Doctoral Program

Faculty members in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication offer a program leading to a Doctor of Philosophy degree, with a major in Communication. Graduate study in the Hugh Downs School is directed toward advancing the understanding of message-related human behavior. Our programs provide students with training in communication theory, research methods, and specialization in one or more of our emphasis areas. Current areas of study within the major are intercultural communication and cultural studies, interpersonal communication, performance studies, organizational communication, and rhetorical studies and public communication. Dr. Sarah Tracy is the director of the PhD program.

Program of Study – Doctoral Program

If the student has completed an appropriate master's degree, the Ph.D. requires a minimum of 66 hours beyond the master's degree. Course work for a typical program of study is distributed as follows:

Required core courses (6 semester hours),
COM 691 Seminars (18 hours)
Coursework Outside of School (9 hours)
Other Coursework (exclusive of COM 799/792) (9 hours)
Dissertation (COM 799) and Research (COM 792) (24 hours)

...for a total of 66 hours (minimum)

A sequence of two interdisciplinary theory and methodology courses are required of all students entering the program. The required theory and methodology courses are:

COM 604 Theory Construction in Communication,
AND one of the following:
COM 607 Contemporary Rhetorical Methods,
COM 608 Multivariate Statistical Analysis of Data in Communication,
COM 609 Advanced Qualitative Research Methods in Communication.

All students are required to demonstrate or attain basic graduate statistical proficiency, either by having their Master's Degree coursework approved as meeting this requirement, completing Communication 508 or an equivalent substitute course (for which Communication 608 would suffice), or by demonstrating their competence through an established School examination.

The student also is required to demonstrate proficiency in research methods (statistics, computer languages, content analysis methods, foreign language, participant observation, etc.) which, in the judgment of the supervisory committee, is needed for the student's dissertation research. Evidence of required proficiency may be demonstrated by established university examination procedures or by successful completion of a sequence of courses designated by the student's program committee.

For students who have competed only the bachelor's degree before admission to the Ph.D. program, a minimum of 90 hours of interdisciplinary graduate work is required for the program, with the same 66-hour requirement for students with the master's degree. The initial course work for students admitted with only a bachelor's degree is similar to the M.A. degree requirements in Communication, except that no thesis is required. These requirements include a general overview of research in communication (COM 501), an overview of theories and models of communication (COM 504), a statistics course (COM 508), and electives from communication or other disciplines to total 24 hours of course work. The methods, theory, and statistics courses must be completed before beginning the required theory and methodology sequence of the Ph.D. (i.e., they are prerequisites for the required courses).