The Ph.D. Program in Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media prepares doctoral students to analyze the social, cultural, rhetorical, philosophical, and political dimensions of information technologies, new communication media, and digital texts and to actively engage digital media through research, criticism, production, and practice. 

Students work with program faculty from the departments of Communication and English and with affiliated faculty from departments across the university to study oral, written, visual, computational, and multimodal forms of communication and rhetoric and digital media; to examine the transformation of communication in the context of converging digital media and communication networks; and to address the theoretical challenges of innovative, interdisciplinary research.

Faculty guide students in this work by using a broad range of social scientific and humanistic methods in which they specialize. The program offers comprehensive mentoring for professional development, diverse opportunities for teaching experience, and research assistantships associated with grant-funded faculty projects. CRDM faculty and students collaborate with colleagues in science and technology fields across the university and the Research Triangle.

Our graduates have been very successful finding employment in a variety of positions in academia (both at research-intensive universities and at teaching-oriented liberal arts colleges), government and corporate organizations, where there is a growing demand for the interdisciplinary skill sets developed in CRDM.

CRDM encourages prospective students to consult the FAQ page. 

A vibrant intellectual community of faculty, students, and alumni;

A key node in an interdisciplinary network of faculty across the university;

An innovative, flexible curriculum of core seminars and electives;

An ongoing conversation drawing on intellectual perspectives from the social sciences, digital humanities, and critical/cultural studies;

A place to gain teaching and research experience;

A program where students and faculty produce innovative projects in digital media arts, gaming, and multimedia communication;

Located in Raleigh, North Carolina, within the Research Triangle, an expanding cultural community and internationally recognized site of research and innovation.