About the Program: The M.A. degree offered through the Communication & Development Studies program focuses on using communication to promote social change. The program’s curriculum encompasses core courses in areas of communication and development; strategic communications; and research methods. To suit their individual objectives, students then build upon this core by devising a curriculum that draws upon courses in graduate programs from across the university.

Over the past few years, Communication & Development Studies students have specialized in areas that include the following:

• Media production, including documentary and participatory video, multimedia production, and community radio
  
• ICTs and social change, including in relation to the digital divide, E-governance, and social media
  
• Communication for Development (a.k.a. C4D; development communication) approaches to health communication, public health, and entertainment-education
  
• Critical media studies, such as in areas of the political economy of media, and media and representation
  
• Media management, including in relation to public media
• And a variety of other areas including gender issues, environmental sustainability, educational technology, human rights, and conflict resolution. Read more:

Huyen Tran Dieu, a second year CommDev student from Vietnam, received a competitively awarded, $1,500 scholarship to participate in the 5th International Entertainment Education Conference (EE5). The conference’s scholarship program is designed to promote and support upcoming voices in the field of entertainment education. The conference will be held from November 17-20th, 2011, in New Delhi, India. Read more

In mid-October, CommDev students David Bruggink, Rashmi Sharma, Liliana Acevedo Callejas and Brian Woods participated on a panel session at the Global Fusion Conference, which was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The panel session was titled Participation, Power, and Possibilities in Today’s Mediated World.

Each panel member explored the various opportunities and challenges presented by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in relation to development. For example, David Bruggink’s presentation, titled Participatory Video Approaches to HIV/AIDS Prevention Campaigns in China, evaluated the use of participatory video in HIV/AIDS prevention in China.

Rashmi Sharma’s presentation, titled ICTS and Development in Himalayan Mountain Communities, considered the obstacles to information sharing between institutional entities operating in the Trans-Himalayan areas of India, Nepal, Bhutan and China. Acevedo Callejas’ presentation assessed the role of ICTs in the exercise of citizenship, while Brian Wood’s presentation examined the role of ICTs in the recent Middle East uprisings. Read more