In a time when communication technologies are increasingly digital, interactive, and global, participation in the public sphere requires critical engagement across a range of media, genres, and cultural contexts. UMBC’s Media and Communication Studies Department represents an innovative and interdisciplinary response to this need. The Department offers students theoretical and practical encounters with dynamic and complex changes in communication, culture, and knowledge. The core of the curriculum emphasizes reading, composition, and reflection within the liberal arts tradition.

Our curriculum focuses on communication skills, a critical understanding of the media, and the use of relevant new technologies. Media and Communication Studies comprises critical media literacy, intercultural communication, and new media and applied communication to prepare students to enter the communities and workplaces of the 21st century.

To earn an undergraduate certificate in Media and Communication Studies, students must complete the core (13 credits), the required applied experience (3 credits), and 9 credits of electives, all from one content area of their choice.