Newhouse School of Communications
Mass Communications PhD:
The program is interdisciplinary in spirit, with students taking a considerable amount of coursework in academic areas outside the Newhouse School. While certain Newhouse courses are required, the program is sufficiently flexible to provide students with the opportunity to pursue their own scholarly interests.
Doctoral students are required to complete at least 90 semester credits beyond the bachelor's degree, 18 of which may be dissertation hours.
Students work with an academic adviser to design their own program of study. Coursework is designed around four areas of study, each of which must carry a minimum of 15 credit hours:
- Mass Communication Theory
- Research Methods and Statistics
- Concentration #1, in an academic area outside the Newhouse School
- Concentration #2, in an area of interest that supports the dissertation topic
Once coursework is completed, students may take qualifying exams. Preparation for the qualifying exams gives the student the opportunity to synthesize knowledge derived from coursework and to supplement that work with additional relevant study. The qualifying examinations are not simply a review of courses taken, but a mechanism to assess a student's overall competency in the chosen fields of study.
The third year of study is devoted to the dissertation. The dissertation is primary research conducted in the student's area of expertise and is expected to be of publishable quality. It may draw upon a wide variety of theoretical and methodological approaches. The student is guided by a Newhouse faculty member who serves as adviser, along with other members of the dissertation committee.
