Teaching

Course Descriptions

CMST 2010 Interpersonal Communication

Academic Level: Sophomore and above (LSU ILC: Social/Behavioral Science Area) Frequency: Typically offered every regular semester (fall or spring; taught by various instructors) My Recent/Next Offering: Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026 (tentative)

Course Objectives: The goal of this course is to expose you to the scholarly study of interpersonal communication in a way that both captures the vitality of the discipline and enhances your interpersonal communication skills. More specifically, the students in this class will be able to: 1. Analyze personal experiences and observations using communication theory.  2. Apply course material to improve communication skills in relationships and across cultures. 3. Identify personal and potential biases that reduce effective communication in communication episodes (e.g., conflict, persuasion, support, romantic pursuits).

Required Materials: Interpersonal Communication: Putting Theory into Practice (Solomon & Theiss, 2022)

You Might Like CMST 2010 if: 1. You are looking for a general education course that features fun learning activities, relatable course content, and practical skills that you can apply in everyday life. 2. You enjoy thinking about (or perhaps have questions about, or sometimes struggle with) the communication and psychology that go into the initiation, maintenance, and dissolution of personal relationships. 3. You want to be a better friend, romantic partner, or family member to those you care about.

CMST 3114 Communication Research

Academic Level: Junior and above Frequency: Typically offered every spring My Recent/Next Offering: Spring 2025, Spring 2026 (tentative)

Course Objectives: CMST 3114 introduces students to the social scientific methods in human communication research. Students in this 3000-level course will learn the basics of conducting research, complete research ethics training, and execute a research project. By the end of the class, students will be able to: 1. Understand theory and assumptions underlying social scientific research paradigms 2. Use theory to guide the development of research projects 3. Identify and address ethical issues in human subject research 4. Search for, evaluate, and synthesize social scientific research in communication, and develop hypotheses and research questions 5. Understand and use descriptive and basic inferential statistics to address hypotheses and research questions 6. Develop an interest in and explore advanced methodological topics

Required Materials: Textbook and additional readings required.

You Might Like CMST 3114 if: 1. You want to add research skills to your resume or CV (e.g., research ethics, social scientific methods, exploratory data analysis, inferential statistics, and team collaboration). 2. You would like to pursue research opportunities in and after college, go to graduate school, and/or have a career in research. 3. You like a good challenge and want a different kind of communication class (there is some math).

CMST 4160 Persuasive Communication

Academic Level: Junior, Senior, and Graduate Students Frequency: Typically offered every fall My Recent/Next Offering: Fall 2025, Fall 2026 (scheduled)

Course Objectives: The study of persuasion concerns everything and anything related to effecting changes in attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors through communication. In this course, we survey the social scientific thinking around persuasion and integrate these insights into understanding how persuasive messages work and fail in the real world. This course has the following objectives:  1. Develop a repertoire of strategies to change attitudes and behaviors.  2. Explore the current state of social scientific persuasion research 3. Learn how to critically consume and thoughtfully design audience research

Materials: Required textbook: Critical Questions in Persuasion Research (Boster & Carpenter, 2021) Additional Recommended Book (Grad Students): Persuasion: Theory & Research (O’Keefe, 2015) Additional required readings will be provided on the learning management system.

You Might Like CMST 4160 if: 1. Changing people’s minds and behaviors is (or will be) part of your professional or personal life (that sounds like almost everyone). 2. You are curious about what makes persuasive communication more or less effective across a variety of contexts and for different types of audiences. 3. You can stay on top of your readings.

CMST 7910 Time and Interpersonal Communication (Seminar in Interpersonal Communication)

Academic Level: Graduate Students Frequency: Irregular My Recent/Next Offering: Fall 2026 (scheduled)

Course Description: Time exerts a pervasive influence on interpersonal communication and relationships. From the transmission of chemical messengers in the body and the development of an individual, to the communication episodes that drive the escalation and dissolution of a relationship, time enables these processes to unfold and allows us to observe and theorize about them. This course is intended as a survey of theory and research in interpersonal communication that, explicitly or implicitly, entail the concept of time. Building from short-term processes like stimulus response and long-term processes of lifespan development of individuals and relationships, we will dissect specific forms of dynamics with regard to cognition, emotion, physiology, and behaviors that manifest in interpersonal relationships. Students will also be introduced to the methods that support this inquiry and encouraged to apply nuanced conception of time to their own programs of research.

Materials: Required readings will be provided on the learning management system.

You Might Like CMST 7910 if: 1. You are curious about the conversational, psychological, within-person, and interpersonal dynamics apparent in personal relationships. 2. You want to be thoughtful about how time and time-related processes are conceptualized and studied in your own program of research. 3. You hope to understand various types of longitudinal research a bit better.