In the second semester of my freshman year, my Politics professor highly suggested my class attend a Writing and Communication major interest event at The ’Sco. At the time, Oberlin only offered Writing and Communication as a minor, but there was a large number of both students and faculty pushing to make it into a major. The event was hopefully to show interest to the College. I had already decided on declaring an English major and Creative Writing minor, but in hopes of making a good impression on my professor, I went with a close friend. At the event, I found an array of professors interested in answering any questions I had about literary skills, journalism, and the news world. To my surprise, there were also many students at the event, and a sheet was passed around with countless emails for those interested in Oberlin creating a Writing and Communication major.
The event made me think about my own interest in Writing and Communication if it were to be developed into a major. I’ve always had an interest in a variety of writing such as journalistic, analytical, and creative writing. My interest in writing is one of the reasons I chose Oberlin, as I was impressed by the English and Creative Writing programs. I have deeply enjoyed all the English and Creative Writing courses I have taken — I have gained so much literary and historical knowledge and also improved as a writer. This being said, I’ve found that few of the classes in the English department teach the craft of writing and rhetoric — especially for special interest writing such as journalistic, travel, or proposal writing. While I believe I have become a much better writer due to the courses I have taken in the Creative Writing department, the skills I have learned do not necessarily translate into other forms of writing or communication. I realized after attending the event that I’d love the opportunity to better my overall writing and speech skills, as the majority of my career interests involve communication. Since going to the event, I have had many discussions with other humanities majors about the desire for the Writing and Communication minor to be made into a major.
Recently, Oberlin responded to this desire for a Writing and Communication major by creating a Communication Studies major which will be offered in fall 2024. There has yet to be an announcement about this major in the Campus Digest or on Oberlin’s website, but information on the requirements of the major can be found on the Degree Works “What-if” section.
The new major has prompted lots of excitement among students, as often happens when students feel they have a greater number of options in pursuing their interests. The Communication Studies major, like the Writing and Communication minor, seems to have a real focus on pedagogy, tutoring, and specialized writing. The major has nine course requirements, including a speaking and writing course; a rhetorical theory and methods course; Introduction to Communication Studies; two interdisciplinary courses; and a choice of culture-based, pedagogy, or specialized writing courses. The new major’s focus on different aspects of writing and communication skills may be helpful in providing students with a more diverse range of writing abilities.
The creation of the Communication Studies major fills a needed space in teaching students writing skills that are applicable to the job market. While many of the humanities majors at Oberlin have incredible professors and a large focus on learning analytical skills, theory, and the historical significance of texts and events, there is little focus within humanities classes on how to apply these skills to future jobs.
The Communication Studies major is incredibly practical for individuals with interests in media, marketing, news, human resources, and publicity.
It teaches practical skills of persuasive writing, tutoring, and media studies while also allowing students to pursue specialized writing courses such as Writing in the Sciences or Literary Journalism. While I have loved my English courses, there is often an implicit knowledge that everyone knows how to write for a diversity of assignments.
Yes, there will sometimes be rubrics or an example when assigned a paper, and teachers are always willing to meet with me, but I don’t find myself thinking about the craft of writing or an argument. I hope to see the Communication Studies major grow and become more interdisciplinary to best support students with interests in learning communication and writing skills.
