Department of Communication

Dr. Manda Hicks, Chair, Department of Communication: The Department of Communication has been at Boise State for over 50 years, and we’re one of the largest majors on campus. Above all, we pride ourselves on our relationships with students and the educational experience we provide to the students with whom we spend time. The communication faculty are deeply invested in helping our majors meet their personal, academic, and professional goals. Our major spans the communication discipline with areas of study in social systems, media and society, and culture difference and advocacy. Students learn about communication from various perspectives and across multiple contexts and are well prepared for careers in public service management, human resources, advocacy, media education and politics. In nonprofit for-profit and state organizations, the Department of Communication values real world relevancy and experiential learning. We love to make things with our students from advocating for others to organizing mental health campaigns, to engaging and exploring media content. Our majors learn how to do things. Chief among them, the ability to explain how something works and why it matters, and that is a skill. Very few people actually have. The Department of Communication welcomes students to learn more about the world and the self. Through the study of this meaning making process that shapes our identities and relationships and impacts organizational, public and media environments, the study of communication.