Communication, Media, Design & Information

The College of Communication, Media, Design and Information (CMDI) prepares students for careers as engaged citizens and effective professionals endowed with deep understanding of the historical and contemporary context of human communication, design and expression. Mindful of the active role communication plays in shaping human relationships, CMDI trains graduates to study and practice constructive interaction among people, communities, industries and publics. The college equips students with the skills needed to produce, gather, archive, curate, design, analyze and evaluate the flood of information, messages, images, sounds and ideas that populate our complex and rapidly evolving global media landscape, as well as to design spaces and to find solutions to social problems. 

The careers of the future, and the problems professionals will be called upon to solve, do not rest inside a single discipline. To these ends, CMDI resourcefully combines disciplines newly extended and empowered by digital media and the social and cultural transformations those media engender. These include established scholarly, creative and professional fields such as media studies, communication, journalism, advertising, public relations and design, architecture, sustainable plannings & urban design, environmental product design and landscape architecture. But the college also houses the fast-growing fields of information science, a discipline that tackles the problems and opportunities facing an increasingly networked society, and critical media practices, a discipline centered on media production across media arts and experiential forms.

In giving these activities a collaborative home, CMDI facilitates innovative interactions among them. Its academic structure accordingly stimulates cross-disciplinary cooperation at all levels of curriculum, research and creative work. 

Statement of Core Skills, Competencies and Scholarly and Creative Initiatives

CMDI attracts students, faculty and industry and creative professionals from across the closely related fields of media, communication and information. All of those either rostered in or affiliated with the new college accordingly share a set of skills, competencies and scholarly and creative interests that form a common core. This core is expressed at all levels of the college, from undergraduate curriculum and graduate training to the research and creative work of its faculty and both internal and external affiliates.

The Undergraduate Experience

All undergraduates enrolled in CMDI complete a core curriculum¹ designed to provide the broad intellectual framework common to each of the individual disciplines in which students eventually major. In addition to conveying the conceptual tools and perspectives all students in the college need, the core curriculum supplies the shared body of knowledge, exemplars and ideas required to build a coherent intellectual and creative community. Each academic unit within the college offers a unique curriculum determined by its faculty and expressed as a set of major requirements. Completion of the major requirements within a discipline provides students with depth of knowledge and expertise appropriate to earning a BA or BS as designated by their discipline.

Additionally, undergraduates enrolled in CMDI acquire the technical and computational skills needed to thrive in today's networked media environment. Training in these skills is provided through CMCI 1040 (required of all first-year students) and the core computing requirement and is integrated into each student's chosen field of study. Finally, students in CMDI complete a secondary area of study outside of their major in order to build the intellectual versatility necessary for successful study and work in the field of communication, media, design and information.

¹ENVD majors follow their departmental core for 2025-2026 instead of the CMDI core. 

Graduate Study

Curricula leading to advanced degrees are offered by all of the departments in the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information. Students should consult the Graduate Catalog's Admissions section for admission and degree requirements. Curricula for graduate programs are listed under each department.

Special Programs & Leadership

CMDI in DC, Washington D.C.

Working in partnership with the Washington Media Institute, the CMDI in DC Program is comprised of a four-day-a-week internship and project-based classes that will immerse students in a professional education and will prepare them for a media career. It’s open to all CMDI majors and is designed for students in their junior or senior years. 

Student media 

The college is home to multiple student-run news outlets that challenge students to put lessons in journalism, communication, media production and more to test. Student media organizations include Radio 1190, The Bold, CU Independent and Sko Buffs Sports.

LA Entertainment Buffs, Los Angeles, CA

Working with alumni partners in the technology and entertainment industries, students can pursue a variety of west coast internship experience. Interested CMDI majors should contact their department for more information.