Curricular Fidelity, Diversity with Connection: The Duquesne Experiment

This article presents information on a conceptual scheme detailing the functions of a communication curriculum applied at the University of Duquesne in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. From an organizational systems perspective the excellence of any academic department is shaped by its relationship to its field, its position and role with regard to the mission of the university setting that forms its particular context, and how it relates to the outside world-the community and larger society that it serves. The nature of the undergraduate curriculum is important not only for disciplinary maintenance but also because it concerns a primary enabling public of the university to whom the organization, and the field, must deliver a high-quality service in order to survive as an institution. The Department of Communication at Duquesne University merged the fields of speech communication, journalism and media. To maintain uniqueness in the midst of commonality, the faculty associate in disciplinary teams, each with an academic major: the Division of Communication Studies, the Division of Journalism, the Division of Media Studies. Each division supports and requires the common core of 15 hours while also supporting its own major of from 15 to a maximum of 30 additional hours

The Internship: Bridge Between Marketplace and Liberal Arts Education in the Catholic Tradition

Internships can be distinctive pedagogical opportunities within a Catholic liberal arts education. The applied marketplace experience provided by an internship, properly understood, is consistent with the Catholic understanding of education. The value of internships for Catholic higher education can be illustrated by focusing on communication and rhetorical studies. This essay consists of a selected review of literature situating internships within liberal arts education, followed by the articulation of a Thomistic framework for rhetorical education

Departmental Excellence: Constituencies in Tension

This article explores the question of departmental excellence within historicity and temporality and the political demands of multiple constituencies. If one accepts excellence as a rhetorical construct of political significance for a college campus, then one requires knowledge of the primary constituencies shaping this political debate. The eventual political outcome is shaped through the interplay of three constituencies: the discipline, the local campus and the larger public. The task for every department that wants to pursue excellence is to know, understand and operate within the hidden curriculum of a campus that socializes faculty to the ongoing mission of that particular institution

Communication and Professional Civility as a Basic Service Course: Dialogic Praxis Between Department and Situated in an Academic House

Communication departments frequently offer basic service courses to other campus departments or schools. A communication course sensitive to the mission of the university or college of which it is a part, as well as to its own mission, allows programs that include such a course in their curriculum to distinguish themselves from competing programs. Additionally, such a mission-sensitive course further defines departmental and university identity, assisting in institutionalizing a mission. Offering such a course provides an opportunity for dialogic praxis to occur between departments situated within the context of a local institution. Dialogic praxis involves knowledge of one\u27s own position, listening to the position of the Other, and recognition of the social and historical situation in which both parties are situated, and application, and collaborative application. Duquesne University\u27s Communication Department designed a course entitled Communication an Professional Civility for the Physician Assistant Department through a process of dialogic praxis. This course addresses issues of working on a task with others from a variety of professional perspectives with different standpoints within a local organizational home centered around a clear mission. This course provides a public discourse approach to basic communication issues within a complex modern organization

Turning Points in Relationships with Disliked Co-workers

Although most people begin their employment with the education and on-the-job training to handle the tasks their jobs entail, few long-term employees boast that they feel competent in dealing with all the difficult people they encounter in the workplace. Unpleasant coworkers range from annoying nuisances to major sources of job frustration and career roadblocks. Given that periodic preoccupation with unlovable coworkers is nearly a universal feature of organizational life, it is not surprising that such relationships are given due attention in the media and popular press (e.g., Bramson, 1989; Topchik, 2000). What is surprising is how little scholarly attention has been given to such interactions. Scholars have extensively examined the outcomes of positive work relationships, such as social support and friendship through co-worker relationships and guidance through mentoring (e.g., Bridge & Baxter, 1992; Kram & Isabella, 1985). However, only recently has scholarly attention been focused on identifying troublesome coworkers and documenting outcomes of unpleasant work relationships such as cynicism and reduced job satisfaction and organizational commitment (e.g., Fritz, 2002; Omdahl & Fritz, 2000). This neglect of unpleasant or difficult relationships in the workplace mirrors the more general literature on interpersonal communication. For decades, the focus has been on the development and maintenance of effective relationships, and only recently has research on the “dark side” of personal relationships gained attention (Duck, 1994). This examination of negative relationships in general and with negative coworkers in particular is long overdue. People spend considerable time and energy navigating difficult relationships, and many working hours are spent in the company of others whom we do not voluntarily seek out and may actively dislike (Hess, 2000). These relationships have many negative effects on employees and organizations. For instance, research has shown that negative relationships detract from a person’s occupational experience through increased stress, workplace cynicism, organizational turnover, and decreased job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and task effectiveness (e.g., Cooper & Cartwright, 1994; Fritz & Omdahl, 1998). Research that increases scholars’ understanding of the causes, nature, and processes of such relationships can offer insight for communication theory and practice

The Internship: Bridge Between Marketplace and Liberal Arts Education in the Catholic Tradition

Internships can be distinctive pedagogical opportunities within a Catholic liberal arts education. The applied marketplace experience provided by an internship, properly understood, is consistent with the Catholic understanding of education. The value of internships for Catholic higher education can be illustrated by focusing on communication and rhetorical studies. This essay consists of a selected review of literature situating internships within liberal arts education, followed by the articulation of a Thomistic framework for rhetorical education

The Rhetorical Turn to Otherness: Otherwise than Humanism

While offering a public welcome of communicative participation, a communicative dark side of the moderate Enlightenment project emerged. Moderate Enlightenmentrsquo;s corollary companion to wresting power from a limited few is the staggering sense of confidence in the universal ground of assurance that is ldquo;bad faithrdquo; mdash;we fib to ourselves that we can stand above history and affect the future. Absolute conviction of universal access to truth propels through methodological confidence, undergirding the era of ldquo;the rationalrdquo; pursuit of truth, transporting the individual into an ethereal delusionmdash;that one can stand above the historical moment of engagement and cast judgment. This essay calls into question the common assumption that communication begins with the individual. We offer a critique of this assumption in accordance with radical enlightenment scholarship, calling forth a return to Otherness that renders the construct of individual secondary to that which is met.br