Within the structure of a senior and graduate level course, students in the Ohio University school of interpersonal communication collaborate with community groups in the creation of campaigns promoting issue-awareness, political candidates, fund raising events, and citizen action. The course objectives include teaching students to understand the communication processes involved in the development of a campaign and to provide constructive comments about its organization, development, and execution. The class objectives may be achieved in one of three tracks: (1) lowest level of direct involvement; (2) high level of planning and organizing with no direct participation; or (3) organizing, participating, and evaluating. Class time is spent either discussing materials from the text or listening to guest speakers. The text materials focus on the role of communication in campaigns in such areas as candidate images, agenda setting by the media, persuasive strategies, and nonprofit organizations. The guest speakers are drawn from the community to represent various kinds of organizations. In all cases, the emphasis is on providing the students with a balanced view of the myriad ways they can become involved with the community. The course also enables students to test some of their interests against the demands of such careers as conference planning, campaign managing, professional fund-raising, and special interest advocacy. The course appears to serve a useful role within the larger community as well. (HTH)