Communication is key.
The Frank Center partners with faculty to develop the curricula for business communication courses at Tippie, including the required core course, Business Communication and Protocol. Keep reading to learn more about opportunities to level up your communication skills at Tippie.
Undergraduate communication courses
BUS:3000 Business Communication and Protocol (BCaP)
BCaP helps undergraduates build a solid foundation of business writing and presentation skills. The course focuses on conveying information, backing it with evidence, and doing so clearly and concisely. Students gain skills in composing business content, organizing data, creating presentations, and team-building.
Course assignments include written messages and reports (in multi-modal formats, some of which may emphasize visual communication), oral presentations, and team-building exercises. The assignments with deliverables focus on audience analysis, conveying information, and using logic and evidence to back your positions. The team-building exercises focus on learning how to effectively collaborate on projects, to communicate across personal differences, and to make everyone on a team feel welcome. Prerequisites: RHET:1030 and admission to Tippie College of Business.
BUS:3200 Advanced Business Presentation Workshop
This small, workshop-style course hones students' skills in public speaking and presentation slide design. Workshop participants practice presenting solo, in pairs, and as teams, while also learning about how to organize presentation content, design effective PowerPoint slides, and smoothly handle Q & A sessions. There is special emphasis on improving vocal and physical delivery to maximize audience attention and engagement.
Business Writing works with students to enhance their persuasive communication skills within a public relations context. Topics covered include thesis statements, professional language and tone, and the rudiments of grammar and syntax. Some of the genres covered include resumes, cover letters, and public relations communications. No prerequisites; open to students from any college at Iowa.
Graduate communication courses
MBA:8130 Business Communication
Build executive-ready communication skills in writing, presenting, and visualizing. Learn to communicate effectively, efficiently, and in a compelling manner to capture interest and drive action. Students get practice, feedback, and coaching with personal/individual communication assignments in a variety of formats.
MBA:8430 Communication and AI and Business Technology
Effective business communication is increasingly reliant on successfully engaging with emerging technologies. This course will prepare students to adapt machine-generated content for human audiences and will focus on three key areas: 1) considering the needs of a variety of audiences (e.g., internal/external, up to supervisors/out to colleagues/down to direct reports, low-tech/high-tech), 2) identifying a given program’s communication weaknesses based on its output, and 3) storytelling through the use of best practices for optimizing machine-generated written and visual communication. In addition to working with AI to produce business content, students will engage with a variety of AI-supported programs to develop their own writing, presentation, and visual communication skills. Students will complete this class with the skills and strategies necessary to harness the promise of new communication technologies regardless of the program or tool they use.
MBA:9130 Leadership Communication and Story
Learn how effective communication drives effective leadership, including during difficult conversations and crises, and how stories can be used to create a vision and empower others to follow it. Assignments include a mix of individual reflections and experiential group learning activities.
BAIS:8130 Communication for Business Analytics Masters Students
Effective communication to become a successful business professional and leader; strengthen ability to speak and write confidently, competently, and effectively regardless of venue; varied team and individual presentation coaching, applied exercises. Requirements: admission to MS in business analytics (career) program.
FIN:8130 Communication for Finance Masters Students
Effective communication to become a successful business professional and leader; strengthen ability to speak and write confidently, competently, and effectively regardless of venue; varied team and individual presentation coaching, applied exercises. Requirements: admission to MS in finance program.