About the School
The School of Communication was founded in 1927, starting as a public speaking department. Over the past nine decades we have had many changes of name and scope. Most recently, in 2007 the School of Communication split from what became the School of Journalism and Media Studies (JMS). Shortly after the “New” School was established, we created a major in Health Communication (HC) to complement our existing Communication major. The new Center for Communication, Health, and the Public Good launched in Fall 2018. The Institute for Dialogue and Social Justice launched in Fall 2019. Click on “Research and Centers” for more information about these exciting additions to the School of Communication.
We currently have 12 tenured and tenure-track faculty and 27 full- and part-time lecturers. We serve over 900 undergraduate students in our Communication and Health Communication majors. Our graduate program includes nearly 30 master's students, with most of them serving as Teaching Associates or Research Assistants. Teaching Associates teach our COMM 103, Oral Communication, courses or other stand-alone introductory courses.
The SDSU School of Communication was named the 2019 Outstanding Master’s Program by the National Communication Association’s Master’s Education Section. Program reviews indicate that our faculty research productivity out-paces many communication doctoral programs. Our faculty are recognized internationally for their research and attract research funding from internal and external agencies, including the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Additionally, our faculty are repeatedly recognized for their quality teaching with institutional, regional, and national teaching awards. Browse our Faculty page to read more about each faculty member’s research and teaching.
Aztec Forensics is our competitive speech and debate team with a reputation for training skilled public speakers and debaters who go on to make significant contributions in legal, governmental, health, business, and other professions. See our Forensics page for more details and recent accomplishments of Aztec Forensics.
School of Communication undergraduate and graduate students make connections with each other and our community with several student organizations. Click on “Student Organizations” to learn more about our three undergraduate student organizations: Lambda Pi Eta, the Communication Honors Society; Health Communication Student Organization; and Aztec Forensics. Our graduate student organization, Society for Communication and Leadership (SoCAL), hosts monthly colloquia, community outreach events, and social events for graduate students and faculty.
Please take a virtual tour of all that the School of Communication has to offer by spending some time on our website.
