This course will give professional writing majors, and more specifically, professional writing majors with a creative writing concentration, another diverse genre of writing to engage in with strong insights into the freelance and publishing company pursuits of such writing.

Advanced research in a chosen area of communication study or advanced writing in a specific mode. (Agreed upon by the student and instructor, with permission of the department.)

Advanced research in a chosen area of communication study or advanced writing in a specific mode. (Agreed upon by the student and instructor, with permission of the department.)

This course is for junior and senior communication students who wish to gain practical, curriculum-related experience in the field of communications. Students will complete 125 hours of practical experience under professional supervision and with the support and feedback of their peers completing similar internships. This course can be taken multiple times for credit but not at the same organization. Communication Field Experience I and II must be taken with different organizations. (Prerequisites: COM 305 and Instructor Permission)

The course is specifically designed for the senior communication student to gain greater insight as to how a specific field of communication may be best contextualized within a theory or principle of communication. COM 406 is designed to enable interaction with both supervisors and peers in order to garner constructive understanding in the field, which allows for feedback, heightens the 125-hour internship experience, and places the overall effort in a position that contributes to a comprehensive communication senior seminar and artifacts for their professional portfolio. Students must complete 125 internship hours. Communication Field Experience I and II must be taken with different organizations. (Prerequisites: COM 305, COM403 and Instructor Permission)

Cybersecurity Fundamentals introduces learners to the interdisciplinary field of cybersecurity. During the course, learners will review the evolution of information security into cybersecurity, and explores the relationship of cybersecurity to organizations and society. Learners will analyze topics such as vulnerability assessment, ethical hacking, malicious software (malware), virus attacks, spyware, network defense, passwords, firewalls, and intrusion detection. Current issues such as privacy concerns and cyberbullying are also discussed. (prerequisites; CIS 105, CIS 218, CIS 224 and MATH 216 all with grade of C+ or higher)

Defense in depth is the coordinated use of multiple security countermeasures to protect an information technology (IT) enterprise. Students will study the concept of creating multiple layers of security controls as a defense throughout an IT environment to provide redundancy in the event security controls fail or vulnerabilities are exploited. The course will cover aspects of personnel, procedural, technical and physical security controls.

Cybersecurity professionals must be knowledgeable of the possible dangers to their systems. This course will review the common threats to computer networks and provide students with a basic understanding of how systems are attacked. Further, students will be introduced to industry standard and leading methodologies for vulnerability assessment as well as ethical hacking techniques used to simulate real-world attacks in order to assess security and demonstrate business risk. With this understanding of threats and attack techniques. Along with methodologies for technical security assessments, students will be positioned to evaluate network, system, and application security controls, identify and demonstrate security risks, and prioritize vulnerability remediation.

IT Security Governance is the process of establishing and maintaining a framework and supporting management structure and processes to provide assurance that IT security strategies are aligned with and support business objectives, are consistent with applicable laws and regulations through adherence to policies and internal controls, and provide assignment of responsibility, all in an effort to manage risk. The course will introduce students to the key components of IT security governance and review governance frameworks and approaches utilized by large enterprise organizations. Students will gain an understanding of the goals and structure of a security governance program and the key performance indicators used to measure program success.