SCHOOL of INTERNATIONAL SERVICE

American University · Washington, D.C.

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION

Overview

Also see the International Communication Web Site

The International Communication Program in the School of International Service is the oldest specialized degree program in this field in the United States, celebrating its 38th anniversary in Fall 2006. The program was established in 1968, and the first M.A. degree in International Communication was offered in 1970. Since its inception, the program has pioneered professional curricula in international communication and remains a leader in the field. The distinctive mission of the IC Program is a focus on the role of communications in the international system, a mission that bears increasing relevance to critical transformations in the international arena. With cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary breadth, the IC Program explores the technological, economic, cultural, political and geopolitical dimensions of international communication. The program links theory to practice in building ideas that shape research, policy and professional practice.

Students are encouraged to make specialized contributions to the field and prepare for a variety of professions at both the national and international levels in such diverse arenas as private industry, government, media and information sectors, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and educational and cultural organizations. International communication today is at the center of international debate on such issues as the global knowledge economy, information technology and international development, culture and communication, human rights of information and expression, communication and democracy, global media studies, economics of information, international negotiation, cross-cultural communication, and global conflict and cooperation. The IC curriculum helps prepare students to contribute in each of these areas.

IC Concentrations

The IC Strategic Plan for the 21st Century expands the areas of concentration in which students may specialize. Courses are designed around the following specific concentration fields:

• Communication & Development
• Geopolitics of Information
• Global Media Studies
• Information Technology & Global Communication
• Intercultural Relations
• International Media & Communication Policy
• Individually tailored concentration in IC

IC Faculty

Faculty

• Shalini Venturelli, Program Director (currently on leave)
• Nanette Levinson, Acting Director
• Robert Albro
• David Bachner
• Christine Chin
• Gerbrand Groen
• Hamid Mowlana, Emeritus
• Gary Weaver
• Gabriel Weimann

Affiliated

• Pat Aufderheide
• Erran Carmel
• Carolyn Gallaher
• Patrick Jackson
• Shoon Murray
• Randy Persaud
• Clarence Lusane

Adjunct

• Pat Aufderheide
• Elizabeth Fox
• Abbas Malek
• Eric Novotny
• J.P. Singh

Additional information on opportunities provided by the Program, its curriculum, faculty, students and activities is available on the International Communication Web Site.