Human Communication B.A. Degree Requirements


Human Communication B.A. ~ Degree Requirements

Credits Required

Total credits: 120

Credits at CSUMB: 48-64 (Please check with your HCOM advisor as this will vary.)

Credits in the major: approximately 56 (Please check with your HCOM advisor as this will vary.)

Outcomes, Courses, and Assessment

You officially begin the major by enrolling in HCOM 300 where you work with the instructor to create or revise your Individual Learning Plan. That ILP maps out how you will achieve each of the Major Learning Outcomes designated below and at least one Depth Concentration by successfully completing the listed courses or alternative assessment options. In consultation with your advisor, you can take one concentration course outside the major. You conclude the major by enrolling in HCOM 474, usually a semester before graduating. This prerequisite course will prepare you for HCOM 475, where you will complete a publicly presented project that displays your cumulative learning in the major. You should enroll in Capstone during your graduating year. [Learn more at CSUMB.EDU/capstone].

Major Learning Outcomes

HCOM MLO 1 Critical communication skills ~ ability to communicate critically and empathically in both oral and written contexts, including reading, writing, listening, and speaking

HCOM MLO 2 Media, narrative, and ethnographic skills ~ ability to gather responsibly, interpret critically, narrate, and disseminate the voices and stories of people, communities, or events by integrating ethnographic or journalistic field research methods, cultural or media analysis, narrative writing, and media production, including new digital media

HCOM MLO 3 Relational communication skills ~ ability to interact ethically and effectively in interpersonal and group communication and decision-making processes

HCOM MLO 4 Philosophical analysis ~ ability to understand why and how beliefs, values, assumptions, and communication practices interact to shape ways of being and knowing

HCOM MLO 5 Critical cultural analysis ~ ability to investigate and explain relationships among cultural ideologies and sociohistorical experiences, interests, identities, and actions of specific cultural groups

HCOM MLO 6 Comparative literary analysis ~ ability to appreciate and analyze literature in a social, historical, and cultural context ~ ability to compare and contrast literatures of at least three different cultural traditions, including non-Eurocentric traditions

HCOM MLO 7 Historical analysis ~ ability to actively engage our complex multicultural pasts by integrating historical understanding with historical thinking skills

HCOM MLO 8 Creative writing and social action ~ ability to acquire basic competency in creative writing ~ ability to apply this skill to the production and presentation of an art project that actively responds to a public issue ~ ability to sustain the creative process throughout a given project, taking it to completion

Depth Concentrations

Africana Studies

  • Complete three of the following: HCOM 324; HCOM 346; HCOM 443; HCOM 445

Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies

  • Complete three of the following: HCOM 328; HCOM 329; HCOM 344; HCOM 345; HCOM 365; HCOM 428; HCOM 446; HCOM 455; HCOM 546; HCOM 555

Comparative American Studies

  • Complete three of the following: HCOM 309; HCOM 322; HCOM 324; HCOM 325; HCOM 328; HCOM 335; HCOM 340S; HCOM 342; HCOM 344; HCOM 345; HCOM 346; HCOM 348; HCOM 352; HCOM 353; HCOM 354; HCOM 356; HCOM 358; HCOM 359; HCOM 365; HCOM 426; HCOM 440; HCOM 443; HCOM 445; HCOM 446; HCOM 455; HCOM 546; HCOM 555

Creative Writing and Social Action

  • Complete MLO 8 by taking one of the following: HCOM 330 or HCOM 339S. Then take three of the following: HCOM 332; HCOM 333; HCOM 334; HCOM 339S; HCOM 432; HCOM 432S; HCOM 433

History, Oral History, & New Media

  • Complete three of the following: HCOM 324; HCOM 325; HCOM 326; HCOM 328; HCOM 336; HCOM 344; HCOM 346; HCOM 348; HCOM 352; HCOM 353; HCOM 354; HCOM 356; HCOM 359; HCOM 365; HCOM 426; HCOM 432; HCOM 432S; HCOM 433 HCOM 445; HCOM 446

Journalism & Media Studies

  • Complete three of the following: HCOM 307; HCOM 307S; HCOM 310; HCOM 316; HCOM 334; HCOM 352; HCOM 384; HCOM 385; HCOM 387; HCOM 388; HCOM 389 - upon prior consent of instructor; HCOM 390; HCOM 406; HCOM 486; HCOM 487; HCOM 487S

Literary & Film Studies

  • Complete three of the following: HCOM 322; HCOM 323; HCOM 324; HCOM 325; HCOM 326; HCOM 327; HCOM 328; HCOM 335; HCOM 336; HCOM 337; HCOM 338; HCOM 348; HCOM 352; HCOM 356; HCOM 406; HCOM 425; HCOM 426; HCOM 427; HCOM 428; HCOM 433; HCOM 436; HCOM 437; HCOM 438; HCOM 443; HCOM 452

Peace Studies

  • Outcome A
    Complete one of the following: HCOM 340S; HCOM 404
  • Outcome B
    Complete one of the following: HCOM 312; HCOM 412
  • Outcome C
    Complete one of the following: HCOM 309; HCOM 343
  • Outcome D
    Complete HCOM 340S (overlaps with Outcome A)

Practical and Professional Ethics

  • Complete three of the following: HCOM 301; HCOM 304; HCOM 306; HCOM 307; HCOM 307S; HCOM 309; HCOM 310; HCOM 312; HCOM 316; HCOM 321; HCOM 340S; HCOM 403 and 403S; HCOM 404; HCOM 405; HCOM 406; HCOM 412; HCOM 421; HCOM 440

Pre-Law

  • Complete three of the following: HCOM 301; HCOM 304; HCOM 310; HCOM 312; HCOM 340S; HCOM 343; HCOM 357; HCOM 358; HCOM 359; HCOM 403 and 403S; HCOM 404; HCOM 412; HCOM 440

Women's Studies

  • Complete three of the following: HCOM 306; HCOM 328; HCOM 333; HCOM 336; HCOM 337; HCOM 342; HCOM 343; HCOM 344; HCOM 428; HCOM 440; HCOM 443

Writing and Rhetoric

  • Complete three of the following: HCOM 301; HCOM 306; HCOM 309; HCOM 310; HCOM 312; HCOM 317S;  HCOM 320; HCOM 321; HCOM 334; HCOM 384; HCOM 390; HCOM 420; HCOM 422; HCOM 432

Single Subject Waiver in English

For those intending to teach English at the secondary level, the Single Subject Waiver in English Concentration offers a California-state-approved curriculum that prepares you to enter a fifth-year teaching credential program and attain a credential to teach English in middle and secondary schools. The concentration features a multicultural study of poetry, drama, essays, fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, and film drawing from American and British literatures. It includes the study and practice of expository and creative writing; the study of argument; and the history, politics, global significance and social dynamics related to the English language.

  • Please see advisor, Jennifer Fletcher, for a full list of required courses.

Single Subject Waiver in Social Studies/History

For those intending to teach history and social studies at the secondary level, the Single Subject Waiver in Social Studies/History concentration is a California-state-approved curriculum that prepares you to enter a fifth-year teaching credential program and attain a credential to teach social studies/history in middle and high schools. The SSW Social Studies/History is course-based and takes the place of your demonstrating mastery of Social Studies/History subject matter through a comprehensive state-sponsored test. The concentration meets major outcomes with a focus on the critical multicultural study of California, U.S., and world history; literature; politics; geography; women's, Chicana/o, or Africana/Diaspora studies; oral history; and other topics.

  • Please see advisor, Cecilia O'Leary, for a full list of required courses.