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Program Options
Students
in the Ph.D. program in communication, information and library studies
may elect to focus their study in any of the following areas:
- Communication (COM)
- Library and Information Science (LIS)
- Media Studies (MS)
Communication (COM)
reflects faculty research and scholarship focusing on three
interrelated core areas: social interaction, organizational
communication, and mediated communication. Problem-oriented research at
the intersection of these areas includes such prominent contemporary
concerns as health communication; gender, language, and social
interaction; persuasion; identity; leadership; change; policy; culture;
collaboration; and interpersonal communication. The department houses
three centers that provide various opportunities for doctoral students:
the Center for Communication and Health Issues, the Center for Mobile
Communication Studies, and the Center for Organizational Development
and Leadership.
Library and Information Science (LIS) provides
a strong academic foundation for students seeking theoretical and
research skills for scholarly and professional leadership in the
library and information fields. LIS offers concentrations in
information science and library science. Information science focuses on
information behavior and systematic responses to it. Students in this
area develop an understanding of and research capability in human
information-seeking activity, information retrieval systems, and
information structures. Library science concentrates on digital as well
as physical libraries and information centers as part of a diverse
global information environment. The concentration considers the design,
management, and evaluation of information systems and services
responsive to users' information and cultural needs.
Media Studies (MS)
is concerned with the political, social, psychological, and economic
impact of the media, as well as with the cultural and historical
conditions that give rise to contemporary media. The area includes the
study of both the "traditional" mass media and newer electronic
technologies and telecommunications. Research and coursework cover
media content and effects; audience reception and interpretive
processes; the emergence of audiences understood in terms of race, age,
gender, class, and politics; the sociology and production of culture;
communication law, regulation, and policy; and the media's roles in
political and international communication and in educational systems.
The
program encourages students whose interests fall across these three
areas to develop an individual plan of study in consultation with the
program director, area coordinators, and their adviser.
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