The roots of the interpersonal communication program at the University of Kansas (Lawrence) lay in the human relations training program initiated there in the late 1940's. Probably the major contribution of human relations to interpersonal communication was in its focus on experiential learning through laboratory training. In the fall of 1967, an introductory interpersonal communication course was offered. One of the major implications of the shift to interpersonal communication in the Kansas curriculum was the placing of the department in the area of social sciences. Outside the university setting, there are four areas in which people trained in interpersonal communication have been able to make an impact: (1) marriage and family communication, (2) business and industry, (3) government and public organizations, and (4) service professions. (A list of important factors in the selection of college graduates for employment that reveals how much society values interpersonal communication skills is appended.) (JL)