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Certificate of Graduate Study in
Communication
Fully Online

Program of Study

programofstudy

To earn this certificate, you’re required to take 12 credits comprised of three course options offered in your selected area of concentration, organizational or strategic communication. Then you will take a fourth concentration course option, or one of the course options for the other concentration area.


Additional Information

See the Graduate Bulletin for details.

For more information, contact Alyssa Morey at [email protected].

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Organizational Communication Course Options

Learn how to use theory and research to understand organizational communication in practice and propose courses of action that achieve business goals and satisfy internal stakeholders.

This concentration helps you become a more effective communicator and message designer in the workplace and global business environments.

  • Communication & Culture Across Organizational Contexts
  • Communicating Globally
  • Interaction in Institutional Contexts
  • Communication, Work, and Organizational Life
  • Leadership Communication
  • Corporate Communication

“Contemporary organizations involve complex internal and external communication processes. The organizational communication concentration allows you to closely examine problematic and productive interactions between employers and their employees, and between employees across an organization, especially in digital contexts.”

- Dr. Annis Golden, Associate Professor

Strategic Communication Course Options

Learn to apply strategic communication theory and research to evaluate, design, and critique communication practices that build and sustain audience engagement.

This concentration focuses on digital and online social media platforms and communication practice related to public health, politics, government, and workplaces.

  • Understanding Data in Strategic Communication
  • New Media and Engagement
  • Risk and Crisis Communication in the Public Interest
  • Digital and Social Media in Strategic Communication

“Every organization needs a strong voice and story. This is why organizations value communication professionals who can use research and analysis to develop key messages. The strategic communication concentration provides students with critical knowledge of how to pursue evidence-based best practice in the workplace – from digital and social media campaign planning to effective content creation and promotion.”

- Dr. Masahiro Yamamoto, Department Chair

Admissions Requirements
Deadlines
  • Fall: Rolling  
  • Spring: Rolling  
  • Summer: Rolling 

There is no departmental assistantship consideration for this program.

Required Application Materials
  • Transcripts from all schools attended
  • Resume
  • Personal Statement
  • Writing Sample

Personal Statement

 Your personal statement should inform the Admissions Committee about what you hope to gain from studying Communication at the graduate level. In particular, your statement should be informative about:

  • How you expect graduate studies in Communication to be relevant to and supportive of your plans and goals after your receive your degree
  • What you hope to learn as a graduate student and how that will benefit you
  • What it is about the UAlbany program in particular that led you to apply here


 Applicants are kindly asked not to utilize AI assistance or automated writing services when constructing the personal goals statement. This statement is a vital component of an application, offering an opportunity to showcase your authentic voice, motivations, and unique experiences. The admissions committee values your genuine aspirations and personal connection to our program. Please let your own thoughts and words convey your passion and suitability. AI-assisted writing tends to be recognizably formulaic, making it difficult for the review committee to feel confident in recommending admission.
 

Writing Sample

Your writing sample should demonstrate your ability to analyze and reason about the claims and thinking presented in others’ texts, and to write arguments supporting your claims. Papers that summarize or evaluate or dispute others’ work but do not analyze it, are less helpful to the admissions committee in discerning your ability to do the kind of writing required in our classes. Press releases or other professional writing, or creative writing, generally do not reveal abilities relevant to the kind of writing you would be asked to do in our classes.

You can submit a sample of writing you did in the past that presents an analysis and argument about materials you read. This may have been written to fulfill a class assignment or a work-related report or recommendation. If you have a writing sample of this kind, please include it with your application, adding an explanation of the assignment or task you were fulfilling.

OR

You can write a new essay to submit with your application in response to the following assignment: In an essay of 700-1,000 words, provide reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with the argument that David Bohm is making about communication in his short essay "On Communication".


Note: In submitting your writing sample, you are guaranteeing that it is entirely your own work, both in regard to the content and the actual writing. If you are admitted to the program, and it is later found that your writing sample was not original work created solely by you, that would be grounds for dismissal from the program.

 

For questions about application materials and procedures, and application status, please contact the Office of Graduate Admissions at [email protected].

Special Notes

Please Note: This program is not eligible for federal financial aid.

admissions
Student Learning Objectives


Learning objectives that UAlbany students are expected to attain through their course of study within their academic program.

Certificate of Graduate Study
  • Organizational communication concentration: Apply knowledge of theory and research within the field of organizational communication to understanding and explaining communication phenomena experienced within practical contexts, and proposing courses of action designed to achieve relevant communication-related goals, including those related to adapting to external environments and stakeholders, and those related to integrating activities of internal stakeholders.
  • Strategic communication concentration: Apply knowledge of theory and research within the field of strategic communication to understanding, explaining, designing and critiquing communication practices that aim to build and sustain engagement between audiences and message designers, with a particular focus on online platforms, in a variety of social contexts (e.g., health, politics and government, workplaces). 
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