Rider University's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Online Master of Arts in Communication Programs

Rider University offers an Online Master of Arts in Business Communication and a Master of Arts in Health Communication through its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Both programs are offered completely online, with no required campus visits, and utilize asynchronous instruction in order to maximize flexibility for students.

Online Master of Arts in Business Communication

Rider University’s Online Master of Arts in Business Communication is a 33-credit program with courses that prepare students to employ advanced business development strategies, organizational communication skills, and team management responsibilities to propel their careers in a variety of industries. This program combines courses from Rider’s AACSB-accredited College of Business and communication courses from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Students of this program take a 27-credit foundational core of Professional Development coursework, which includes the courses Corporate and Persuasive Discourse, Legal & Ethical Issues for Professional Communicators, Business Presentation Strategies, Strategic Business Writing, Visual Communication, and Information Gathering & Analysis. These courses provide students with both fundamental and advanced skills in effective and effective organizational communication, data analysis, and business strategy through communication.

Students also take the courses Communication in Multicultural Workplaces, Communication in a Global Market, Effective Group Communication, and Communication and Organizational Culture, which trains students in team management, organizational communication and leadership, international communication, and fostering a diverse workplace. To complement their advanced training in communication, students also take courses in accounting, project management, economics, e-commerce, and/or other business-related topics.

As the culmination of their program, students take a Capstone course that requires them to apply all the skills and concepts they have learned to a examining, analyzing, and resolving a real business communication challenge.

Online Master of Arts in Health Communication

Rider University’s Online Master of Arts in Health Communication is a 33-credit, interdisciplinary program with courses that prepare students to apply strategic communication, data gathering and analysis, health and medical writing, community health education, and skills in health campaign design and implementation to improve medical and public health outcomes. Courses are taught by Rider University faculty as well as practitioners in the health care industry. In addition to having access to 100% online coursework, students are also able to connect directly with faculty for one-on-one discussions of health communication concepts.

Students take a sequence of courses, including Communication Processes in Health, Medical Concepts and Health Writing, Health Communication Theory, Business Presentation Strategies, Visual Communication, Health Communication Campaigns, Cultural Conceptions of Health and Illness, Communicating Crises in Health, Legal and Ethical Issues for Professional Communicators, Information Gathering and Analysis, and Cultural Conceptions of Health and Illness.

After completing their courses, students complete a Capstone course wherein they apply the skills and concepts they have learned to a real communication challenge in a medical or public health context.

Rider University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE).