School of Communication and Culture

Minors

• ASL Studies
  Columbia College Chicago's ASL Studies minor offers an opportunity to learn American Sign Language while broadening your understanding of Deaf culture and the resources available to the Deaf community. It also provides invaluable transferrable skills as you prepare for a career in your profession of choice.
• Black World Studies
  Columbia College Chicago’s Black World Studies minor challenges you to question the notion of “blackness” by looking at the term as an identity construct, a political signifier, and a metaphor for social marginalization. You’ll examine patterns of activism that characterize the creative expression, social fabric, political movements, and the scholarship of the black world.
• Creative Writing
  Columbia College Chicago's Creative Writing minor allows you to combine your major field of study with a sequence of workshop classes and elective writing courses that will improve reading, writing, listening, speaking and problem-solving skills—a natural boost for any creative professional.
• Cultural Studies
  As part of an interdisciplinary field that emphasizes research and critical thinking, the Cultural Studies minor at Columbia College Chicago focuses on the aesthetic, political, social, and economic relationships between cultural production and reception. Offering a new dimension to Columbia’s art and media education, this minor will enrich your understanding of the complexity of culture.
• Education
  If you’re considering a career working with or for children and adolescents as a teaching artist, media consultant, or author or illustrator of children’s books, the Education Minor can prepare you for these professions. This minor focuses on children’s development and arts integration.
• Fashion Communication
  The Fashion Communication minor offers students the opportunity to develop practical communication skills for the fashion industry. This minor will complements skills Columbia students are developing in many majors (e.g., Fashion Studies, Business and Entrepreneurship, Cinema and Television Arts, Dance, Theater, Design, Photography, Cultural Studies, etc.). It includes two foundational communication courses and four courses focusing on either advertising, public relations, social media, fashion or events.
• Feminism and Queer Studies
  With the Feminism and Queer Studies, you’ll learn feminist theory and engage in exhilarating debates on gender and sexuality in historical, social, and global contexts. You’ll take advantage of a wide range of courses to explore issues of gender and sexuality in an interdisciplinary and cohesive way.
• Journalism
  Explore an interest in journalism and discover more career options and freelance opportunities with a journalism minor. It’s a great fit if you’re studying fashion, management, public relations, graphic design, or nonfiction. The program focuses on the fundamentals of writing and reporting and teaches you how to use technology and social media in the service of good journalism. The Journalism minor will help you become a better writer and digital storyteller and a more sophisticated news consumer.
• Latino and Latin American Studies
  The minor in Latino and Latin American Studies offers courses in the history and culture of Hispanic/Latin American people through an interdisciplinary study of language, literature, media, and the visual and performing arts. You’ll study the transcultural complexity of this population, as well as the ethnic experience of the Hispanic population in America and their contributions to American society.
• Literature
  This minor offers a wide range of literature courses exploring fiction, poetry, drama, nonfiction, and film. As you engage literary writers from the US, Britain, and the world, you will gain valuable career skills in critical thinking, research, idea development, and analytical writing.
• Media Activism
  The Media Activism minor offers students the opportunity to develop practical communication skills specific to social services, arts, culture, and governmental entities. This minor complements skills Columbia students develop in many majors (e.g. Fashion Studies, Business and Entrepreneurship, Cinema and Television Arts, Dance, Theatre, Design, Photography, Cultural Studies). It includes both foundational Communication courses and courses specific to nonprofit and public affairs organizations.
• Philosophy and Religion
  Religion and philosophy have been some of the most enduring inspirations for artistic production; at the same time, religious and philosophical literacy promise to help us to better solve the global challenges ahead. In the philosophy and religion minor, you will be challenged to explore different ideas about the way the world is and the ways different cultures have interpreted the world. Thinking about these big ideas will help you develop your critical mind and your capacity for political engagement, but also—and at the same time--your imaginative capacities.
• Professional Writing
  The Professional Writing minor at Columbia College Chicago is designed to help you gain practical skills in writing for the workplace, with a focus on writing effectively for and about the arts and media. You’ll explore the rhetorical, ethical, and cultural dimensions of communication and find opportunities to learn, research, create, and distribute content for print and digital environments.
• Radio
  The Radio minor gives you the opportunity to study radio in a way that complements your major. It also prepares you for a global multimedia environment by enabling you to craft a diverse body of work that enhances your portfolio.
• Sports Communication
  The Sports Communication minor offers students the opportunity to develop practical communication skills for the sports industry. This minor complements skills Columbia students are developing in many majors (e.g., Business and Entrepreneurship, Cinema and Television Arts, Design, Photography, Cultural Studies). It includes two foundational communication courses and four courses focusing on either the history, the business, or the media coverage of sports
• Voiceover
  The minor in Voiceover provides students with the skills and knowledge required for the art and practice of voiceover copy interpretation and performance. This minor provides basic skills in the appropriate and effective communication of information. Students learn to interpret, mark and deliver text for commercials, animation, film narration, audiobooks, eLearning, Internet entertainment, training videos, mobisodes, webisodes, tour audio and more.