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Professional Communications

Communication is everywhere. Earn a degree that develops and enhances your creative skills.

The Professional Communications Program is dedicated to teaching relevant and marketable 21st century communication skills. In this interdisciplinary major, faculty mentors from the Communication, Art, and English programs work closely with students as they build valuable skills in creative, social, workplace, and global communications; collaborate successfully in design teams, and create communication plans in partnership with local businesses and agencies. At graduation with either a 2 or 4-year degree, Professional Communications majors will have professional communications portfolios including:

  • website content writing and site design
  • social media content creation
  • print and electronic publication
  • document design and production
  • business and technical writing
  • visual rhetoric and multimedia composition
  • digital photography
  • group, organizational, and strategic communication; and,
  • other written, oral, visual, and 21st-century digital communication skills within a workplace context.
Dr. Kay Anne Darlington

Let's Talk Communications

Need more information or want to speak with someone about the Professional Communication Program? Contact Assistant Professor, Dr. Kay-Anne Darlington.

Kay-Anne Darlington

  • Associate Professor of Communication
  • Director of Honors Program

Professional Communications Degrees

Professional Communications (Bachelor)

  • Bachelor's Program

Program Overview

The Professional Communications degree follows the Rio model of two-year associate degree + two-year stackable bachelor’s degree.  Students are offered internship opportunities with local businesses and agencies and choose from a variety of course electives that will enhance their individual interests, their future goals, and their Professional Communications portfolios.

Learning Outcomes

  • Develop proficiency and fluency with the tools of technology and 21st-century multimedia communication platforms;
  • Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia texts appropriate to the audience, purpose, and context;
  • Work successfully in teams to pose and solve problems collaboratively and to strengthen independent thought;
  • Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes;
  • Manage, analyze, and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information;
  • Apply ethical communication principles and practices.
     

Sample Courses

  • COM 20103 Intercultural Communication
  • COM 22203 Small Group Communication
  • COM 22303 Interviewing
  • COM 40103 Social Media Strategies
  • ART 10403 Two-Dimensional Design
  • ART 20404 Vector Graphics and Design
  • ART 26904 Digital Photography
  • ENG 25303 American Literature
  • ENG 38103 Professional Writing

 

All Course Requirements

Degree or Certificate
  • Bachelor of Science
Campus Location
  • Rio Grande Main Campus
College or School
  • Bunce School of Education
  • College of Arts and Sciences
Modality
Modality tells you whether this program is in-person, online, or hybrid.
  • All courses required in-person
Total Credit Hours
122-123

Professional Communications (Associate)

  • Associate's Program

Program Overview

The Professional Communications degree follows the Rio model of a two-year associate degree + a two-year stackable bachelor’s degree.

Learning Outcomes

  • Describe the communication discipline and its central questions
  • Employ communication theories, perspectives, principles, and concepts for professional issues
  • Analyze and create messages appropriate to the audience, purpose, and context
  • Demonstrate the ability to accomplish communicative goals (self-efficacy) in professional contexts
  • Apply ethical communication principles and practices 
  • Utilize communication to embrace difference and influence public discourse
     

All Course Requirements

Degree or Certificate
  • Associate of Art
Campus Location
  • Rio Grande Main Campus
College or School
  • Bunce School of Education
  • College of Arts and Sciences
Modality
Modality tells you whether this program is in-person, online, or hybrid.
  • All courses required in-person
Total Credit Hours
64

Professional Communications (Minor)

  • Minor

Program Overview

Example of courses:

  • COM 20103 Intercultural Communication
  • COM 22303 Interviewing
  • COM 40103 Social Media Strategies
  • ENG 21403 Business and Technical Writing
  • ENG 38103 Professional Writing
  • ART 20404 Vector Graphics and Design


All Course Requirements

Degree or Certificate
  • Bachelor of Science
  • Bachelor of Arts
Campus Location
  • Rio Grande Main Campus
College or School
  • Bunce School of Education
  • College of Arts and Sciences
Modality
Modality tells you whether this program is in-person, online, or hybrid.
  • All courses required in-person
Total Credit Hours
19
Requirements
Pursuing a Four-Year Program Concentrations

Featured Alumni

Rio Alumni Jayce Phillips professional photo with American and Ohio flags behind

Jayce Phillips '23

"Rio Grande was instrumental in preparing me to be successful in my career. As a graduate of the communications program, I was taught quality skills that have helped me become a better communicator, writer, and marketer. During my time at Rio, I had the chance to intern in the university's marketing office and for the Office of Ohio Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted. These internships further enhanced my skills and helped build professional connections, which has led to my current profession—press assistant at the Office of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. "