What's New:

The Bloomsburg University Xi Omega chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, the National Communication Honor Society, has been named the 2019 Chapter of the Year by the National Communication Association.

 

Congrats to Facia Sirleaf for receiving the Outstanding Student in Communication Studies Award - 2018!

Congratulations to graduate Tamika Austin - for winning an award from the Pennsylvania College Personnel Association (PCPA) Read more.

Congratulations to Amanda Weaver and her debate partner Tanisha Webster (Business Administration) for winning the 4th Annual Frederick Douglass Debate Society Tournament on Thursday, April 5th, 2018 at West Chester University. We are very proud of you!

 

Congrats to The National Communication Association Student Club (NCASC)! NCASC was selected as the 2018 Bloomsburg University Student Organization of the Year for their outstanding work in the areas of leadership, programming, and service.

Please see our Communication Studies Newsletters:

The BU Department of Communication Studies is officially on social media! Please like our Facebook page and our Twitter page and share with friends who may be interested!

 

Featured
Student


Abby Astrachan

My name is Abby Astrachan. I am majoring in Communication Studies on the Organizational
track and minoring in Emergent Media. This summer I had the chance to take on TWO
internships at the same time! At first this sounded scary to me because I knew it would be a lot of work and a lot of time, but I knew these would be incredible experiences that I couldn’t pass up. The first internship I took on was at a very well-known insurance agency in my town called Glatfelter Insurance Group (GIG). I was an intern in their marketing department on the content team. During my time at Glatfelter I had a lot of responsibilities on my plate including
writing and publishing blog posts, creating promotional social media images, organizing content, taking pictures and videos at events, and so much more. I really felt like I was a part of a team at Glatfelter and I always felt that my thoughts were valued and appreciated. The second internship I had was with the Pennsylvania Black Conference on Higher Education (PBCOHE) as their remotely located social media and marketing intern. I was this organization’s first intern ever, which was so exciting for me because that meant that I would be laying the groundwork for possible future interns. Because I was the first intern PBCOHE has ever had, there was a lot of learning and playing around with different ways of advertising and marketing. I had the chance to attend a retreat with the executive board in June where I was able to learn more about the organization and actually meet the faces of the people I was working with and promoting. Overall I had a crazy busy summer, but it was full of a lot of growth both personally and professionally. I gained more of a sense of time management, I
became way more organized than I already was, I learned to speak up if I have opinions or
suggestions, and I learned that my decision to major in Communication Studies was the best decision in my college career thus far. If I had one piece of advice for anyone reading this it would be to take risks and always look to build your resume. Taking on two internships at once
was a risk for me, but I couldn’t be more proud of what I accomplished this summer. I feel
very thankful for all of my experiences this summer and feel so confident in my abilities to succeed in any job I take on following my graduation this upcoming May 2020!

Featured Student

Ashlyn Burkholder
Hello my name is Ashlyn Burkholder and this past summer and into the beginning of my senior year, I had the opportunity to intern as a Marketing and Public Relations intern at the York Fair and Expo Center. Beginning in May 2019, I started working as "intern 2" in the York Fair and Expo Center administration office. Originally when I interviewed for this position, they were looking for an Event Planning intern and a Marketing and Public Relations intern. The other intern that they hired and myself took on both internship roles at once and we were able to get the WHOLE experience by learning about marketing, public relations, event planning, sponsorships, and of course the typical office intern work of copying papers, mailing envelopes, etc. I enjoyed this internship because although our main focus was planning for the fair in September, we were also helping plan for other events that the Expo Center hosts throughout the year. It involved helping schedule 2020 calendar year events that the Expo Center will host, making marketing materials for events, updating our website, and even doing early morning news interviews. Taking courses such as Communication for Business Professionals with Dr. Shorter and Interviewing with Dr. Bodenman really helped me prepare for my summer internship. I was able to take important skills that I had learned in each course and apply them to obtain my internship position and to also continue doing well throughout my time with the York Fair and Expo Center. I highly recommend that other students take advantage of as many internship opportunities that they can while they are at Bloomsburg so that they are able to gain relevant work experience and a real sense of what professional life will be like after graduation. I hope that I can take everything that I have learned at my internship over the last couple months and use my abilities to be a key asset in the success of a company after I graduate from Bloomsburg University in May 2020!

