Fall 2026

Principles and Practice of Strategic Communication

Introduction to strategic communication principles and practices for advertising, public relations, health, and political campaigns.

offering recorded4 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Dhavan Shah3.9/5Jesus RiveraJingqi Yang +1 more

Summary

1 / 7

The course features a large group project that reviewers describe as consuming and difficult, though it provides significant professional experience and learning opportunities.

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

JOURN 202 or graduate/professional standing

  • take one
JOURN 345 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Any of

Professors

Fall 2026
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.07/5 from 46 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 4.8/5 raw quality · 2.5/5 difficulty · 4 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Dhavan Shah is described as helpful, engaging, and funny, using professional experience and real-life examples to keep lectures interesting. Reviewers note his background in strategic communications enhances the course, though one reviewer distinguishes his J345 performance from a tougher J614 experience.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.83 GPA, 91.6% A/AB (n=83 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.90 GPA, 98.0% A/AB (n=100 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.85 GPA, 95.8% A/AB (n=96 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews of Pete Long: Pete Long is consistently praised for his passion, accessibility, and care for student well-being. Reviewers highlight his helpfulness and enjoyable lectures, though one notes the group project can be intense. Dhavan Shah has no reviews to summarize.

DEBRA PIERCE is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Fall 2013. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

DHAVAN SHAH is recorded teaching in Fall 2007, Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

PETE LONG is recorded teaching in Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

YOUNG KIM is recorded teaching in Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2017, Spring 2022, Spring 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction84 / 1000
DIS 301Classroom Instruction25 / 250
DIS 302Classroom Instruction25 / 250
DIS 303Classroom Instruction24 / 250
DIS 304Classroom Instruction10 / 250

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Dhavan Shah is a highly rated instructor who delivers engaging, real-world focused lectures. Students consistently praise his helpfulness and ability to make strategic communications material interesting and relevant.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.97 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=79 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.85 GPA, 95.8% A/AB (n=96 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.97 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=88 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

The course features a large group project that reviewers describe as consuming and difficult, though it provides significant professional experience and learning opportunities.

Students appreciate the interactive lectures and modern examples. The curriculum is structured around professional experiences, with Shah sharing real-life anecdotes to keep the material from being dry.

Topics

  • Advertising, public relations, health communications, and political campaigns

Skills

  • Strategic communication for advertising, public relations, health, and political campaigns.

Grades

Historical instructor

Fall 2026 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.09 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Fall 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1283 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
JOURN 345 · Fall 2026

Principles and Practice of Strategic Communication

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:512:021439",
    "course_id": "JOURN 345",
    "course_uid": "course_65d7a926ef836ca5b1857d3f",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "021439",
    "source_subject_id": "512",
    "title": "Principles and Practice of Strategic Communication",
    "credits_min": 4,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "42f525b60175eee4e04842c38d42ee33a2611c9dcf4998b6676a25801d9db027",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}