Course Requirements

Financial Wellness is a practical approach to making informed and empowering decisions about financial health. Students explore values, feelings and knowledge related to money, acquire basic financial knowledge and apply this knowledge to short and long term financial decisions. Curriculum is customized to individual student learning, with four required modules and two elective modules.

This course introduces students to the information age and its significance in our personal and professional lives. Students explore mass communication from the perspectives of advertising, film, journalism, public relations, radio, and television. Other topics may include multimedia and interactive technology, the Internet and international communication.

This course provides students with a survey of the field of human communication. Students will explore the symbolic nature of both verbal and nonverbal communication in several contexts including dyadic, small group, intercultural and organizational settings. Within and across contexts, students will study fundamental communication processes such as message construction, listening, persuasion, deception, and relationship development.

Mass Communication is changing more rapidly now than at any time in the past century. Journalists, public relations practitioners, corporate communicators and professionals in any discipline or industry are expected to know how to use a range of storytelling forms to reach their audiences. Today's professional {at all levels) should be able to gather and edit simple text, graphics, photos, audio and video as well as use the latest social media, and analytics dashboards. This interactive course will examine those changes and provide valuable "how-to" practice in communication technology and content delivery. As students learn about communication technology in the Media Lab, they will become more familiar with the hardware, software, and devices used in the industry as well as in varied disciplines and workplaces. Communication technology is the fusion of computer science and electronic media --offering skills and opportunity to present, share, distribute and manage information.

This course introduces students to theory and application of single-camera digital video production. The course consists of lectures and structured labs. Emphasis in the course is on learning and applying terminology, aesthetics, and fundamental principles to planning and editing video projects. Labs provide students with a working knowledge of video equipment, industry standards, and state-of-the-art digital video editing techniques.

In this course, students develop basic mastery of digital photography as a means of visual communication and creative expression. Through lectures, discussions, small group and one-on-one demonstrations, and hands-on experience, students learn how to shoot digital images and to work creatively with these images using Photoshop software.

This course provides students with an overview of the writing process involved in the creation of content for both traditional and 'new' media. Students will learn the stylistic differences inherent in the construction of news stories, ad copy, marketing pieces, etc. Concurrently, they will analyze specific target audiences in order to achieve clearly formulated rhetorical objectives. Through lecture, discussion, and projects, students will gain an understanding of the varied contexts within traditional media, such as TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines, along with the changing trends found in newer forms of social media, such as e-zines, blogs, and podcasts. Writing used in internal (corporate/organizational communications) and external (public relations, marketing) communications will also be included.

This course covers fundamental aspects of radio production, including the day to day work of DJs, production and broadcast of themed music and entertainment programming, news gathering and reporting, and the writing and digital editing of pre-recorded, on-air news stories and features. Students in the course run the campus radio station under the direction of the course instructor (Prerequisites: ENG114 and ENG124).

A survey of the research investigating how the concept of gender is socially constructed and defined through communication practices, how individual gender identities are communicatively constructed, and how gender identities affect communication practices (Prerequisite: ENG 124).

This course encourages students to develop professionally in fields related to the humanities with consideration of the unique viewpoints that study the human condition from the liberal studies vantage point. Focusing on the theme of 'professional conversations,' students are asked to think about what issues, debates, trends, etc., are happening in their fields of study and prospective careers. This course intends to equip students professionally and academically as they delve into their field of interest and think of their own contributions to their future profession. (Pre-req: ENG124)

This course introduces the skills necessary for reporting and writing in multiple media formats. Students will learn how to put together stories for the Web with video, audio, and graphics as well as text. Using simple hardware and related software, students will be introduced to the technical side of writing and communication. Multimedia Journalism and Professional Writing gives students a chance to experience the challenges faced by all working journalists and strategic communications professionals. Students will learn how to use interactive media techniques and theory to tell compelling stories using still photography, video, audio and mobile devices. The class incorporates lectures, online lessons and hands-on opportunities to explore best practices for different storytelling platforms and analytics for feedback.

This course introduces the integration of communication skills essential for effective reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college level. In this writing intensive course, students develop composition skills to produce collegiate-level papers modeling rhetorical modes and thematic content in addition to strategies for reading complex texts; presentation skills for personal introductions, verbal summaries of readings and response writings, and peer review of papers; and basic technological skills for word processing, e-mail, and introductory-level online research.

In this course students will apply the practices for effective reading and writing introduced in ENG114 to the distinctive language and forms of various disciplines. This course lays the foundation for academic and professional research and stresses the use of appropriate and effective information sources. Readings for a variety of academic audiences will provide students with strategies to communicate in the sciences, business and technology, psychology, liberal studies, and the social sciences. Research and documentation skills appropriate to the disciplines are stressed. In addition to leading students through the research process from start to finish, this course will examine the many ramifications of academic honesty. (Prerequisite: ENG114)

Selected readings in fiction, poetry, and drama introduce the student to literary types and techniques. These readings provide a basis for collegiate-level discussion, analysis, and the development of critical judgment. Building on the communications and research skills from earlier courses in the sequence, this course emphasizes continued practice in writing, and students complete a documented research paper using primary and secondary sources as one of the course writing assignments. Discussions and oral presentations based on assigned literature support the overall goal of the sequence: to enhance the advancement of the students, first academically and then professionally. (Prerequisite: ENG114)

This course is an examination of those artistic and technical innovations which have shaped the world-wide history of film as an art. Through the study of cinematic effects and technologies, students will learn to view films critically, seeing them as collaborative works of art that both reflect and influence society. Classes combine lecture, screenings and discussion.

Is creativity the rarefied trait of the few, or an attainable skill of the many? In this course, students will explore the theories behind creativity and its manifestations. Along the way, they will consider icons of creative thinking, explore their own creativity, and attempt to reach a consensus on the role of creativity in their lives.

This is an introduction to the basic descriptive and inferential statistics for students from all disciplines. It emphasizes the development of statistical literacy and the use of computer for analyzing data. Topics include principles of experimental design; graphical and numerical methods for summarizing, describing, exploring and analyzing data; binomial and normal probability distributions; point and interval estimates for means and proportions; hypothesis testing; and correlation and regression (Pre-requisite: MAT104 or appropriate placement test score).

Social media, and other forms of cyber-communication, have profound effects on our attitudes, behavior, and relationships and can contribute enormously to the socialization process. This course will explore the connections among media, technology and society. Students will use blogs, Facebook, wikis, etc., to explore the impact of social media in areas such as self-identity, family, work, and leisure. Students will also observe and analyze their own technology habits and those of others. This course is offered online (Prerequisites: PSY101 or SOC100).

Women as Empowered Learners and Leaders is an interdisciplinary course, designed to give all students entering Bay Path University a common experience and foundation for their education. This course is an introduction to the University, to academic study, and to various approaches to thinking about personal potential, to understand the process of becoming a learner, and a leader, and composing a life, to appreciate beauty, and work actively toward establishing community and justice in the context of being a woman at the beginning of the 21st century.

(This course is graded Pass/Fail.) In their junior year before the opening of the spring semester, baccalaureate degree students will be offered a special opportunity to learn up-to-date information about the current work world in an intensive two-and-a-half-day workshop format. Students will meet successful professionals who will discuss the challenges and opportunities of their respective fields and help students prepare for interviews as well as learn how to navigate the early stages of their new careers.

By WEL400, you will be ready to blend all the skills you have learned during the WELL program—leadership, critical thinking, research, writing, analysis, and public presentation—with a community service project. Empathy, respect, and tolerance are the core human values that are stressed. It’s what every good leader needs to confidently show the way.