistic skills so you can better serve communities where you work and live and address global health challenges.
Certificate in Theatre
Explore the art of performance in a vibrant urban setting with a particular focus on small group and solo performance. Along the way, you’ll explore different cultural and theoretical angles that help you think critically about what performance means today.
Graduate Program
Your next step in communication leadership
From social media to interpersonal relations and team meetings, we’re surrounded by nonstop communication and the way we connect really matters. In the IU School of Liberal Arts, our Communication Studies graduate program has M.A. and Ph.D. options to help you make sense of it all and prepare you to lead and influence, advance your career, or shift into a new professional field. You’ll build real-world skills and dive into theory, with opportunities in corporate, health, media, and public communication.
Learn to address specific issues and implement real change
Communication challenges are everywhere—from public health messaging to workplace dynamics. The Applied Communication M.A. helps you build the skills to tackle these issues head-on. You’ll learn how to analyze problems, design solutions, and create meaningful change in real-world settings.
This program blends theory with practice, giving you a deeper understanding of how communication works and how it can be used to address complex social issues. You’ll be prepared to lead projects, shape public discourse, and improve communication across organizations in a variety of industries.
For more information, contact Jen Bute, graduate director.
Training professionals to lead in health and patient interaction
This doctoral program prepares you to become a thought leader in the dynamic intersection of health and human connection. You’ll explore how communication influences health outcomes, policy, and equity across different populations. Coursework and research span intercultural health dynamics, ethical messaging, digital health literacy, and the evolving role of media in clinical and public health settings.
What You’ll Gain:
Advanced Research Expertise: Design and conduct impactful studies that address pressing health communication challenges—from misinformation to patient-provider interactions.
Educator Development: Strengthen your ability to teach and mentor in academic and clinical settings.
Applied Theory Skills: Translate complex theories into practical interventions that improve health literacy, behavior change, and community engagement.
Leadership Preparation: Position yourself for influential roles in academia, healthcare organizations, non-government organizations, and government agencies.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Work across fields like public health, psychology, media studies, and sociology to tackle real-world problems.
Whether you're driven to improve health equity, shape public discourse, or lead institutional change, this program equips you with the intellectual tools and professional network to lead innovation in communication and care.
Learn how improved health communication improves healthcare delivery
Health communication is a rapidly growing field that contributes to the knowledge of and improvement in the delivery of healthcare.
In our Ph.D. minor, you’ll study areas such as patient advocacy, empowerment and activation, patient-provider communication, shared decision-making, patient-caregiver communication, successful transfers of care among clinicians, communicative approaches to reducing healthcare disparities, and addressing clinician burnout.
Health communication scholarship adds unique and important dimensions to the study of healthcare and its delivery in a variety of fields, including public health, nursing, psychology, biomedical informatics, rehabilitation science, and other disciplines.
For more information, contact Jen Bute, director of Ph.D. program and Ph.D. minors.
Round out your degree with the leadership and interpersonal skills
The graduate minor in communicating science is designed for master’s and doctoral students in the sciences and health professions. You’ll learn to develop audience-centered communication, distill scientific concepts into meaningful narratives, and connect effectively with collaborators and funders.
You’ll study communication and rhetorical theory combined with the techniques of applied improvisation to enhance your career prospects, help you secure funding, and teach you to serve as effective teachers.
The Communicating Science minor is not open to Health Communication Ph.D. students or Applied Communication M.A. students.
For more information, contact Krista Longtin, Ph.D., associate professor of Communication Studies.
Communication careers
Communication careers are evolving—be ready!
The future is wide open for communication professionals. As digital platforms grow more immersive and interactive, the demand for experts who can craft compelling messages, build trust, and connect across cultures is accelerating. New roles are emerging in content strategy, influencer relations, AI-assisted storytelling, and virtual experience design, alongside established paths like public relations and corporate communication.
Core skills like writing, research, and public speaking remain essential, and now they’re joined by multimedia production, data storytelling, and ethical messaging. Whether you're shaping public health campaigns, managing brand narratives, or designing communication in the metaverse, this field offers unmatched flexibility, relevance, and room to grow.
Related interests
Communication is everywhere, and it’s a fast-moving, wide-reaching industry that touches everything from journalism, media, and storytelling to public relations and digital strategy. It’s a global field with real impact, powered by creativity, technology, and connection.
Explore our other academic programs for related career paths.
IU School of Liberal Arts students are not required to complete a minor, but it can be a way to pursue a secondary interest. Any IU Indy student is invited to earn a minor in the IU School of Liberal Arts.
College is more than going to class and taking exams. It’s about discovering who you are, building connections, and having fun along the way. In other words, get involved!
Living and learning in Indianapolis means you’re surrounded by real-world opportunities. You’ll gain more experience, connections, and confidence when it’s time to land that first job.
