HASS COMMUNICATION INTENSIVE (CI) REQUIREMENT
Objectives and Outcomes:
The content of Communication Intensive (CI) courses has been developed to support your communication skills through your college curriculum and into your career. CI courses generally require writing papers and/or doing presentations. To effectively prepare for the expectations of advanced college courses, it is highly recommended to complete a HASS CI course within your first three semesters.
Guidelines and Policies:
- Many INQR Courses are CI.
- All HASS Subjects offer CI Options.
- You cannot Pass/No Credit your CI Course.
- Should be taken within the first three semesters.
- CI courses must be taken at Rensselaer; they cannot be transferred from another college.
All students are required to take 2 Communication Intensive Courses:
- HASS Communication Intensive Course | Part of your HASS Core requirements
- Major-Specific Communication Intensive Course | Not part of the HASS Core requirements
How to find Communication Intensive Courses:
- Upcoming CI courses will be published on the Registrar’s Website: Academic Requirements
- Find other CI courses in SIS.
- Go to the ‘Student Menu.'
- Select a semester (past, present, future).
- Click ‘Class Search.’ Select one or more HASS subjects, and click 'Submit."
- On the results page, view the ‘Attributes’ column (far right) in the search results (see screenshot below for an example).
The Writing Lab at RPI supports a diverse community of undergraduate and graduate students in developing strong critical thinking and communication skills. Through a collaborative, writer-centered approach, support is provided to help students refine ideas and express them effectively. Rather than correcting texts, the Lab engages students in meaningful dialogue to build confidence, strengthen the writing process, and foster the development of capable, independent writers. Learn more and schedule an appointment!
Communication Intensive Courses:
Communication Intensive Courses by Subject
ARTS 1010 Music & Sound
ARTS 1050 Art in Context
ARTS 2180 Deep Listening (effective: Fall 2018)
ARTS 2500 Histories of Western Music (effective: 01/25/21)
ARTS 2520 World Music (effective: Spring 2021)
ARTS 2540 Multimedia Century
ARTS 2550 Popular Music & Society (effective: Spring 2020)
ARTS 2560 Game Sound & Musical Play
ARTS 4080 Art, Community, & Technology (effective: Fall 2020)
ARTS 4120 Biopunk: Arts Lab (effective: Fall 2020)
ARTS 4130 New Media Theory
ARTS 4180 Topics in Deep Listening (effective: Fall 2019)
ARTS 4410 Deep Listening (effective: Fall 2018)
ARTS 4430 Deep Listening: Creative Collaborations (effective: Spring 2019)
ARTS 4620 Exploring Movement & Sound (effective: Spring 2021)
ARTS 4640 Science Fictions
ARTS 4880 Interdisciplinary Research Seminar (effective: Spring 2020)
ARTS 296x Art of Songwriting (effective: Fall 2024)
ARTS 296x History of Hip Hop (effective: Fall 2021)
ARTS xxxx Sound Ecology
ARTS 4440 Music, Sound, & Screen Media (effective: Fall 2022)
BUSN 3150 Creating Value in the Business Model (effective: Fall 2025)
COGS 4340 The Linguistics of Computational Linguistics (effective: Spring 2021)
COGS 4440 Sensibilities
COGS 4780 Advanced Topics in Linguistics (effective: Fall 2018)
COGS 496x Canine Cognition & Science-based Training (effective: Fall 2024)
COGS 4990 Undergraduate Thesis
No longer Communication Intensive:
- COGS 4560 Natural Languages: Cross-Linguistics Perspective (CI removed Spring 2026)
- COGS 496x Language Learning (CI removed Spring 2026)
- COGS 2340 Introduction to Linguistics (CI removed Summer 2025)
COMM 1250 Academic Writing & Presentations for English Language Learners (effective: Fall 2024)
COMM 2110 Writing for the Screen
COMM 2120 Language in Real Time (effective: Fall 2018)
COMM 2520 Communication Theory & Practice
COMM 2616 Superheroes in the Classroom (effective: Fall 2021)
COMM 2660 Introduction to Graphic Design
COMM 2750 Critical Television (effective: Fall 2021)
COMM 4530 Reality TV & Post-Factual Media (effective: Fall 2021)
COMM 4535 Social Media: East & West (effective: Summer 2024)
COMM 4550 Religion in the Media
COMM 4580 Advertising & Culture
COMM 4780 Interactive Narrative
COMM 296x Leadership & Creativity (effective: Summer 2024)
COMM 296x Social Media and Society (effective: Summer 2025)
COMM 4963/4288 Health Communication in Practice (effective: Fall 2023)
COMM 496x Adaptations in Games & Media (effective: Spring 2024)
COMM 496x Writing For Technical Communication (effective: Spring 2023)
COMM 496x Religion, Politics, and Media (effective: Summer 2025)
COMM xxxx Public Relations
CSCI 4230 Cryptography & Networking Security (effective: Spring 2019)
CSCI 4250 Foundations of Network Science (effective: Spring 2021)
