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:*

15 hours

of core courses‌

3 hours

of research methods‌

12 hours

of elective focus‌

6 hours

of professional development

20 hours

of research, exams, and dissertations

*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

Communication, Rhetoric and Digital Media