Every SOJC undergraduate builds on the same foundation. Before you move into courses specific to your major, you'll complete two shared sets of classes: platform courses that ground you in writing, storytelling, and production skills, and core context courses in media theory, law, ethics, and history. Together they give every advertising, journalism, media studies, and public relations major a common footing in how media works and how to make it well.
Below are the courses all SOJC majors take. For the classes specific to your major, see the individual major pages linked at the bottom of this page.
Platform Courses
JCOM 101 Media Professions 4 credits
Your first look at the field you're entering. This course introduces the range of media and communication careers, the issues shaping them, and the media-literacy habits you'll use throughout your degree. It's the shared starting point for every SOJC major.
JCOM 102 Story Craft Audio 2 credits
Get hands-on with sound. You'll learn the fundamentals of recording and using audio, building the technical footing you'll draw on in later production classes and gaining familiarity with the equipment and resources in Allen Hall.
JCOM 103 Story Craft Visual 2 credits
Learn to create professional visual media from the ground up. You'll build confidence with production cameras, lighting, editing software, and studio equipment, laying the technical foundation that upper-level courses expand on.
JCOM 201 Making Sense of Media 4 credits
Examine how media shapes, and is shaped by, power. You'll explore the social, cultural, economic, and political stakes of media in an era of misinformation, tracing the major shifts reshaping the media landscape.
Satisfies a UO Core Education Social Science requirement
JCOM 202 How Stories Work 4 credits
Take apart the story to understand how it's built. You'll study the components, structure, and framework of storytelling, and look at how stories change depending on the audience, the channel, and the purpose behind them.
JCOM 203 Writing as Practice 4 credits
Become a better writer through steady practice and feedback. This pass/no-pass course treats writing as a routine to build a professional voice, with the focus entirely on improvement rather than grades. Everyone leaves writing more clearly than they came in.
Core Context Courses
JCOM 301 Gender, Media and Diversity 4 credits
Study the media through the lens of gender, race, ethnicity, and other social divisions. You'll analyze how media represents and affects different groups, and consider what meaningful change could look like.
Prerequisite: JCOM 201 | Satisfies a UO Core Education Cultural Literacy requirement
JCOM 302 Communication Law 4 credits
Understand the legal framework media professionals work within. You'll cover freedom of expression, access to public records, libel, privacy, copyright, advertising regulation, and more.
Prerequisite: JCOM 201 | Satisfies a UO Core Education Social Science requirement
JCOM 303 Media Ethics 4 credits
Work through the hard calls media professionals face. You'll examine ethical questions around privacy, truth-telling, objectivity, accountability, and the public interest, and the codes that guide them.
Prerequisite: JCOM 201 | Satisfies a UO Core Education Arts and Letters requirement
JCOM 304 The Media Business 4 credits
Look at how the media industry actually operates and adapts. You'll examine how media channels and systems respond to changing technology, and why innovation and entrepreneurship have become central to building a career in the field.
Prerequisite: JCOM 201
JCOM 305 Media History or JCOM 306 Global Communications 4 credits each
Complete your core context with one of two courses. Media History traces the changing structure and character of media in the United States. Global Communications examines media and information systems across national and cultural lines, including global news flows and communication policy.
Prerequisite: JCOM 201 | JCOM 306 satisfies a UO Core Education Cultural Literacy requirement
Courses For Your Major
Once you've built your foundation, you'll move into the sequence courses that define your major — the reporting, campaign, strategy, research, or production classes specific to your path. Explore the full course list for each:
Academic Support and Career Advising
Our academic advisors are available year-round to help you plan your flight path through the UO. The SOJC’s Undergraduate Student Success Center is your home base for academic advice and career-building support. All undergraduate SOJC students are welcome, even if you haven't enrolled yet. Drop by Room 134 on the ground floor of Allen Hall or make an in-person or virtual appointment to connect with an advisor.