Syllabus – Com 203; SPRING, 2016
Course: Professional Communication Skills
Instructor: Sandra Grayson
Contact: EXT: 3454, grayson@mc.edu
Office Hours: TTR:10:45 – 12:00; WEDNESDAY: 10:00 - 4:00
Required Material:
Joseph A. DeVito (2008) Essentials of Human Communication. (8th edition). New York: Addison Wesley
Longman. ISBN: 978-0-205-68808-1
Rationale: This course is designed to improve oral communication skills and provide opportunities to develop
communication skills in the areas of problem solving, leadership, interviewing and negotiating. Students will
practice identifying and using both verbal and nonverbal channels and cues.
Course objectives: Upon successful completion of this course, the student will:
Course Policies:
 understand some of the major concepts from communication theory and research
 be able to recognize his/her communicative personality
 be able to challenge and evaluate ideas to which he/she is exposed
 evaluate the strength and weaknesses of other speakers
 have improved his/her oral communication skills
Evaluation
Your work in this course will be graded on the following scale:
A = 90-100
B = 80-89
C = 70-79
D = 60-69
F = below 60
Assignments:
You will be evaluated on the following:
Interpersonal Paper
15%
Interview/ Resume
10%
Small Group Work
10%
Informative Speech
15%
Persuasive Speech
15%
Participation
10%
TESTS/Exams
25%
Written Assignments: There are written assignments in this class. These will be graded on style, as well as
content. Prepare these in accordance with the guidelines set forth in the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association.
Academic Integrity: Students are expected to be honest in every area of this class. Cheating, plagiarism, forgery or
misuse of college documents will not be tolerated. The penalty may include, loss of credit and possible dismissal
from the college. This is stated in the Mississippi College Tomahawk and in Policy 2.19. Copies of this are available
on the Mississippi College website.
Class Participation: Every student is expected to participate in class. Your opinions and contributions are highly
valued. If you are sleeping, texting, or studying for other classes you will be asked to leave. Please do not have
computers open during lecture.
Attendance: It is important for you to be here during lectures. Most of what will be on the tests will be from our
class lectures. The university absentee policy requires you to be here for 75% of our class meetings. This means that
you can miss no more than 8 classes. If you do, it will result in an automatic ‘F’. If you are absent, you are
responsible for getting the material that was missed from a classmate. Because participation is dependent on your
attendance, you will be allowed to miss three classes without a penalty of your participation grade. After you exceed
three absences your grade will reduce 3 points every class missed in participation.
Disability notice/ counseling services: In order for a student to receive disability accommodations under Section
504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act, he or she must schedule an individual meeting with the Director of
Student Counseling Services immediately upon recognition of their disability (if their disability is known they
must come in before the semester begins or make an appointment immediately upon receipt of their syllabi for the
new semester). The student must bring with them written documentation for a medical physician and/or licensed
clinician that verifies their disability. If the student has received prior accommodations, they must bring written
documentation of those accommodations (example Individualized Education Plan from the school system).
Documentation must be current (within 3 years).
The student must meet with SCS face-to-face and also attend two (2) additional follow up meetings (one mid
semester before or after midterm examinations and the last one at the end of the semester). Please note that the
student may also schedule additional meetings as needed for support through SCS as they work with their professor
throughout the semester. Note: Students must come in each semester to complete their Individualized
Accommodation Plan (example: MC student completes fall semester IAP plan and even if student is a continuing
student for the spring semester they must come in again to complete their spring semester IAP plan).
Student Counseling Services is located on the 4th floor of Alumni Hall or they may be contacted via email at
mbryant@mc.edu. You may also reach them by phone at 601-925-7790. Dr. Morgan Bryant is director of MC
Student Counseling Services.
Make-up work: Students that have unexcused absences will not be allowed to make-up presentations. Students
with an excused absence will be allowed to make up a presentation by appointment with me.
Late assignments: Any late assignment will be penalized 10 points for every day it is late.
TESTS: If you have an excused absence you may make up the test within one week. Students with unexcused
absences are not allowed to make up a test.