California State University East Bay is one of the most diverse campuses in the nation. We understand that diversity is one of the most important values in a functioning society, and our campus is just that. We strive for different cultures to provide unique solutions for everyday problems. Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, students of each of our colleges are future thinkers. Each college also has its own claim to fame in a specific career path. The college of communication, however, focuses on a larger scope of the workforce. We focus on how different organizations function from top to bottom. We look at what makes a workspace, and how people communicate to accomplish a multitude of tasks. Most importantly, we focus all our attention on creating shared meaning with one another to effectively get any job done.
The college of communication at East Bay has three different avenues you can take. Multimedia Journalism, Strategic Communication, and Communication and Media Studies. All three focus on creating an individual who sees the world from an objective point of view. Each concentration is founded on a few important practices, which include intensive research, critical analysis, and objective interpretation. Graduating communication students will receive a basis of all three concentrations along with their respective directions of study.
Multimedia Journalism
This concentration is simply designed to teach students how to properly write and spread information through a diverse range of channels. It sounds simple, but in today’s era of media, fake news and false information are in abundance. This concentration focuses on filtering out what’s necessary for the public and what is simply twinkie news. Twinkie news is generally regarded as news stories that grab the attention of the audience for a short period of time until the next story comes out, without any story having great social significance. Great emphasis is placed on the student’s ability to differentiate between the two early on in their studies. As they progress through the courses, they will then learn how to properly create content that is valuable and worthwhile to the audience. Students learn how to view the world from different lenses than the ordinary citizen. It guides students’ attention towards the attention of the general public and their viewpoints and beliefs, rather than their personal ones. As a student of this concentration, you learn how to eliminate selfishness by focusing on social issues that affect the community at large.
Strategic Communication
Of all the three concentrations, strategic communication is widely regarded as the most compelling to students due to its title. Students will engage in courses that prepare them for a wide range of jobs just like Communication and Media Studies. The biggest difference is that you will learn specifically how organizations function within, with one another, and with their customers. You learn the history of how organizations function giving you a futuristic approach to the job force. You are always on the edge of evolving industries. Learning how they operate effectively and what can always be done to improve. A mind from this concentration will create a name for themselves by always being up to date with evolving trends. This concentration is constantly changing with societal changes and requires its students to stay on par. As a graduating student, your role in society will be to engage in meaningful and ethical research in every decision you make. Logical decision making within your personal, social, and professional life will set you up for the most opportunities in your lifetime. Strategic communication gives students the blueprints of organizational functions as they constantly evolve.
Communication and Media Studies
This concentration is the broadest of the three. It is designed to prepare students for maximum flexibility in the 21st century job market. This is the key of communication studies here in our department, to prepare students for every job possible in the industry. That is the beauty of a communication degree. Some may say it has its curses and its blessings, being that you can choose from any job you want, or that you can’t decide because of all the options. Whatever the case may be, the truth is that a communication degree is the most useful when it comes to diversity of options. This concentration focuses on how messages are disseminated by large organizations, and how they’re interpreted by the public. Speaking from a professional point of view, critically analyzing problematic situations, and objectively making future decisions are all key objectives of this and all concentrations. All of which prepare students for simply getting along with professional individuals. A great example if this is a former pilot for Alaska Airlines who was recognized for receiving one of the airlines most prestigious recognitions, Customer Service Legend, one that only a quarter of one percent of their employees received. Mike Baumgartner has a story that defines what it means to communicate effectively. He wanted to be a pilot in his mid 20’s when he applied for the position at Alaska Airlines. After years of training he finally went in for the intensive job interview but was unable to complete some answers and failed. After the interview was over, Mike spoke to the hiring manager about the interview and eventually ended up having a conversation with him lasting several hours. Mike spoke about his life and what his goals were and many other things you typically discuss at a coffee shop. Interpersonal communication skills were displayed by Mike, ones that are heavily studies in communication studies. Simply learning how to talk to people it what gets you to understand others as well as have them truly understand you. This allowed the hiring manager to fully understand Mike as a pilot in training and see who he truly was, giving him the job.
Although a communication degree is very broad, the skills acquired from it are ones that are set in stone. You will learn how to learn and be taught how to teach.

References:
Communication, B.A.: Communication and Media Studies Concentration. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://catalog.csueastbay.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=19&poid=7762&returnto=12550.

Tilden, B., & ParsonsMay, D. (2019, May 30). CEO Brad Tilden: Recognizing a pilot’s pilot. Retrieved from https://blog.alaskaair.com/alaska-airlines/ceo-brad-tilden-recognizing-a-pilots-pilot/.