Health Communication Minor

Summary

The Health Communication minor is an interdisciplinary program designed to provide undergraduate students with writing and speaking skills for use in health and medical settings. The minor prepares students to create clear, ethical, and culturally competent messages in a variety of written, visual, and oral communication formats.

The minor is beneficial for students majoring in health or biomedical sciences who wish to communicate in patient-centered ways. The minor is also useful to communication-related majors who wish to further specialize their training. 

Catalog Year

2024-2025

Degree

Minor

Total Credits

16

Locations

Mankato

Career Cluster

Arts, Audio/Video, Technology, and Communications

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Program Requirements

Core

Communication impacts every facet of our experience of health and well-being. This course introduces students to the subdiscipline of health communication, its key concepts, and important theories and research in the field.

Prerequisites: none

Special interest courses devoted to specific topics within health communication. Topics vary, and course may be retaken for credit under different topic headings.

Prerequisites: none

Introduction to learning the written and oral communication of technical information. Assignments include writing and presenting proposals, reports, and documentation. Emphasis on use of rhetorical analysis, computer applications, collaborative writing, and usability testing to complete technical communication tasks in the workplace.

Prerequisites: ENG 101

Goal Areas: GE-02, GE-13

This course addresses the skills required for technical communication within the context of health and medicine. Students will discuss typical audiences, purposes, and genres of health and medical communication. Students will adapt complex health and medical information for audiences with varying levels of knowledge, demonstrating awareness of audience analysis, visual design, plain language, and ethics.

Prerequisites: none

Policies

Double-Counting Credits: Students may not double-count courses between majors or minors in the department of Communication and Media or the Department of English.

COMM 110 and COMM 221W may be taken concurrently with department permission.

COMM 498 and COMM 499 Limits: Students may apply no more than 4 credits of COMM 498 and 4 credits of COMM 499 to fulfillment of a minor.

Internship Requirements (COMM 497, COMM 498): In compliance with federal policy, standard expectations are 45 hours of on-site internship experience for each credit hour earned.