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Director, Institute of Communications Research: Bruce A. Williams
Director of Graduate Studies: Robert McChesney
Institute of Communications Research
228 Gregory Hall
810 South Wright Street
Urbana, IL 61801
(217) 333-1549
irc@uiuc.edu
Graduate Degree Program
The program for the Doctor of Philosophy in Communications is administered
by the Institute of Communications Research in the College of Communications.
It provides a core program in communications and permits advanced
specialization in several areas: social and cultural aspects of communication
with an emphasis on critical-historical analysis; studies of economic
and political aspects of communication institutions; studies in language,
meaning, and linguistics; and processes and effects of communication
including public opinion and attitude change. The program applies
the methods and disciplines of the social sciences supported by the
humanities, fine and applied arts, and natural sciences to the basic
problems of human communications. It is intended for students who
plan careers in teaching communications theory and such subjects as
popular culture, film, and media studies; scholarly research on the
history, control, and ethics of the mass media; research on public
opinion measurement, cultural studies, gender, political economy,
international communications, medicine, technology, advertising, communication
effects, psycholinguistics, and semantics; and executive jobs in government
and industry requiring breadth, perspective, and a scholarly background.
Admission
Any student with a bachelor’s or master’s degree and with
a substantial background in the humanities, social sciences, or physical
sciences is eligible to apply to the communications doctoral program.
All candidates for admission must submit an application for admission
along with an application fee, transcripts of all undergraduate and
graduate courses taken and grades earned, and three letters of recommendation.
Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores are required. International
students from non-English-speaking countries are required to take
the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The minimum score
is 600 on the paper-based test (250 on the computer-based test). Students
normally are admitted to start the program only during the fall term.
Only under exceptional circumstances are they allowed to begin in
the spring or summer term.
All material for fall admission should be submitted by February 1
of the same calendar year.
Doctor of Philosophy
The Ph.D. program requires a minimum of 96 ghbeyond the bachelor’s
degree. Students working toward a Ph.D. degree usually require from
three to five years to complete their work. Full-time students entering
the program directly after receiving a bachelor’s degree should
expect to take two full years of coursework and a minimum of one additional
year for the preparation of a thesis. Full-time students entering
with a master’s degree should expect to transfer only 8 to 12
gh of coursework. Doctoral students must pass preliminary examinations
covering coursework and declared specialties and a final examination
covering the thesis. A master’s degree in communications is
not offered. Students desiring to complete a master’s degree
should consider enrolling in the Departments of Journalism or Advertising
or in one of the departments in the social sciences.
Concentration or Minor in Cultural Studies and Interpretive Research
Cultural Studies and Interpretive Research is an interdisciplinary,
intercollege concentration of 32 gh or minor of 16 gh. It is open
to Ph.D. students in affiliated programs who wish to obtain expertise
in cultural studies, social theory, and interpretive research while
completing their degree requirements within their home departments.
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