Basic Communication: Communication is a learned skill. Most people are born with the physical ability to talk, but we must learn to speak well and communicate effectively. Speaking, listening, and our ability to understand verbal and nonverbal meanings are skills we develop in various ways. We learn basic communication skills by observing other people and modeling our behaviors based on what we see. We also are taught some communication skills directly through education, and by practicing those skills and having them evaluated. The Academic Discipline: Communication as an academic discipline relates to all the ways we communicate, so it embraces a large body of study and knowledge. The communication discipline includes both verbal and nonverbal messages. A body of scholarship all about communication is presented and explained in textbooks, electronic publications, and academic journals. Researches report the results of studies that are the basis for an ever-expanding understanding of how we all communicate.

The Communication Studies major incorporates aspects of the humanities, social sciences, and professional degrees. Graduates go on to the following careers and higher education: * Advertising account executive * Marketing consultant * Radio station marketing * Public relations * Graduate school * Law school The Importance of Communication for Careers in the 21st Century A survey of 480 companies, as reported in The Wall Street Journal, found that employers ranked communication abilities first among the desirable personal qualities of future employees. The US Department of Labor reports that communication skills will be in demand across occupations well into the next century. In a national survey of 1000 human resource managers, oral communication skills are identified as valuable for both obtaining employment and successful job performance, as reported in The Journal of the Association for Communication Administration. When 1000 faculty members from a cross-section of disciplines were asked to identify basic competencies for every college graduate, skills in communicating topped the list, as reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education.