Relate and Resonate

As an Interpersonal Communications minor you'll learn to develop and maintain strong personal relationships — making it an essential complement to every field of study and one key to post-Guilford success.

You’ll examine types of communication to understand processes and styles, as well as the ways cultural differences affect relationships. Courses cover intrapersonal communication (internal mental and emotional processes that shape selection and interpretation of communication) and interpersonal communication (the process through which individuals interact, build relationships and create meaning). You’ll also study conflict and how it can be managed and transformed to enhance relationships.

Those interested in this minor are looking for ways to communicate more effectively with family members, friends, colleagues, and fellow community members, as well as working in teams and advocating ideas in the workplace. Courses feature highly interactive and experiential activities in the classroom and local community that integrate and apply communications theory to authentic personal relationships. For example, in the Interpersonal Communications course, students attend a public meeting — City Council, Human Relations Commission, County Commissioners or a civic organization — and later write a paper analyzing the patterns of interpersonal communications they observe, drawing on a theory from course readings.