Curriculum
Students enrolling in the Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media Ph.D. degree program are expected to have completed a master’s degree in a relevant field. A minimum of 56 credit-hours beyond the master’s degree are required to complete the Ph.D. program.
The 56 credit-hours include the following requirements:*
*In addition to the credit-hours listed above, course work in a Communication or English disciplinary area is expected as a pre-requisite for enrollment. The CRDM committee reserves the right to ask students to enroll for preparatory coursework if needed. Those courses will not count towards the necessary 56 credit-hours, unless they were a part of a master’s degree.
Additional requirements include the following:
Minimum 3.0 GPA
maintained in all semesters
Preliminary exam
both written and oral, after coursework is completed
Plan of work
with course plan, committee, and dissertation topic submitted to Graduate School by the time the student completes 18 credit-hours
Oral defense
of the dissertation
Completion of preliminary exam
within 6 years after admission
Completion of all requirements
within 10 years after admission
2 resident credits
in consecutive semesters (residence credits) are earned at the rate of 1 credit for full-time enrollment @ 9 credit-hours, 2/3 credit for part-time enrollment @ 6–8 credit-hours, and 1/3 credit for part-time enrollment @ fewer than 6 credit-hours)
Continuous enrollment
required to maintain continuous registration each fall and spring term until graduation