Online MA in Communication Management Builds the Portfolio Behind a Communicator’s Next Move

At the University of Denver’s College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (CAHSS), the online MA in Communication Management is built for working communicators: the marketing coordinator ready to run the campaign rather than support it, the public relations specialist who wants the strategy seat, and the recent graduate who needs a portfolio before the first real interview. 

The degree was previously offered through DU’s College of Professional Studies. It moves to CAHSS in winter 2027 with two concentrations, three start dates a year, and a fully online, asynchronous format. 

The 48-credit degree has no required live sessions or campus visits, and students can finish in as few as 18 months or slow the pace to fit a full-time job. Every student chooses a concentration in Marketing Communication or Public Relations, completes six core courses, four concentration courses, and two electives, and finishes with a capstone project designed to serve as a portfolio piece. 

“Our online MA in communication will provide students with a balance of the skills needed in today’s workforce and the durable, adaptable, problem-solving approaches that will last a lifetime,” said Sahara Byrne, CAHSS dean and professor of communication. 

The program lives in the CAHSS Department of Communication Studies, which is merging with the Department of Media, Film & Journalism Studies to form the School of Communication & Media Arts. The degree draws on the strengths of both, from marketing, media, and public relations to leadership, ethics, and organizational communication. 

“Students don’t just write about communication management. They build things they can put to work,” said Kate Willink, program director and professor of communication studies. “Every core course ends in a finished piece of professional work, most of it anchored in the student’s own workplace or data. A marketing manager and a nonprofit communications director will leave the same course with different deliverables, because each one built it for the job they have.” 

“We designed this program for people who already have a job, a life, and a specific next role in mind,” Willink said. “Discussions draw on workplace experience, and every major project is staged across the 10-week quarter with draft checkpoints and peer review. A working student never gets a 20-page project dropped on them in week nine.” 

The coursework produces credentials and work samples employers recognize. In Marketing Analytics, students earn Google Analytics certification. In Storytelling with Data, they design and field their own surveys, analyze the results, and turn them into persuasive, ethical presentations. In Ethics in Organizational Communication, students work through a structured debate, a job interview role-play, and case applications. Applied Critical Thinking builds toward a Personal Critical Thinking Plan grounded in a decision the student currently faces at work. Other courses in leadership, market analysis, and analytics ask students to produce the leadership briefs and market analyses their own organizations need. 

“AI can draft a generic memo in seconds,” Willink said. “It can’t interview your stakeholders, read your own analytics, or make a judgment call about what your organization should say and why.” 

Graduates are prepared for roles with strategic responsibility, including marketing communication manager, public relations manager, brand strategist, and communication director, in corporate, agency, nonprofit, and government settings. The capstone becomes the deliverable a graduate takes directly into the next interview or promotion case. 

The online MA complements CAHSS’s two in-person master’s programs in communication rather than duplicating them. “Our in-person MAs pair theory and practice and let students lean toward research or toward professional work, in a residential cohort,” Willink said. “The online MA in Communication Management is an applied, concentration-based degree that fits around a full-time job and pays off in the workplace the Monday after a course ends. Students can now choose the program that fits their lives.” 

“We enrich all our lives when we communicate thoughtfully, ethically, and effectively, inside our organizations and beyond them,” Willink said. “This program amplifies people’s capacity to do the work that matters most to them and to the world they share.” 

CAHSS Graduate Programs in Communication 

The in-person MA in Media and Public Communication combines theory and practice and prepares students for successful careers in public relations and strategic communication, health communication, nonprofit and government communication, media research, and more. Learn more about the MA in Media and Public Communication. 

The in-person MA in International and Intercultural Communication offers a multidisciplinary curriculum in communication and international studies, preparing students for communication roles in government, nonprofits, and international organizations. Learn more about the MA in International and Intercultural Communication. 

The online MA in Communication Management offers an applied, concentration-based degree in Marketing Communication or Public Relations, built for working professionals and completed entirely online. Learn more about the online MA in Communication Management.