About

Mission

Communication group of people standing outside

Mission STATEMENT

Our department embraces innovative humanistic and social scientific approaches to inquiry and engagement in health, media, organizational and relational communication, with emphases on culture, performance, and social justice.

Concentrations/Research Emphases

  • Critical Cultural Studies
  • Health Communication
  • Interpersonal-Small Group Communication
  • Media Studies
  • Organizational Communication
  • Performance Studies

Commitment to Student Success

The Department of Communication seeks to foster an equitable learning environment where students can thrive. The Department is committed to proactively identifying, addressing, and changing structures and practices that adversely impact student experiences and impede student success.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT STATEMENT

The Department of Communication acknowledges that the University of South Florida was built on land acquired through colonization of land inhabited by the Manasota civilization—the Tocobaga, the Mocoso, the Pohoy, and the Uzita people. In the 1700s, tribes from the Lower Creek moved into Florida joining other tribes, collectively known as the Seminole (“runaway” or “wild ones”). There are at least ten named tribes in Florida; however, the United States has only recognized the Seminole and the Miccosukee Tribes. The State of Florida additionally recognized the Muscogee Nation of Florida (formerly Florida Tribe of Eastern Creek Indians). As a Department, we fully support Indigenous Sovereignty. We recognize the historical and continuing cultural and material impacts of settler colonialism and state sponsored violence on Indigenous communities, particularly the suffering, and intergenerational trauma and poverty. We will work to be accountable to the needs of American Indian and Indigenous peoples and attentive to the larger implications of continuous colonization of lands, bodies, and cultures.