Undergraduate Bulletin

Spring 2025

Requirements for the Major and Minor in Mass Communication (CMM)

Transfer students

Transfer courses will be evaluated individually for mass communication equivalency by the Undergraduate Director.

Requirements for the Major

The major in Mass Communication leads to the Bachelor of Science degree. Students must earn a letter grade of C or higher in all mass communication courses and Satisfactory or S in COM internships, independent studies and workshops for these to count toward the major. Students may enroll in multiple internships up to 12 credits each. The total number of credits from all internships combined may not exceed 12.  In addition, students must complete a 9-credit interdisciplinary  concentration of upper division classes (300 or 400 level). Mass Communication majors must satisfy all Stony Brook Curriculum (SBC) requirements and accrue a total of 120 credits. 

Completion of the major requires a minimum total of 36 mass communication credits, and a minimum of 72 non-mass communication credits.

All mass communication students should see a departmental advisor to plan their course programs. The following courses are required of all mass communication majors; an asterisk (*) denotes an online course:

  1. Required Courses (24 credits):
  • JRN 101 News Literacy
  • COM 106 Introduction to Mass Media*
  • COM 120 Fundamentals of Public Speaking*
  • COM 207 Media Writing
  • COM 208 History of Mass Communication*
  • COM 305 Mass Communication Law & Ethics*
  • COM 415 Data Analysis and Storytelling
  • COM 491: Mass Communication Senior Project
  1. Choose one of the following paired methods and theory sequences (6 credits)

Or

  • COM 316 Mass Comm Research Methods
  • COM 317 Mass Communication Theory
  1. Choose two of the following electives (6 credits)
  • JRN 301: The Changing Business of News
  • JRN 319: The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture
  • COM 346: Race, Class, and Gender in Media
  • JRN 363: Magazine Writing
  • COM 365: Talking Science
  • JRN 366: Press and the Presidency
  • COM 399: Special Topics in Mass Communication
  • JRN 413: Journalism of the Global South
  • JRN 433: Journalistic Book and Serial Narrative Production
  • COM 487: Independent Study
  • COM 494: Mass Communications Internship
  1. Upper- Division Writing Requirement

Successful completion of COM 491 Senior Capstone Project will satisfy the SBC WRTD requirement as well as the Mass Communication major upper-division writing requirement.  

Requirements for the Minor

The following courses (9 credits) are required of mass communication minors; an asterisk (*)
denotes an online course:

  • COM 106 Introduction to Mass Media*
  • COM 120 Fundamentals of Public Speaking*
  • COM 305 Mass Communication Law & Ethics*

Three electives (9 credits) at or above the 300 level are required; an asterisk (*) denotes an online course. 

Students may choose from the following (all three-credit courses):

  • COM 306: Methods of Media Criticism 
  • COM 307: Critical Media Theory
  • COM 316: Mass Comm. Research Methods
  • COM 317: Mass Communication Theory 
  • JRN 301: The Changing News Business
  • JRN 319: The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture
  • JRN 346: Race, Class, and Gender in Media
  • JRN 363: Magazine Writing
  • COM 365: Talking Science
  • JRN 366: Press and the Presidency
  • COM 399: Special Topics: Issues in Mass Communication
  • JRN 413: Journalisms of the Global South
  • COM 436 Environmental Communication