Whether you participate in training, a business meeting, or community event, being a skilled public speaker differentiates an uninteresting experience from an engaging one. Students in this course work to develop and enhance their ability and confidence in presentation skills, empathic listening, and critical thinking. Topics include developing content and organizing ideas using proven techniques for the oral delivery of informative and persuasive speeches. Additional topics include audience analysis, critical listening and thinking, and the use of technology in presentations. In this course, students have an opportunity to improve their public communication skills, as well as plan, create, and deliver presentations.

Globalization has created a smaller world. Media, culture, commerce, new neighbors, and new family members have drastically increased interactions among culturally diverse people. In this global environment, people need to interact effectively with all types of people, cultures, and worldviews. In this course, students are provided tools for observing, evaluating, and understanding various cultures to communicate effectively with others. Students explore the impact of culture and personal identity on communication strategies. They distinguish the modes and styles of communication unique to their personal culture from the cultures of others. Students explain how theories of cultural differences can help to anticipate and overcome challenges in intercultural situations. In addition, students apply effective intercultural communication skills to academic, personal, and professional settings.

Criminal justice involves more than retribution; it is twofold in that it must punish offenders and also address their needs and the needs of victims and the community. Students in this course explore the theory of justice and practices that emphasize repairing the harm caused by criminal behavior. They learn the ways in which this effort contrasts with an adversarial approach to justice. Students learn about strategies involving stakeholders in actions that transform the relationships among victims, offenders, communities, and criminal justice agencies in their response to crime. They also explore and reflect on case studies and topical models for an in-depth understanding how professionals conduct restorative justice in the real world.

While victim response is vital, it is also important to focus on the potential effects of crime on a community, such as economic instability, drug use, prejudices, and further criminal activity. Students in this course identify existing community resources that professionals use in conjunction with planned and ad hoc community responses to learn positive and effective intervention strategies that address the needs of individuals and communities affected by criminal incidents. They also assess the challenges inherent in such efforts and discuss ways to mitigate obstacles. Gaining new perspectives on possible ways to address the coordination of community response, students examine how victims perceive crime and/or change their role as a result of the crime.

Communities around the nation have identified the need for resources to help people in various states of crisis, such as those associated with mental health issues, substance and alcohol abuse, and myriad forms of violence. Criminal justice professionals are positioned to refer those in crisis to proper community resources or use alternate intervention responses that may avoid arrest and incarceration. In this course, students explore the phenomenon of crisis through models, skill sets, and methods used for crisis intervention. Students examine examples of these such as de-escalation, diffusion, negotiation, employment of multicultural perspectives, and crisis intervention teams (CITs).

Rapid shifts in the economy, changes in political leaders, and negative news reports are just a few of the factors affecting marketing campaigns and public relations (PR) efforts. In this course, students can learn the value of managing internal and external communications effectively in situations of risk, crisis, and sudden change—a critical competence for PR professionals and organizations. Students examine successful and unsuccessful crisis communication efforts and consider issues of contingency planning, speed, transparency, multiple modalities, stakeholder analysis, and ethics. They engage in assignments designed to provide practical application of content through which they gain experience developing a communication plan to mitigate and solve issues of crisis in PR.

Life can be viewed as a series of problems to solve and questions to answer. Students in this course will build a foundation for developing and applying practical problem-solving skills to questions that are relevant in today’s world. They will identify a problem, gather information, analyze and interpret the information collected, and ultimately present a proposed solution to various audiences. These problem-solving skills can be applied to academic, personal, and professional situations. As a result of taking this course, students will develop knowledge and skills for approaching everyday life events in a more effective manner.