Minors
The Minors:
Knowledge in most professional settings means little unless it can be communicated effectively. That's why so many UCD students opt to pair one of the following minors with degrees in so many other disciplines.
General Information Regarding Minors
Registration Procedures for A Minor
To register their intent to complete the a minor, students must complete the "Major/Minor Change/Declaration" form. The form may be downloaded here or is available from the Advising Office of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in room 4002 of the North Classroom. The form should be returned to the Advising Office.
Grade and Residency Requirements
A grade of C- or better must be earned in each course completed as part of the Minor. No more than 6 of the credit hours for the Minor may be transferred from another university. To submit a request for transfer of credits, students should complete the "Faculty Approval Form for Course Equivalency," which may be downloaded here or is available from the Advising Office of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in room 2024 of the North Classroom.
Minor in Communication
The minor in communication is designed to provide students who are not communication majors with knowledge and skills in communication that are useful in any discipline or profession.
Requirements fOR THE MINOR IN COMMUNICATION
The Minor in Communication requires 18 credit hours, with 15 hours of required courses and 3 hours of electives.
Core Courses
Students must complete the following core courses:
- CMMU 1011 Fundamentals of Communication
- CMMU 2041 Interpersonal Communication
- CMMU 2101 Presentational Speaking
- CMMU 4151 Group Communication
- CMMU 4200 Persuasion
Elective Courses
In addition to the five courses specified above, students must take one upper division course (3000 level or above) to be selected with the aid of the undergraduate advisor in Communication.
For Additional Information Contact:
Wanda Lakota
Department of Communication
Plaza Building, room 102-N
303-556-3373
Wanda.Lakota@cudenver.edu
Law Studies Minor
The Law Studies Minor at the University of Colorado Denver is an interdisciplinary course of studies intended to help students become intelligent and critical scholars of legal and political discourse. The minor is very relevant for students contemplating law school, and it is also intended to appeal to a wider group of students interested in issues relating to law and society and careers in public policy related fields. The minor is designed to achieve the following three related goals:
- To introduce students to the major areas of law that affect life in the United States and important legal issues that influence current events;
- To enable students to become familiar and fluent with a legal vocabulary and legal reasoning;
- To provide students with the analytical and conceptual tools necessary to becritical citizens in our constitutional democracy.
Students who complete the minor and who intend to attend law school may find themselves more prepared than they otherwise would be for the often mystifying and rigorous first year of law school. To help these students, the program contains an advising component which assists students who are contemplating law school to provide them with a realistic appraisal of law school and of the legal profession. The counselors will aid students with the law school application process.
Requirements for the LAW STUDIES Minor
A total of 18 semester hours must be completed for the Law Studies minor. The five required courses (15 units) must be taken in residence at University of Colorado Denver. A minimum grade of C is required in each course and students must maintain a GPA of 3.0 in courses taken toward the minor. Every course taken for the minor must be upper division. Courses taken for the minor cannot serve to fill requirements of the undergraduate core, and students should check with their major department(s) to determine whether courses counted toward the Law Studies minor can fulfill major requirements. To apply for this minor, students must complete and submit a Major/Minor Change Declaration Form to the Advising Office in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, in room 2024 of the North Classroom. The following shows the core and elective courses needed for this minor:
A. Required Courses, 15 credit hours.
1. HUM 3250-3 Introduction to Legal Studies(offered every fall).
Survey of the U.S. legal system. Introduces students to the materials and methods of law studies and the law and society movement. Topics include the organization and powers of federal and state lawmaking institutions, court procedures, and the analysis of statutory provisions and judicial opinions.
2. PHIL 4260-3 Philosophy of Law (offered every Spring)
Survey of theoretical positions on the nature of law. Subject matter includes natural law, legal positivism, law as integrity, legal realism, critical legal studies, critical race studies, feminist jurisprudence, the nature of responsibility, and international law.
3. CMMU 4680-3 Mass Communication Law and Policy(offered at least once a year). Survey of major issues and areas in mass communication law, ethics, and public policy. Highlighted are constitutional issues, libel, privacy, obscenity and indecency, corporate speech, advertising, relationship between the media and the judiciary, protection of news sources, and regulatory issues regarding cable, the internet, and other media.
4. Two courses from the following list:
PSC 3034-3 Race Gender, Law and Public Policy. Historical overview of race and gender relations in the U.S. and an examination of the treatment of issues of race and gender in the judicial system and public policy.
PSC 4494-3 Judicial Politics.Examination of the principal actors in the legal system: police, lawyers, judges, citizens. About half the course will be devoted to the study of judicial behavior, especially at the Supreme Court level. Political and personal influences on judicial behavior.
PSC 4427-3 Law, Politics, and JusticeAnalysis of the relationship of politics, law, and justice, particularly the degree to which moral norms and political concerns should and do influence legal standards and their perceived legitimacy.
CMMU 4750-3 Legal Reasoning and Writing.(offered every other year) Introduces students to the fundamentals of legal reasoning and legal argumentation through intensive class discussion, formal debate, and writing. Attention is given to the relationship between case and statutory law and their application in trial and appeals courts in the United States.
CMMU 4681-3 Communication Issues in Trial Court Practices and Processes.(offered every other year) Introduces students to communication and language research aimed at improving the fairness, reliability, and validity of court and judicial processes, including lawyer-client interviews, interrogatories, jury selection, jury instructions, witness examination, and the use of language evidence in court.
B. Elective, 3 credit hours.
One course from the following list must be chosen:
PSC 3214-3 American Indian and Federal law
PHIL 4812-3 American Legal Process
PSC 4024-3 Legislation
PSC 4477-3 Constitutional Law I
CMMU 4140-3 Argumentation (taught each summer)
CMMU 4255-3 Negotiations and Bargaining
BLAW 3000-3 Legal and Ethical Environments of Business
MUS 3270-3 Law and the Music Industry
The Legal Studies Program also recommends a course in informal logic to aid in preparation for the LSAT, for example, PHIL 2441.
Coordinator: Omar Swartz (Communication), J.D., Ph.D., Plaza Bldg. 102M,(303) 556-5660
Additional Advisor: Glenn Morris (Political Science), J.D., Ph.D. (303) 556-4930
