Doctor of Philosphy in Communication Studies

The Department of Communication Studies offers the Ph.D. 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.

Doctor of Philosophy Degree

Applicants for this degree have met the minimum requirements for the masters degree. The student must take such qualifying examinations as may be prescribed by the department. General requirements of the Graduate College also apply. Two research tools are required for the Ph.D. degree. This requirement may be met by any combination of the methods described in the UNL Graduate Bulletin and the department's Ph.D. Handbook (pdf).

Approved Specializations: Great Plains Studies (M.A. and Ph.D.)

Our program is designed so that full-time students will complete the doctoral degree within three to four years. Students complete coursework and take comprehensive exams/orals/dissertation pre-proposal during fall of the third year, advancing to candidacy (all but dissertation), soon thereafter by completing a full dissertation proposal and meeting with the Supervisory Committee. Students would complete the degree by the end of the third year or within the fourth year.

Three stages of doctoral program: Work toward the Ph.D. in Communication studies consists of three stages: (1) coursework and preparing the Program of Study, (2) written comprehensive, dissertation proposal, and oral examination, and (3) research dissertation and final oral examination.

Normally a student's plan of study contains a minimum of 105 hours, including a maximum of 30 hours transferred from the Masters program, 60 additional hours of coursework beyond the Masters, and 15 hours of research tool coursework distributed in approximately the following manner:

• 30 hours (maximum) of program coursework acceptable for transfer from M.A.
• 39 hours (minimum) of program coursework beyond the M.A.
• 21 hours dissertation/independent study/internship (minimum = 12)
• 15 hours research tool coursework (including transferable M.A. work)
• TOTAL= 105 hours

For detailed requirements download the Ph.D. Handbook (pdf).