Career and Research Exploration

Dominican’s location in the near west suburbs of Chicago offers huge advantages to communication students.

River Forest is just 10 miles from downtown Chicago, one of the nation’s media capitals. Journalism legends Studs Terkel, Mike Royko, Paul Harvey and Ann Landers all spent their careers in the Windy City. Companies of all sizes are based here, with an emphasis on high-tech, manufacturing, transportation, professional services, medicine and nonprofit organizations. All have diverse communication needs.

Internships

Enterprising communication students can make the city and surroundings their laboratories. Highly skilled adjunct professors and dynamic guest speakers who are leaders in their fields bring students’ coursework to life.

Given the extremely competitive nature of journalism and corporate communication jobs, we strongly recommend that every communication student do at least one internship.

Organizations throughout Chicagoland are a ready source of internships for Dominican communication students because of the region’s diverse economy and large number of media organizations and corporate communication departments. Dominican students have recently completed internships at many prestigious organizations, including:

  • WBEZ, 91.5-FM
  • Time.com
  • Roll Call
  • RedEye
  • Wednesday Journal
  • WLS-TV, Channel 7
  • WMAQ-TV, Channel 5
  • Kartemquin Films
  • Field Museum
  • Chicago Cubs
  • Chicagoland TV News
  • Continental Cablevision

Internships can be completed at any time during the year. Communication students have found their first job post-graduation as a result of an internship. For the most recent communication-related internships, see the list below or contact Dr. CarrieLynn D. Reinhard.

For more information about finding an internship and/or completing an internship for academic credit, visit Career Programs and Employer Relations.

Community Involvement

Students in the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences have plenty of opportunities to get involved and gain experience. Students are encouraged to participate in on-campus extracurricular activities. All majors write for the Dominican Star and gain multimedia skills. You also can apply to the communications honors society, Lambda Pi Eta and be inducted into a grand and noble society.

News and Events

The Department is committed to providing its students with opportunities to meet professionals from communication fields like journalism and health communication. Additionally, we routinely sponsor events on campus of interest to our majors. To keep up-to-date with these news and events, follow our social media accounts: Past events have included…

Dominican Star

The Dominican community is fortunate to have its own award-winning biweekly newspaper, the Dominican Star, in print and online. The Star has editorial independence, which means the editor and editorial board make executive decisions regarding coverage and content. Journalism majors may earn up to four credit hours of practicum credit for work on the Star. Students earn one credit per semester. The Star's adviser and director is Dr. CarrieLynn Reinhard.

“The journalism students and staff writers all contribute to the production of our biweekly newspaper. The Dominican Star offers students a forum to express their journalistic talents and abilities."
–Stacy Portilla, Class of 2011

Lambda Pi Eta (Honor Society)

The official communication studies honor society of the National Communication Association, Lambda Pi Eta (LPH) has more than 400 active chapters at four-year colleges and universities worldwide. Dominican’s chapter is known as Sigma Zeta.

LPH represents what Aristotle described in his book Rhetoric as the three ingredients of persuasion: Logos (Lambda) meaning logic, Pathos (Pi) relating to emotion and Ethos (Eta) defined as character credibility and ethics.

Prospective members must meet the following requirements:

  • A major or minor in the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences
  • A 3.0 cumulative GPA with 60 semester credit hours completed
  • A 3.25 GPA for communication studies courses with 12 semester credit hours completed
  • Ability to participate for at least one semester after acceptance and induction

New members who meet these requirements are inducted each fall and each spring. Contact Dr. Jennifer Dunn for more details and the latest application form.

Research Opportunities

Communication Arts and Sciences students conduct their own research, scholarship, and creative projects while attending Dominican University. Students from all majors and minors have presented at local and regional conferences, completed honors and capstone projects, and have even gone on to graduate school to further their knowledge and skills.

Capstone

Since 2018, all Communication Arts and Sciences majors ended their work with us in a Communication Capstone class. During this course, they complete two individual, self-driven projects: one in negotiation with a client, and one personal research, journalistic, or media production project.

Previous projects have included:

  • Tim & Taylor, a YouTube gaming channel
  • Steven Hernandez, website to promote the need for global water security
Student Research

Communication majors have presented their course work in different conferences in the Midwest.

Students routinely present at the annual URSCI Expo on Dominican University’s campus and the annual Gender and Women Studies Conference co-hosted by Dominican University and Concordia University.

  • Marisol Soto, “Representation of Latina Women on Modern Family: An Ideological Rhetorical Criticism” presented at the Study of Women and Gender Conference, 2018.
  • Anna Derkacz, “Female Heroes vs. Feminist Heroines in Fast and Furious 7” presented at Study of Women and Gender Conference, 2016.
  • Briana Love, “Race and Gender in The Help,” presented at Study of Women and Gender Conference, 2016.
  • Ryan Freeman, “The American Lifestyle Now Achievable through What You Drive: An Ideological Analysis of Super Bowl Car Ads,” presented at URSCI, 2015.
  • Emily Patterson, “Metaphoric Analysis of Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten,” Poster Presentation at URSCI, 2015.
  • Heather McGuire, “Katniss Everdeen, Complicated Heroine: Womanhood in The Hunger Games, Paper Presentation at Study of Women and Gender Conference, 2015.
  • Andrea Cardoso, “Angelina Jolie at the National Press Club: A Neo-Aristotelian Rhetorical Criticism,” Paper presentation at URSCI, 2014.
  • Brent Smith, “A Rhetorical Criticism of the Brooks DNA Orientation Film,” Paper presentation at URSCI, 2014.
  • Gina Zenzola, “Dance Mama-Drama: A Fantasy-Theme Criticism of Lifetime’s Dance Moms,” Paper presentation at URSCI, 2013.
  • Danielle Eubanks-Bradley, “SpongeBob: The Moralist” presented at Student of Women and Gender Conference, 2014
  • Ambrell Gambrell, “Scandalous: Olivia Pope as Modern Day Jezebel” presented at Study of Women and Gender Conference, 2014

Additionally, students have presented and participated in regional conferences like Central States Communication Association.

  • Yesenia Baragan, poster presentation of rhetorical criticism of Breaking Bad’s Walter White (Kansas City, 2013)
  • Marissa Martin, poster presentation of rhetorical criticism of Sister Wives (Milwaukee, 2011)
  • Anna Walenski, paper presentations of rhetorical criticisms of Sons of Anarchy (Milwaukee, 2011) & Game of Thrones (Cleveland, 2012)
  • All communication majors have the opportunity to receive funding from Dominican University’s URSCI program to help pay for their research and conference travel needs. For more information, visit URSCI’s website.