Kenneth S. Zagacki, Ph.D.

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Courses Taught

COM 441: Ethical Issues in Communication [ pdf ]
Student Learning Outcomes for the Course
To raise consciousness, suggest possible criteria for judgment, and stimulate critical thinking about ethical problems in communication within interpersonal, organizational, and public realms. This course will not to provide definitive answers to these problems or, at the other extreme, create a state of immobilized uncertainty. Rather, students are taught to engage in the thoughtful criticism of their own communication behaviors and the communication behaviors of others. In order to achieve these objectives, students are exposed to material that pursues one of the following three areas of emphasis: (1) the relationship between communication and ethical considerations; (2) summary of current (and traditional) theoretical approaches to communication ethics; and (3) application of ethics-based theories and standards to specific kinds of communication situations and cases. In the process, students are expected to read and digest a great deal of complicated theoretical material about the ethics of communication – and to discuss and recognize this material in classroom lectures, in brief group projects, and on exams and the final paper. The readings, in other words, are not always easy – they will require considerable effort on your part.

COM 498: Communication & Propaganda [ pdf ]
By the end of this course, students will be able to: 1.Identify and discuss major theoretical perspectives on the nature of propaganda. 2.Critically evaluate modern uses of propaganda by suggesting possible criteria for judging and stimulating critical thinking about propaganda. 3.Distinguish between ethical and unethical uses of propaganda.

COM/ENG 516: Rhetorical Criticism - Theory and Practice [ pdf ]
This is a survey course which equips you to make sense -- critically and systematically -- out of the rhetorical reality in which you participate. We will examine a variety of tools useful in probing verbal messages. We will also consider various theoretical approaches to understanding rhetorical transactions. We will all do a good deal of reading -- and we will do a great deal of "hands on" analysis, both in and outside of class.

COM 561: Human Communication Theory [ pdf ]
By the end of this course, students should be able to:(1) explain the basic terminology of communication theory; (2) identify and show familiarity with various theories of communication; (3) articulate the central issues and arguments of communication theory; and (4) defend, in both oral and written form, their own positions on these primary issues.

COM/ENG 514: History Of Rhetoric
Contemporary rhetorical theory and its development from classical rhetoric; emphasis on differences between oral and written communication and the relevance of traditional theory to purposes and constraints of writing. Special attention to current issues: revival of invention, argumentation and truth, contributions of research in composition.