Communication Studies

The Department of Communication Studies offers the Master of Arts degree, in Communication Studies, with emphases in interpersonal and rhetorical studies. Courses of study are designed both for students with a career orientation — in such diverse arenas as politics, education, law, public service, the ministry, and media relations — and for those who aspire to continue their education in doctoral programs.

All students are required to take four introductory courses: survey of communcation studies, rhetorical-critical research methods, empirical research methods, and theories of communication (COM 710, 711, 712, and 730 ). Graduate teaching assistants are required to take an additional course in college teaching in communication in their first semester (COM 725 or prior to being admitted to the program if a spring admit). Yet, because each student’s goals are unique, the curriculum allows flexibility in developing individual degree programs. Such development aims to balance the communication discipline’s varied traditions in theoretical, historical, and applied research, with particular attention to the changing communication culture of the twenty-first century.

Tom Burkholder, Ph.D., Interim Chair
Donovan Conley, Ph.D., Graduate Coordinator  

Program Information 

Communication Studies Faculty 

Communication Studies Courses 

Department Website

Plan

Master of Arts - Communication Studies