Communication
Undergraduate Certificate in Sport Communication
The Sport Communication Certificate is designed to respond to both the needs of students and the trends within sport industries. Students from multiple disciplines currently explore sport culture from different perspectives. Communication students produce and deliver sport content via television, radio and social media. Conversely, Sport Management students explore the economic, political, social, and global contexts within which sport culture operates. Acquiring both sets of skills – media production and sport management – within a certificate is intended to enhance students’ current major and promote their marketability in the workplace.
The Sport Communication Certificate requires both course credit and a credit bearing experiential component. Students must have completed either CMM 342, 341 or 334 and the two required courses: HSS 353 and CMM 463 before beginning the one-credit practicum. The practicum can be taken in Flyer TV, Flyer Radio or Flyer News but must align with the student’s media elective and be focused on sport-related content. The practicum should ideally be completed during the fall semester of senior year.
Upon completion of the certificate, students will be able to:
- Examine relationships between the public and sport organizations, athletes, and/or leagues.
- Produce media content for the sport industry in their chosen medium.
- Develop and analyze communication strategies and tactics for digital and online spaces.
- Explore traditional media (e.g. television, newspaper and radio) and new media (e.g. social media, blogs, and eSports) in different aspects of global sport industry.
- Demonstrate critical thinking skills in contesting the hegemonic representation of social values and cultural representations in sport media related to politics, gender, race, etc.
The certificate will benefit students from multiple disciplines, including majors in the Department of Communication, Department of Health and Sport Science, and the School of Business Administration. The interdisciplinary nature of selected courses may also be of interest to students in the Department of Psychology, particularly those interested in pursuing careers in Sport Psychology.