Professional Communication (MA)
The Master of Arts in Professional Communication (MAPC) is designed to provide students with an advanced level grounding in professional communication with specific attention to organizational and community leadership, community relations, and contemporary, applied media. Graduates will be better equipped to communicate strategically and ethically to diverse audiences, create messages in various formats (i.e., oral, written, digital), manage conflicts, and constructively and creatively provide leadership in community and organizational settings.
Program Objectives
The Communication Department graduate curriculum is designed around a set of five learning goals that are focused on the concept of becoming a competent communicator. Core and elective course offerings are meant to help you develop your knowledge and skills in the following Communication program learning goals:
- To produce audience-centered messages through advanced writing, storytelling, and argumentation;
- To master formal presentational skills in mediated and unmediated contexts;
- To facilitate constructive communication to enhance organizational, community, and cultural interactions;
- To enact civic and organizational leadership skills;
- To embody critical, diverse perspectives in the workplace.
Department Policy on Collaboration and Academic Honesty
The Communication Department strongly encourages our students to engage in conversation and collaboration with our faculty, each other, and other members of the academic community. These kinds of exchanges are at the heart of teaching and learning. As part of this process, it is essential that students fully disclose and credit the sources used in their work. All work that is not originally created by the author should be credited, including (but not limited to) others’ ideas, language, images, art, digital recordings, and projects. The intentional or unintentional use of another’s work, or one’s own previous work, without the accurate and full citation of the source, constitutes plagiarism. Penalties for documented cases of plagiarism may include a grade reduction or failing a course. All documented cases of plagiarism in the communication department will be filed with the department chair or her designee. A student who commits two or more acts of plagiarism in one or more communication courses will have their case reviewed by the department’s executive committee. If a case is confirmed as constituting serious breaches of academic honesty, the committee may decide to formally drop the student from the communication major.
Please note that declarations of the Master of Arts in Professional Communication have been suspended beginning Spring 2025.
Requirements for the Master of Arts in Professional Communication
Delivered online in 7-week module formats. The program will culminate in a research paper or professional project.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | ||
| COMM 701 | Introduction to Graduate Studies | 1 |
| COMM 703 | Professional Communication | 3 |
| COMM 707 | Qualitative Research Methods | 3 |
| COMM 797 | Comprehensive Exams I 1 | 3 |
| COMM 798 | Comprehensive Exams II 1 | 3 |
| Elective Courses | ||
| Select six of the following: 2 | 18 | |
| Critical Media Studies | ||
| Gender and Work | ||
| Philosophy & Theory in Communication | ||
| Conflict Transformation | ||
| Grant Proposal Writing | ||
| Self-Reflective Communication in Civic Change | ||
| Digital Media Production | ||
| Enacting Leadership | ||
| Making Your Case: Strategies for Argumentation | ||
| Public Dialogue | ||
| Professional Communication Internship | ||
| Independent Study | ||
| Total Credits | 31 | |
University Requirements for Master’s Degree Programs
To receive a master’s degree from UW-Parkside, students must meet the following minimum requirements (note that individual programs may impose more stringent requirements):
- Complete at least 30 graduate credits, of which no more than 12 may be transferred from another institution.
- Have an overall GPA of at least 3.00 for all graduate work taken at UW-Parkside that is applicable to the degree program.
- Satisfy all requirements of the graduate degree program.
Students may take no more than seven years to complete a degree, beginning with the semester in which they complete their first course as a UW-Parkside degree-seeking graduate student, unless they apply for and receive an extension through the appropriate graduate program. Some programs may impose a shorter time limit. To graduate, students must file a request for graduation. The request form, signed by the student’s advisor and filed in the appropriate graduate program office, initiates the final review of the candidate’s records. Students also need to apply to graduate with the Office of the Registrar.
For admission into the M.A. in Professional Communication online program, you must:
- Hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.
- Write a 500-word statement about why you would like to enter the program.
Official transcripts from all colleges/universities attended, regardless if they appear on the degree awarding transcript or not, should be mailed directly from the institution(s) to UW-Parkside at this address:
Admissions Office
University of Wisconsin-Parkside
900 Wood Road
Kenosha, WI 53144