The mission of the Secondary Education Program in the Division of Curriculum and Instruction is to prepare highly qualified teachers to work with secondary students in diverse middle and high school settings, and to provide opportunities for teacher candidates to develop knowledge in their professional fields, acquire pedagogical skills for improving and assessing student learning, and develop dispositions expected of professional educators. In this program, students will receive secondary certification with the biology major. The study of communication is the study of meaning-making - how humans use symbols to create and influence the world in which people live. Through the dynamic curriculum, the Department of Communication Studies addresses the many ways communication functions to create, maintain, and transform personal life, social relations, political institutions, media channels, organizations, and cultural conventions in society. Further, the education programs promote skills required for competence in mediated and non-mediated communication, and develop intellectual habits for analyzing, interpreting and critiquing communication problems and questions. Communication skills, theory, and research are at the very center of the liberal educational experience. Coursework focuses on interpersonal, organizational, rhetorical, and applied dimensions of communication skill and inquiry. In the courses, students are required to think clearly and correctly, to speak responsibly, to adapt to the needs of others with sensitivity, to listen critically and to treat listeners ethically, to solve problems creatively and thoughtfully, and to express themselves with power and conviction.