Communication Studies

Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. There are more than 16,000 chapters of Toastmasters worldwide. One of the most unique chapters is in the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, Oregon. Since 2004, inmates in this maximum-security prison have developed speaking and critical thinking skills through their participation in the organization. Their activities include debate training from the debate coach at Lewis & Clark College and participation in competitive debate. The penitentiary also hosts the only intercollegiate/institutional [...]

A language barrier can prevent someone from understanding you in the simplest of situations leaving you frustrated, anxious, and sometimes even ready to give up. For Melody Li, a sophomore who moved to the U.S. from China to pursue a bachelor’s in Marine Science and Biology at the University of Miami, learning English as a second language gave her the opportunity to attend a college outside of her country, but left her feeling nervous conversing with peers.  "It was an easy choice,” Li said of selecting to attend UM. “It's [...]

Tianyi Xu traveled across the globe to exercise her passion for meaningful research. She found her perfect fit at the University of Miami School of Communication. Now completing her last semester, graduation marks the next step in advancing her passion for family and computer-mediated communication research. Xu’s interest in bettering communication within families undergoing difficult circumstances grew from personal experience. “I started wondering if family communication patterns acted as a buffer or something that could worsen people’s conditions during stressful events, for example, serious illness,” said Xu. “Specifically, I know [...]

Twenty-three years after experiencing a brutal civil war which led to a genocide that took the lives of a million innocent people in a period of 100 days, the nation of Rwanda is a new country, rebuilding itself with a remarkable story of overcoming its past. In order to help raise awareness about the genocide, to celebrate the importance of civil discourse through its practice, and to create a cross-cultural experience enabling American students and those from Rwanda to build understanding and networks of empathy and friendship, the young people [...]

The UM Debate Team traveled west this weekend, with the British parliamentary team competing at the University of Denver and the policy team competing at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.   The Parliamentary team finished out of the award rounds, but competed well against outstanding competition including the University of Alaska, Loyola University Chicago, the US Air Force Academy, and Clemson University. Anna Heinzen competed in her first intercollegiate debate tournament with partner Kerra Masso, and Evan Aldo and Artem Sviridov also represented the U. The policy team had [...]

The UM Debate Team collected yet another tournament championship by winning the Sweepstakes of the Chicken and Egg Debate Tournament hosted by the University of North Georgia from Sept. 29-30. Fourteen UM debaters traveled to Gainesville, Georgia to compete in British Parliamentary Debate. UM’s Spanish-language debate team took four of the top five speaker awards, advancing three teams into finals. UM debaters Christian Guevara and Rafael Gonzalez won the Spanish-language division placing UM as a leader in Spanish-language debate in the United States.  “It's so exciting that UM has a Spanish-language [...]

Ever since transferring into the School of Communication her sophomore year, Celeste Balboni knew she had found her place. She decided to declare a major within the SoC when she began taking courses at the school and became involved with the Public Relations Experience Program (PREP). The following semester, she began to take more general courses, like Freedom of Expression and Communication Ethics and ultimately declared Communication Studies as her major. “It was one of the first classes that I took in the School of Communication and that’s what made [...]