In collaboration with the AU Career Center and the Office of Development and Alumni Relations, the School of Communication (SOC) connects current students and recent graduates with AU alumni, parents and professionals working in the field of communication. We offer site visits, panel discussions, workshops, networking events, interviews, meetings and productions leading to meaningful relationships and successful careers. To read more about the type of experiential learning opporutnities avaialable to students, click here.

The globe is our laboratory. SOC faculty are leaders in the communication industry, uniquely positioned to engage and empower students, and our alumni are dedicated and engaged. We are committed to helping every SOC storyteller access our life-changing programs, no matter their circumstances. Together, we can remove economic barriers so that every qualified SOC student has a full and enriching SOC experience.

Give now to SOC's Student Experiential Learning Fund

Donate to the American Forum - The American Forum is a TV, online and radio series that speaks to—and from—young people, engaging them and reflecting their voices on issues they care about, in politics, media and popular culture. The American Forum is produced by American University’s School of Communication in Washington, D.C. With award-winning journalist and professor Jane Hall as longtime executive producer and host, the American Forum has been produced as a series of live topic-driven townhall specials on campus and on WAMU public radio in Washington, D.C., as one-on-one interviews in studio for NBC4 TV in Washington, D.C., at the Newseum, and as interviews and town halls produced for video and online in the studios of the School of Communication.

Here in the nation's capital — where local news is national, or even international — students will have unprecedented opportunities to report on the top issues of the day while working side by side with professional media outlets. Award-winning faculty come to campus to teach from The Washington Post, Bloomberg BNA, Gannett, USA TODAY, The Atlantic, NBC, ABC and NPR. We embed students on the Washington Post investigative team where they work alongside professionals, contributing to in-depth, published projects. Our state-of-the-art studios and equipment will give you professional reporting experience. The Media Innovation Lab features an HD television studio and broadcast newsroom. To learn more about the program, click here.

Give now to the Broadcast Journalism Program

Donate to the Center for Environmental Filmmaking (CEF) — one of the leading environmental, wildlife, conservation film programs in the world. Its mission is to advance filmmaking, photography, and new forms of media as vital catalysts for raising awareness, promoting solutions and mobilizing movements. To learn more about CEF, click here.

Media matters when it is compelling. To tell a powerful visual story that stirs the heart, to shape a bold narrative that persuades the mind, to drive knowledge that demands action, at the American University School of Communication (SOC) Film and Media Arts division, that's exactly what we teach students to do.

Give now to the Film and Media Arts Division

SOC partners with top media outlets and changemaking nonprofit news organizations to offer several prestigious fellowships. SOC is home to the Investigative Reporting Workshop (IRW), an independent, nonprofit newsroom that pairs graduate students with professional reporters and editors to produce stories that examine government and corporate accountability. To learn more about the program, click here.

Give now to the Journalism Program

Combining the resources and expertise of AU's Department of Art, College of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Communication, the program includes historical, theoretical, and practical approaches to photography.

Students study the evolution of photography and can gain hands-on experience in darkrooms and digital editing labs. Students who complete the program understand the why and how of photography's adoption by fine artists, commercial studios, and the general public, and photography's changing role in the greater art world. Students relate technical developments in the medium to aesthetic and conceptual developments, citing movements and trends that also coincided with a broader art history.

Give now to the Photography Program

Public Communication is a field built on ideas and images, persuasion and information, strategy, and tactics. From studios promoting films to companies burnishing their images to advocates promoting social causes, public relations is at the heart of our economy, society, and politics. No policy or product can succeed without a smart message targeted to the right audience in creative and innovative ways. The ability to communicate strategically is what our Public Relations and Strategic Communication program is all about.

Give now to the Public Communication Program

Donate now to the SOC Dean's Family Leadership Society -- with an annual gift of $5,000 or more to the SOC Dean’s Fund, you can demonstrate a higher level of commitment, engagement, and leadership within the School of Communication and American University at large. When you give to the SOC Dean’s Fund or any fund of your choice as a member of The Dean’s Family Leadership Society, you help us strengthen and transform the student experience. Your contribution will provide unrestricted support for our greatest need areas, including support for scholarships, internships, emergency aid to students, and life changing student experiences in and outside the classroom.