Giving to the Department of Communication 

The Communication Department teaches its 300 undergraduate majors and 30 graduate students to be effective and ethical communicators, studying public advocacy, relational communication, and organizational communication.

Peach Blossom Festival

The Communication Department will sponsor its annual Peach Blossom Festival in March 2020. This event brings 4,000 to 5,000 elementary school students to campus to recite prose and poetry. Student teams are active in every phase of Peach Blossom operations, including publicity, reservations, scheduling, judging, awards, T-shirts, and amenities for the participants. Members of the Arts and Humanities Advisory Board regularly join distinguished alumni as guest judges for the event.

Barking Bulldogs Debate Team

Our debate team travels to competitions throughout the Western Region and beyond. The team is open to both beginning and experienced competitors. Our debaters have won awards in numerous competitions, including UC Berkeley, USC, San Francisco State, UNLV, CSU Northridge, and the Western Debate Championships, with a top finish in the sweet 16 at the 2014 National Debate Tournament. Summer 2016 marked the second annual Barking Bulldogs debate camp, attended by 30 high school debaters from all over the state. In addition to intercollegiate competition, the team helps organize public debates on campus and in the community.

Faculty and Student Scholarship

Our professors have published or edited leading textbooks in their fields, and the faculty regularly publish articles and book chapters in diverse fields of study including intercultural communication, group communication, communication and instruction, rhetoric and public advocacy, performance studies, family communication, feminist media studies, and organizational communication. Our faculty often collaborate on research with our students. We have small classes of 25 to 30 students, giving professors and students the opportunity to bond and develop mentoring relationships.

Alumni Teaching the Next Generation of Speakers

Graduates of our MA program (and often our BA program too) constitute a majority of faculty members at community colleges in the region, including Fresno City College, Reedley College, Clovis Community College, and Porterville College. Our alumni make great ambassadors for our department and university.

Ways to Give

Other Ways to Support Fresno State

• Annual Gifts
• Planned Gifts
• Establishing Endowed Funds
• Gifts in Kind
• Matching Gifts
• Real Properties