Master of Arts in Communication Studies

The Department of Communication Studies offers the M.A. degree in four areas of concentration: instructional communication, interpersonal communication, organizational communication, and rhetoric and culture. The department also offers an interdisciplinary M.A. specialization in marketing, communication studies, and advertising. The department's graduate degree programs are designed to provide an advanced understanding of the scholarly traditions in communication studies; to train students in both socialscientific and humanistic research approaches in order to create proficiency in historical/critical, quantitative, and interpretive/qualitative methods; to develop competent investigators capable of producing communication scholarship of the highest quality; and to foster the creation of teacher-scholars and practitioner-researchers who respect the discipline's pluralism and follow the highest standards of ethical conduct.

Master of Arts Degree

Students pursuing masters degrees with a major in communication studies must have completed an undergraduate major of at least 30 hours in communication studies, or have had equivalent preparation. The Department also offers a specialization in marketing, communication studies, and advertising. This is an Option III program. The program consists of a major -- a minimum of 18 hours in communication studies and two minors of 9 hours -- one in advertising and one in marketing. Eighteen hours of the program are specified courses which includes 6 hours from each of the following three departments: communication studies, marketing, and advertising. There is also an 8-hour comprehensive exam of which 5 hours can be waived if the student has a 3.25 GPA or higher in all courses taken in the specialization.

A student may select one of three options for the two-year Masters program:

• Option I (Thesis)
• Option II (Comprehensive Exam)
• Option III (Independent Project).

There is a substantive difference between these three options, which should be chosen to meet the student's professional goals. Each option provides different opportunities and carries different requirements. Discuss these options with the Director of Graduate Studies and your adviser before making a choice. The choice of option must be approved by the student's adviser and Supervisory Committee.

Approved Specializations: Great Plains Studies (MA and PhD); Marketing, Communication and Advertising (MA only)

For detailed requirements download the M.A. Handbook (pdf).