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Duquesne University is world-renowned for its commitment to ethics, intercultural understanding, the liberal arts, and preparation for professional leadership. Duquesne's Department of Communication & Rhetorical Studies is a learning community based on research and development and the implementation of cutting-edge ideas in the classroom and in the marketplace. The department consists of nationally known scholars, outstanding students, and executive faculty drawn from top communication firms. Together we conduct research and development in integrated marketing communication, public relations and advertising, corporate communication, intercultural communication, and persuasion in the marketplace. We unite a humanities education with research and development in contemporary marketplace concerns and a call to service lived out in the professional marketplace, educating communication leaders for the shaping of this century.
We seek to lead. We seek to serve. We seek to innovate. We seek to learn from research, the classroom, internships, marketplace engagement, and in dialogue with our corporate partners—MARC Advertising USA and Ketchum Public Relations. Our departmental foundations are communication ethics, a humanities approach to the discipline, a research and development culture, and ongoing practical engagement with the marketplace.
Our graduates work in fields such as advertising, public relations, management, events planning, marketing, sales, and corporate communication. Some choose to pursue postgraduate degrees in the humanities, business, or law school. Preparation for these post-baccalaureate options emerges from their choice among four majors in Communication & Rhetorical Studies. Three of the majors prepare students directly for marketplace engagement— Integrated Marketing Communication, Corporate Communication, and Communication Studies. Our final major, Rhetoric, prepares students for law school or other graduate education. Marketplace engagement, work with executive faculty, and a vibrant internship program guide communication education in these majors.
From their very first semester at Duquesne, Communication & Rhetorical Studies majors are invited to Walk the Humanities into the Marketplace . Students work toward careers in communication through incremental opportunities for practical experience. Portfolio pieces are generated in student organizations, internships, and classroom campaigns. Communication & Rhetorical Studies houses a number of opportunities for student involvement:
• AAF (American Advertising Federation) student chapter
• PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) chapter
• Student Ambassador programs with Integrated Marketing Communication professionals
• Student Advisory Council
• Lambda Pi Eta, National Communication Honor Society
• Integrated Marketing Communication student-run campaigns
• Pro-bono clients in upper-level courses
• Internship Program (see below)
• Departmental Ambassador Program with internationally known corporations
The department has both an Internship Director and a Marketplace Coordinator. The Department of Communication & Rhetorical Studies' internship office connects students with over 100 organizations offering professional communication experience. The director assists students with the application process and facilitates their ability to earn course credits. Some of the organizations with which we have internship relationships are ALCOA, Bayer Corporation, Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Penguins, U.S. and State Senate offices, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, MARC Advertising USA, and Ketchum Public Relations.
MARC Advertising USA and Ketchum Public Relations work with the department as corporate partners. Our departmental facilities include a MARC Center for Excellence. The Ketchum Institute for Public Communication (KIPC) contributes to our research and development in integrated marketing communication and also provides advanced internships for our top juniors and seniors.
Executive faculty at the level of CEO and vice-president co-teach our upper level undergraduate marketplace courses with faculty and other communication professionals. Mr. Tony Bucci, our founding executive faculty member, is the President and CEO of MARC Advertising USA , a billion-dollar company with offices throughout the United States. Executive faculty offer insight and expertise as a service to the Duquesne University community without compensation. Service is central to marketplace success and responsibility, and executive faculty members exemplify this commitment.
Our faculty members are outstanding teachers, committed to Duquesne University's mission to serve God by serving students. Communication & Rhetorical Studies professors are frequent recipients of awards for excellence in teaching, service, and scholarship. We have won research grants and multiple national article and book awards. Most importantly, we are committed to nonstop learning and ethical engagement in the marketplace.
The Department of Communication & Rhetorical Studies engages the Ethical Difference, preparing students to be responsible leaders in the marketplace and public sphere. Our department offers the following programs:
- Internships with non-profit service organizations
- Ethics as the foundation of our courses
- Capstone course in Communication Ethics
- Annual awards to communication ethics scholars and ethical corporate leaders
- Public lectures by nationally known researchers in communication ethics
- Communication Ethics Center: a nationally recognized institute that promotes scholarship and outreach in communication ethics
Our courses provide a foundation for our students in humanities-based communication theory and reflect the ethical demands of a changing world. We invite our majors to approach human persuasion holistically, drawing from the roots of our discipline in Aristotelian rhetoric to understand communication for the 21 st century. Our newest major, Integrated Marketing Communication, emerges out of our research in advertising and public relations and mirrors the marketplace our students will enter after their time at Duquesne University.
Department Chair
Ronald C. Arnett, Ph.D.
arnett@duq.edu
Undergraduate Director
Janie Harden Fritz, Ph.D.
harden@duq.edu
Undergraduate Director
S. Alyssa Groom, Ph.D.
grooms@duq.edu
340 College Hall
ph: 412.396.6446
fax: 412.396.4792
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