THE INFLUX OF NONPROFIT organizations—from social advocacy groups to social services and health care agencies— nationally and locally, is creating a growing demand for professionals who know how, when, and where to get out a message, build community, and promote action.
In the Pittsburgh region alone, there are more than 2,500 nonprofits, half of which are located in Allegheny County; and the numbers continue to grow.
Communication department faculty members (l to r) Linda Schifino, Michael Balmert, and Jennifer Snyder-Duch.
Carlow University has responded to this need with the creation of the new Communication for Advocacy major, effective fall 2007. The major is designed for students dedicated to serving the social good as active and socially responsible communication professionals. It prepares them to work in organizations beyond the corporate sector including hospitals, foundations, advocacy organizations, institutions of higher education, and government agencies.
“What the new Communication for Advocacy major aims to do is cultivate advocacy skills, help students understand nonprofit work environments, and cultivate a desire to improve society,” says Michael Balmert, PhD, chair of the Communication Department.
The new major is timely, with all of the social issues raging in society today, from the environment to health care, and it matches students’ desires to become involved in making positive change in society.
“Advocacy is an emerging trend,” says Linda Schifino, PhD, professor in the communication department. “Students are becoming more and more engaged in the world—they want to make a difference and want to work in sectors that speak to social change.”
The new major resulted from the Communication Department’s program review by Carlow communication faculty members Balmert, Schifino, and Jennifer Snyder-Duch, PhD. The review showed that many students who had majored in communication at Carlow were choosing jobs in the nonprofit sector.
“When we researched what was going on in the communication field and surveyed our alumnae/i we found that many of our communication/ business graduates were taking their communication skills to other fields, like hospitals, foundations, colleges and universities, and other nonprofit organizations,” she says.
In a way that’s not surprising, says Balmert, who notes that since the Communication Department is housed in the School for Social Change, which “prepares students to be social change agents” (as stated in the school’s mission statement), students are provided an education that interweaves the importance of social justice throughout the curriculum.
“In all of our communication majors—mass media, corporate communication, and communication for advocacy—we focus on not just on writing, speaking, and critical thinking, but also on making a difference, leading in some way,” says Balmert. “For example, we have a communication ethics class in our departmental core, but students don’t get ethics from just one class. Ethics is woven into everything we teach. Additionally, our interest in gender, race, and class comes through in most of our communication classes, so students are hearing about, contemplating, and doing presentations on these issues all of the time.”
The discipline of communication typically consists of courses centered on rhetoric, not advocacy. Educating communication students about how to speak on someone else’s behalf, whether it’s an individual or an organization, makes this major unique among other programs offered by communication departments across the country. Most universities offer nonprofit leadership programs— Carlow is no exception with its master’s program in professional leadership—but according to Schifino, “Our research didn’t uncover any other multidisciplinary undergraduate communication programs specifically focused on advocacy.”
“It doesn’t matter what class students take, we talk about how you can use communication to advocate for yourself or your constituencies,” she says.
In addition to the focus on advocacy, the multidisciplinary emphasis of this major makes it stand out from other communication programs in higher education.
Jennifer Snyder-Duch, Communication faculty
Snyder-Duch attributes the decision to create a multidisciplinary major to the strong commitment she and her colleagues, Balmert and Schifino, have to liberal arts, and to their mutual philosophy regarding the definition of communication.
“All three of us see communication as a social process— whether it’s personal, group, organizational, or mass communication,” Snyder-Duch says. “And our approach as a team is one of collaboration—we bring different points of view to the table and connect the dots. Our entire teaching philosophy is interdisciplinary.”
In addition to core communication courses, students in the Communication for Advocacy major are required to take courses in other disciplines, including sociology, public policy, political science, social work, and English/professional writing.
The 50 credit major allows for a breadth of courses including “Gender, Race, and Class: Media and Social Change,” “Greed and Violence in American Society,” “Contemporary Women: Document Design,” “Communication and Health Care,” and “Communication and Social Movements.”
Balmert, Schifino, and Snyder-Duch also designed the Communication for Advocacy major to provide flexibility in course selection so students can build their major around their passion and interests.
“We want to encourage our students to follow their passion, to study what they want to study,” Balmert says. “Instead of us mapping out their future, we say to students, ‘Tell us where you want to go, and we’ll help you get there.’ They have a hand in designing their own major.”
The multidisciplinary nature and flexibility of the curriculum also creates room for students interested in working in a particular field, especially a helping profession, but who maybe never thought of using communication as the entrée.
“There might be a student who came here to be a nurse, then realized that nursing wasn’t a good fit, but still wanted to work in the health care field,” says Snyder-Duch. “Instead of giving up all hope of working in health care, she can, with this major, apply for a variety of communication positions in that arena, like working in a hospital’s communications office.
“It’s all about choice,” says Balmert.
“Students don’t have to believe that there is only one career out there or one job for them. We can show them that communication professionals work in so many different arenas doing so many different kinds of things. Students stop saying ‘I have to be in advertising or PR or broadcasting.’ They break away from those kinds of constraints and begin to look at their future more broadly.”
“They see how they can apply their communication skills to any issue, organization, or individual who needs an advocate,” says Snyder-Duch. One avenue where students can see firsthand what advocacy can do is through the Grace Ann Geibel Institute for Justice and Social Responsibility, which is also part of the School for Social Change. It’s a huge plus for the Communication for Advocacy major because it’s a natural venue where students can participate in outreach, scholarly collaboration, and service, says Balmert.
“Advocacy is part of the helping profession regardless of the field you’re in. And communication is a highly transportable skill,” says Schifino. “You can advocate in politics, government, social services, or health care. The beauty of it is you can take your advocacy knowledge and skills to any organization and help to change the world!” “It’s a lofty idea, changing the world,” says Balmert.
“But isn’t that the ultimate mission of the Sisters of Mercy and the University—to advocate for justice and social change?”
“With this new major, we aim to empower students to do just that,” says Snyder-Duch.
Carlow University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104. (267-284-5000)
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the
US. Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.