CSCI 4310 Networking in the Linux Kernal (effective: Spring 2019)
CSCI 4450 Principles of Program Analysis (effective: Spring 2024)
CSCI 4460 Large-Scale Programming & Testing (effective: Spring 2019)
CSCI 4470 Open Source Software (effective: Fall 2022)
CSCI 4960 Introduction to Research (effective: Summer 2025)
CSCI 496x Advanced Programming/Application Design Using Java (effective: Fall 2021)
ECON 4110 Economics of Innovation & New Technologies
ECON 4170 Health Economics & Policy
ECON 4190 International Economics & Globalization (effective: Spring 2018)
ECON 4200 Open Economy Macroeconomics
ECON 4230 Environmental Economics (effective: Fall 2018)
ECON 4270 Behavioral Economics (effective: Spring 2018)
ECON 4360 Experimental Economics (effective: Fall 2020)
ECON 4390 Energy Economics & Policy (effective: Fall 2025)
ECSE 4125 Data Visualization and Analytics (effective: Fall 2025)
ECSE 4200 Capstone (effective: Fall 2025)
GSAS 1600 History & Culture of Games
GSAS 2520 Introduction to Game Storytelling (effective: Fall 2018)
GSAS 4240 Writing for Games I
GSAS 4250 Writing for Games II (effective: Spring 2025)
GSAS 4440 Music, Sound, & Screen Media (effective: Fall 2022)
IHSS 1080 History of Jazz & Improvised Music (effective: Spring 2018)
IHSS 1240 Environment & Politics
IHSS 1410 Century of the Gene
IHSS 196x Contemporary Africa (effective: Spring 2018)
IHSS 196x Diversity: Then & Now (effective: Spring 2019)
IHSS 196x History of Design (effective: Spring 2020)
IHSS 196x News, Media, Culture, & Politics (effective: Spring 2020)
IHSS 196x Technology & Social Interaction (effective: Spring 2019)
IHSS 196x Wanderlust: Walking & Well-being (effective: Spring 2020)
IHSS 496x Community Read Seminar (effective: Fall 2021)
IHSS 1290 American Politics in Crisis (effective: Spring 2019)
IHSS 196x Cultivating Curiosity: Arts & Neuroscience (effective: Fall 2018)
IHSS 196x Human Rights in History (effective: Fall 2018)
IHSS 196x Making Games to Change the World (effective: Fall 2018)
IHSS 196x Music & Nature (effective: Fall 2018)
IHSS 196x Music & Protest (effective: Fall 2018)
IHSS 196x Open Sources (effective: Fall 2018)
IHSS 196x Psychadellic Cultures (effective: Fall 2018)
IHSS 196x Stories, Medicine, Power (effective: Fall 2018)
IHSS 296x Intergroup Dialogue: Imagined Futures/Alternate Realities (effective: Spring 2021)
INTD 350 Notions of Wilderness in Environmental Thought (effective: Spring 2018)
ITWS 4310 Managing IT Resources (effective: Spring 2021)
LITR 2120 Literature & Media
LITR 2150 Contemporary Literature
LITR 2150 Modern & Contemporary Literature
LITR 2410 The Film Experience (effective: Fall 2021)
LITR 4150 Science & Fiction
LITR 4770 Women Writers
LITR 4880 Multicultural American Lit (effective: Fall 2024)
LITR 296x The Short Story (effective: Spring 2020)
LITR 296x American Horror Stories (effective: Fall 2026)
LITR 496x Contemporary Poetry (effective: Spring 2019)
LITR 2110 Introduction to Literature
LITR 496x Motion Picture History (effective: Fall 2024)
MGMT 4140 Computer Information System (effective: Fall 2020)
MGMT 4190 Intro Machine Learning Applications (effective: Fall 2020)
PHIL 115 Practical Issues in Ethics (effective: Spring 2018)
PHIL 4130 Philosophy of Science
PHIL 4240 Ethics
PHIL 4480 Metaphysics & Consciousness
PHIL 4500 Bioethics
PHIL 4990 Capstone Experience in Philosophy
PHIL 296x Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (effective: Spring 2023)
PHIL 496x Philosophy of Mathematics (effective: Spring 2024)
PSYC 2310 Research Methods & Statistics I
PSYC 4310 Research Methods & Statistics II
PSYC 4430 Psychology of Mindfulness
PSYC 4750 Forensic Psychology
PSYC 4990 Undergraduate Thesis
PSYC 496x Canine Cognition & Science-based Training (effective: Fall 2024)
STSO 1110 Science, Technology, & Society
STSO 2210 Design, Culture & Society
STSO 2610 Design & Innovation Studio II
STSO 4250 Bioethics
STSO 4260 Food, Farms, & Famine (effective: Fall 2018)
STSO 4350 Politics of Design
STSO 4430 Drugs in History
STSO 4440 History of Mental Health (effective: Spring 2020)
STSO 4530 History of Science & Technology (effective: Fall 2020)
STSO 4590 American Politics in Crisis
STSO 4970 Design & Innovation Senior Project
STSO 496x Environmental Justice (effective: Spring 2021)
No longer Communication Intensive:
- STSO 2100 Investigating Society (CI removed Fall 2025)
- STSO 2300 Environment & Society (CI removed Fall 2024)
WRIT 1110 Writing in Context
WRIT 2110 Strategic Writing
WRIT 2320 Creative Writing: Creative Non-Fiction
WRIT 2330 Creative Writing: The Short Story
WRIT 2340 Speech Communication
WRIT 4380 Writing & Response
WRIT 4410 Research Writing
WRIT 4550 Proposing & Persuading
WRIT 496x Writing About Diversity (effective: Fall 2023)