Undergraduate Program

A national political convention in America is quite a thing to behold. For four nights, nearly every major politician in a given party is in one arena, along with every news outlet and its top journalists, thousands of delegates, a smattering of celebrities, and countless volunteers and political professionals making the whole thing run smoothly.  The speeches, the signs, the balloons, the video, the lights — it is political pageantry at the highest level.

What better classroom could there possibly be to study political communication?

Michael Kleiman (C’06), documentary filmmaker and Penn alumnus, returned to campus on Nov. 30 to speak to Amy Jordan’s COMM 125 class about the intersection of communication and policy issues.

On April 20 and 21, twelve Penn seniors presented their Communication theses to a panel of professors and guests, a culmination of their year-long work. The students wrote an honors thesis and/or a Communication and Public Service Capstone Thesis as a required part of their ComPS concentration. All will graduate with honors at Annenberg’s ceremony on May 15. From feminists on TV to hate speech laws to suicide bombers, their subjects span the field of Communication.

With small staffs and shoestring budgets, many non-profit organizations excel at their core missions, but struggle with communication and fundraising — both crucial ingredients to survive and grow.  

Some turn to consultants, but of course a top consultant isn’t cheap. For six non-profits, another option recently came to the rescue, totally pro bono: Professor Joan Garry’s students.

Comm 386: Non-Profit Communication Strategy, offered each spring, provides a unique opportunity for students and non-profit organizations alike.

She describes herself as “a reader, writer, interestingness hunter-gatherer, and curious mind at large.”

Who better to deliver the graduation address to a group of Communication majors?

A Communication major herself during her time at Penn, Maria Popova (C’07) is the founder of Brain Pickings, a website and weekly e-newsletter in which she curates and shares, well, anything and everything she finds interesting.

Whether or not one side can hear the other, there’s no doubt that Washington, D.C. is the epicenter for our nation’s political communication. Recognizing the value in experiencing that discourse firsthand, the Annenberg School for Communication recently announced the Annenberg in Washington (AIW) program to support summer internships in the nation’s capital.

It’s not easy to change people’s minds on political issues.

That’s one of the lessons Professor Diana Mutz hopes to impart to the undergraduates in her Media and Politics class. It’s even harder still when your tool for persuasion is a 30-second video.

“Women in comedy aren’t funny,” begins the Kickstarter page. “We’re tired of hearing it.”

With those words, Communications major Laura Petro C’16 began to turn her frustration into action.

Graduating major Jennarose Placitella has won 1 of only 2 Phi Beta Kappa Thesis Prizes awarded to Penn undergraduates this year. Her thesis, "Crazy or Calculated?  Dissecting the Persuasive and Propaganda Techniques in Islamic State Videos on Twitter", comes with a cash prize of $300.00. Her thesis was co-directed by Dr. Kim Woolf and David Eisenhower, J.D.

A group of Annenberg undergraduate has proudly launched dotCOMM, a blog devoted to contemporary communication issues.