Program Requirements

The Ph.D. degree is granted upon completion of course requirements, passing evaluation of the qualifying examination, and successful defense of the doctoral dissertation. Requirements discussed in this section include:

• Master's Level Statistics Competency
• Course Requirements
• Core Requirements
• Core Courses
• Research Practicum
• Program Area Requirements
• Communication (COM)
• Library and Information Science (LIS)
• Media Studies (MS)
• Transfer of Approved Master's Degree Course Credits
• Dissertation Research Credits
• Grading Policy
• Policy on Incomplete Grades
• Qualifying Examination Requirement
• Dissertation Requirements
• Timelines for Completing Requirements
  

All students are encouraged to involve themselves with faculty research as early as possible with multiple and varied research experiences. Doctoral students are required to attend program-sponsored colloquia, regularly held on select Friday afternoons throughout the academic year. Students are encouraged to also take advantage of the many additional colloquia, conferences, lectures, symposia, and workshops scheduled each year, not only at the School of Communication and Information but throughout the university and the many other fine research universities within easy commute. As an additional part of one's doctoral preparation, students are expected to actively submit to and present at various regional, national, and/or international scholarly conferences relevant to their research.