Mar 28, 2024  
2021-2022 Academic Catalog (Revised Spring 2022) 
    
2021-2022 Academic Catalog (Revised Spring 2022) [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Communication and Entrepreneurial Leadership, BA


The Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Entrepreneurial Leadership (BA-COMEL) degree focuses on project management, entrepreneurship, team building, and message design/delivery to prepare our students for entry-level jobs in fields such as civic organizing, media production, public relations, management, and other positions that require organizational leadership and business development. The B.A. in COMEL prepares students to become leaders and entrepreneurs in today’s increasingly complex world. Students in the major choose from one of two focus areas: Leadership for Organizational and Social Change or Multimodal Communication and Storytelling.

Learning Goals are divided into three categories:

Professional Communication Theory, Identity, and Ethics

  • Understand the role of communication in the professional workplace.
  • Demonstrate the ability to accomplish communicative goals (self-efficacy)
  • Evaluate the ethical behaviors and outcomes of decisions within a professional environment
  • Utilize communication to embrace difference

Entrepreneurial Leadership, Resource Assessment, and Project Management

  • Understand the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and social dimensions of leadership 
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the organizational responsibilities of leaders
  • Evaluate conditions to identify challenges and opportunities to guide decision making and planning
  • Apply leadership skills to strategic development and change

Message Development, Design, and Delivery

  • Appraise messages both sent and received
  • Demonstrate communication technologies and techniques
  • Create messages appropriate to the audience, purpose, and context
  • Influence public discourse

Program Requirements:


To earn the B.A. in Communication & Entrepreneurial Leadership (COMEL) degree, students must complete 121 credits:

  • 57 major required courses

    • 39 major required credits - CORE + Focus Area

    • 18 major required credits that also count toward general education,

  • 22 additional credits to complete the general education requirements, 

  • 42 open electives (21 must be at the 3000/4000 level).


Major Requirements [COMEL Core (15) + COMEL Gen Ed (18)] + Focus Area (24) = 57 credits total

COMEL Core: 33 credits


Includes courses that can also meet General Education requirements

Focus Area Choice (24 credits)


Focus Area: Leadership for Organizational and Social Change

Choose four:

Plus Select four 3000/4000-level courses from the following disciplines:

Accounting, Anthropology, Business, Communication, Education, Environmental Science, Interdisciplinary Topics, Management, Marketing, Political Science, Psychology, or Sociology.

Focus Area: Multimodal Communication and Storytelling

Choose four:

Plus Select four 3000/4000-level courses from the following disciplines:

Art, Business, Communication, Computer Science, Creative Writing, Interdisciplinary Topics, Journalism, Literature, Marketing, Music, Photography, Theater, or Video.

Additional General Education Core Requirements


25 credits at the 1000/2000 level:

  • WRT1011 Composition and Rhetoric: 3 credits
  • WRT1012 Research and Analysis: 3 credits
  • EDU1011 Perspectives in Learning: 3 credits
  • Humanities Distribution Elective: 3 credits
  • Natural Science with lab Distribution Elective: 4 credits
  • Social Science Distribution Elective: 3 credits
  • Mathematics Distribution Elective (as indicated through placement exam): 3 credits

42 credits in Open Electives, 21 at any level and 21 at the 3000/4000 level

Electives (42 credits)


21 credits at the 3000/4000 level