Media, Communication & Information

The College of Media, Communication and Information (CMCI) prepares students for careers as engaged and effective citizens endowed with deep understanding of the historical and contemporary context of human communication and expression. Mindful of the active role communication plays in shaping human relationships, CMCI 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, analyze and evaluate the flood of information, messages, images, sounds and ideas that populate our complex and rapidly evolving global media landscape.

To these ends, CMCI 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 media design. 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 cinematic, documentary and experiential forms.

In giving these activities a collaborative home, CMCI 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

CMCI 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 CMCI complete a core curriculum 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 CMCI 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 CMCI 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 media, communication and information.

Graduate Study

Curricula leading to advanced degrees are offered by all of the departments in the College of Media, Communication 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

CMCI in DC, Washington D.C.

Working in partnership with the Washington Media Institute, the CMCI 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 CMCI majors and is designed for students in their junior or senior years. For more information, email cmci@colorado.edu