The MA in communication studies prepares students for communication-intensive roles in such fields as: community relations employee communication grass-roots advocacy health communication media campaigns political communication public affairs technology-mediated communication systems A substantive number of graduates pursue the PhD and careers in teaching and research. Within the master's in communication studies, the notion of advocacy is explored. This is achieved by examining advocacy across the discipline's traditional classifications and within a variety of contexts. This approach allows faculty to journey with students to discover and attend to advocacy in new and unique ways, to collectively theorize and practice advocacy. People who come to our program join the faculty in this endeavor. Advocacy occurs at the intersection of public and private lives, in the space where the two overlap and mutually inform one another, often in complex and challenging ways. It is here that we seek to uncover the ways in which symbols, messages and meaning are constructed and arranged to establish, facilitate, enhance or detract from the social status, social support and social identity of particular and often marginalized groups. Although the faculty recognize fully that one can advocate on one's own behalf, the faculty believe the true work of advocacy involves attending to the other. Advocacy, though, is not limited simply to speaking directly on another's behalf. Rather, advocacy involves working diligently and ethically to create a space, whether it is public or private, in which the other can speak for himself or herself. The advocate uses communication theory and practice to reclaim space for and to provide voice to the other. Advocacy is a calling to the responsibility we have for others in the global age. The master's in communication studies seeks to provide those interested in advocacy the opportunity to develop the intellectual and conceptual skills necessary to follow that calling.

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