The Center for Communicating Science offers both graduate and undergraduate students unique opportunities to strengthen their communication skills through innovative, engaging courses. These courses emphasize storytelling, audience engagement, and collaboration — skills that are essential across disciplines and professional contexts. All three of the courses offered by CCS faculty are in demand! Interested students should make use of the course request period (October 21-November 4) to request enrollment for spring semester. 

The Power of Story: Crafting Personal and Professional Narratives (TA 4984, CRN 21998/TA 5984, CRN 21997)

    Launched in spring 2025 and returning in spring 2026, The Power of Story is the newest CCS course, introducing both undergraduate and graduate students to the art and impact of storytelling. Through interactive exercises, guided reflection, and collaborative workshops, participants learn to craft personal and professional narratives that resonate with diverse audiences and communicate complex ideas effectively.

    The course emphasizes how well-told stories can foster understanding, connection, and meaningful change. Students explore the stories of themselves, their work, and their communities, reflecting on key milestones and challenges to shape narratives that engage and inspire. Drawing on theatre techniques, storytelling frameworks, and insights from experienced practitioners, the course helps participants develop skills to express ideas with clarity, authenticity, and emotional impact.

    By experimenting with different storytelling formats and receiving constructive feedback, students refine their narratives into powerful tools for communication. This course equips participants with skills that strengthen academic presentations, professional interactions, and community engagement, demonstrating the transformative potential of storytelling in research, education, and beyond.

Communicating Science (GRAD 5144)

    Launched in 2012, Communicating Science has equipped more than 780 Virginia Tech graduate students with tools to share their work more effectively. Offered both fall and spring and capped at 18 students per section, this highly participatory course uses theatre improvisation, writing exercises, and public outreach events to help students distill their research and communicate it to non-specialist audiences. Focus areas include relaxation, deep listening, storytelling, and awareness of self, others, and the environment, with an overall goal of helping participants make their communication more personal, direct, spontaneous, responsive, and emotionally vivid.

    The course encourages students to step outside their comfort zones and engage with peers from diverse disciplines. In this collaborative environment, participants build confidence in presenting their work, develop authentic audience connection skills, and enhance their ability to communicate in both professional and public settings. Many graduate students describe it as a transformative experience that strengthens both academic and personal communication abilities. In the past year alone, five course sections equipped 90 Virginia Tech graduate students with new skills in connecting and communicating their work.

    An online section will be offered this spring, allowing students at Virginia Tech locations beyond Blacksburg to participate in this course.

Introduction to Applied Collaborative Techniques (TA 2404/I-ACT)

    Since its launch in 2018, Introduction to Applied Collaborative Techniques has served more than 960 undergraduates from across a wide range of disciplines. Offered every semester, the course applies principles of collaborative theatre performance to develop effective interpersonal and small group communication, interdisciplinary creativity, iterative processes for audience connection, and innovation through improvisation. Emphasis is placed on situational awareness, listening, storytelling in both scripted and unscripted work, team conflict resolution, non-verbal signaling, and communicating across differences. Students apply these techniques in public and professional settings, and the course fulfills Pathways 1a (Advanced Discourse), 6a (Critique and Practice in the Arts and Design/Arts), and 6b (Critique and Practice in the Arts and Design/Design).

    The course has become a valuable foundation for undergraduates seeking to strengthen their collaboration skills both at Virginia Tech and beyond. In the past year, five sections of I-ACT helped 76 students develop practical tools for teamwork, creativity, and communication.

By Sai Navya Vadlamudi, Center for Communicating Science graduate assistant