Featured Student

Angela DiPasquale

Hello, my name is Angela DiPasquale and I am a senior organizational communication studies major with an emergent media minor. This past summer I had the opportunity to intern in New York City at an event planning production company called Eventique. Since the end of May, I have taken the 8:40 am bus to NYC learning the ropes of my future career! During my internship experience, not only did I validate that I am headed in the right direction, I learned valuable lessons about how to be a great event planner. Eventique was the perfect company for me to work with! Being an athlete I value working as a team and working towards one common goal and that’s exactly how the office ran. Everyone supported each other and worked on events together. Also, being the only intern I was given a lot of responsibility and duties each day. I got to research venues and entertainment options for clients and create decks for them and was often included in the conference calls with them. I wasn’t just sitting to listen, the team often valued my opinion and let me take the lead on certain aspects of the event. Even though I enjoyed learning the office component of being an event planner my favorite part of my internship was being on-site helping set up events. Unfortunately, they didn’t have too many events this summer but I did get to set up a Vegas themed boat party for a company anniversary and spent 24 hours straight working at a toy expo. Being onsite taught me how to talk to clients and quickly accommodate the client’s needs when things would go wrong or they had a last-minute request. I am sad to leave as I felt like I bonded and became part of the team. I am very thankful that they have asked me to come back and work an event with them in Miami in November and I am even more excited to take the valuable lessons I’ve learned in the past 3 months and bring it to life in a year when I land my first event planning job! I couldn’t have achieved such an amazing internship without all that Bloomsburg University has offered me in the past 3 years. The most valuable classes that strongly helped me be successful this summer where Communication for Business Professionals, Small Group communications and Leadership and Teambuilding. All of these classes provided me with the various of skills and lessons needed to work in an office along with other employees. These classes also helped me to be comfortable with asking for help and providing my opinion which is one of the best things an intern can do to be great!



Welcome to
Communication Studies

Welcome to the Department of Communication Studies at Bloomsburg University. Our department has over 250 students who are currently majoring in Communication Studies. We also offer a minor in Communication Studies.

There are currently 19 tenured/tenure track faculty who teach full time in the department.

Our department also supports general education for the entire university with courses such as Introduction to Communication Studies, Public Speaking, Interpersonal Communication, Small Group Communication, and Intercultural Communication.Faculty

Please see our Communication Studies Newsletter - Spring 2017

Get to know our faculty:

Dr. Kai Kuang

Dr. Kai KuangDr. Kai Kuang received her bachelor’s degree at the Communication University of China in Beijing, China. Her bachelor’s degree was in Broadcast Journalism and she also received a minor in TV Program Productions as well. Kuang later went on to get her masters at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN in Public Relations. She also received her PhD in Health Communication at Purdue University. Dr. Kuang has been teaching communications courses for six years now. For the first three years, she taught at Purdue University. She is currently in her fourth year teaching as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies. The courses she teaches in the interpersonal track include Interpersonal Communication, Communication Research Methods, Health Communication, and E-Health.

When asked “What is your favorite course to teach?”, Dr. Kuang answered:

“Communication Research Methods, it’s normally not a student’s favorite class at first so it’s a very rewarding experience to see the students learn about research and the methods they can use to answer their research.”

Outside the classroom, Dr. Kuang has found a lot of joy in her recent service opportunity. She is a co-advisor of the student organization Active Minds. This Bloomsburg University chapter is a part of a national organization. The mission of the organization is to encourage open discussion between members about mental health issues on college campuses. 

When asked “What is your favorite part of the Communication Department?”, she said:

“One of my favorite parts of the department is the collegiality of the faculty members in the department, they are all very supportive of each other’s research, teaching, and service initiatives”

Dr. Kuang’s central research projects are all in relation to uncertainty in illness. The focus is mainly on how the patients respond both communicatively and psychologically to uncertainty related to their illness.

By: Krista Peachey

Get to know our students:

Stephanie Bouffard


For junior Stephanie Bouffard, Communication Studies has opened up a career path that incorporates everything she wants in her dream job: education, advocacy, and philanthropy.

"I aspire to educate others. Not so much on the topic of special education itself, but to educate others with special needs. I want to advocate for them, and be the voice both for those who have the inability to speak, whether that's due to their disability or suppression."  
  
Although she just declared a Special Education minor during the Fall 2016 semester, Stephanie noticed the integral part that communication plays in classes outside of the major. Each experience and situation requires a unique application of communication.

"Even though there are so many differences between my major and my minor, I also find commonalities between the two. Beyond just the people, it's the commonality for advocacy. I find it very inspiring to see the passion both the Communications Department as well as the Special Education Department both have when it comes to advocacy, both in public and behind the scenes. "

For Stephanie, other students within Communication Studies played a significant role in why she decided to join this major.

"Listening to stories about how their major is used in their everyday lives was important to me, it was something I was looking for, too."

With career aspirations to campaign for individuals with exceptionalities or special needs, Stephanie also plans to take classes in the Leadership and Public Advocacy track, offered through her major. Focusing on campaigns, public policy, and rhetoric, Stephanie will have the opportunity to build skills and gain exposure to resources that will help her reach her goals. Impacting people every day, Stephanie is involved on campus and volunteers her time to help numerous organizations.

"In terms of what I see myself doing in the future, I would love to be a motivational speaker, campaign worker, or running a specific organization that would expand other's knowledge on the backlash of individuals with special needs, as well as campaign for the ones who are underrepresented."

In the upcoming months, Stephanie hopes to get an internship with an afterschool program to work with children with special needs, but until then, she will continue her advocacy through organizations at BU, and in her local community.