COMM 3081 - Environmental and Sustainability Communication Part II

(CU-SBY)

Multi-semester course: (Fall). 1 credit. Letter grades only.

Prerequisite: COMM 3080. Permission of instructor required. Note that this course is supported by a grant from Engaged Cornell, an initiative that seeks to foster community engagement and emphasizes “knowledge with a purpose.” As such, our major goal in this course is to blend insights from the scientific study of environmental and sustainability communication with the strategic communication goals of our partner environmental organizations to create more creative, informed, and effective public engagement. The grade recorded at the end of the second semester (COMM 3081) evaluates the student’s performance in the course for the entire year.

L. Chambliss.

This course is the 2nd half of COMM 3080. Combined, the courses are designed to provide you with an in-depth opportunity to apply insights from environmental and sustainability communication to real-world settings, to help achieve strategic outcomes regarding some of the most pressing challenges of our time. Following an overview of relevant communication theory and principles, the course will feature visitors and guest speakers from our partner environmental organizations (both local and national) to discuss their specific communication goals around environmental and sustainability topics and their strategies for achieving them. A major focus of the class will be on critically engaging with these goals and strategies from a perspective informed by the field of communication—through a mixture of short assignments, case studies, and ultimately, a summer-long internship with one of our partner organizations in Summer—culminating with student presentations in the Fall semester.

Outcome 1: Students will be able to define and apply environmental communication theory in diverse settings.

Outcome 2: Students will be able to effectively communicate environmental and sustainability issues across multiple platforms.

Outcome 3: Students will be able to collaborative with community partners to achieve strategic communication goals.

Outcome 4: Students will be able to integrate communication theory and practice into a brief multimedia presentation.