Department Overview

About the Bethel Department of Communication Studies

The Bethel Department of Communication is a home for nearly 200 undergraduate majors, 60 graduate students, eight full-time faculty members and several adjunct faculty members. The best way to find out about us is to talk to our faculty and students, as well as examining our website. The following represents what we believe, and what we seek to accomplish.

Mission Statement:

The Department of Communication Studies believes that the study of communication is of vital importance as it seeks to understand how we as humans interact with God’s world through myriad cultures and channels. We believe that the study of communication is central to the liberal arts, as it helps us to understand ourselves, our culture, and the intersection of the self and the culture. Students graduating from the department should be equipped for a variety of types of work as well as graduate study.

The Department is guided by the following principles:

As Christians, we ask how we should integrate communication principles within a Christian world view, challenging ourselves to live out our learning through personal faith.
As members of an increasingly technological society, we must understand how communication is produced, as well as how different types of communication affect society and the self.
As members of an increasingly media-saturated culture, we must critically evaluate the media’s effect on culture. We do this through theoretical study as well as utilizing production as a means of understanding how media operates.
As members of an increasingly diverse culture, as well as of the world community, we must ask how cultural differences complicate communication, and what we can learn to help promote more effective communication across cultures.
As members of society, we must prepare ourselves for a variety of situations where we are called upon to speak – whether it be interpersonal, group, organizational or public settings – by combining theory and practice toward the goal of becoming competent communicators in all categories of interaction processes.
We must all confront ethical challenges in a variety of communication contexts, and have appropriate theoretical and scriptural bases for responding to those challenges.
As humans, we must seek to utilize communication skills to treat all people equitably, regardless of gender, race, or class, and engage in empathetic, responsible communication.
Finally, we must consider that our knowledge of communication is necessarily incomplete, and accordingly, we consider the study of communication as a life-long process.

What do we expect students to know when they graduate? Here are our departmental outcomes:

Students can explain and apply basic knowledge of the theoretical principles applicable to the Communication discipline.
Students can demonstrate the oral, written, and listening skills necessary to function as competent communicators in a variety of communication contexts.
Students can demonstrate higher level thinking processes and illustrate such processes by evaluating evidence, analyzing communication texts (i.e., public texts, media texts, technological texts), and applying information to communication situations.
Students can respond to ethical dilemmas in communication contexts by articulating a decision-making process that incorporated ethical choices.
Students can demonstrate that the equitable treatment of all people regardless of gender, race, or class is based in Christian principles and is related to empathic, responsible communication.
Students are prepared for entrance into successful graduate study and/or entrance into their chosen areas of work.

Mission Statement last updated: 12 July 2005