The Communication Studies program offers a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at the Lawrence Campus. The program in Communication Studies at the University of Kansas is research intensive and primarily designed to train students for careers doing research and teaching in the field of human communication at institutions of higher education. More specifically, our graduate program expects students to focus on one of the department’s two primary areas of research, with a narrower focus on one or two of the subareas:
- Relationships & Social Interaction, with an emphasis on digital media, interpersonal, intercultural, and organizational communication.
- Rhetoric & Political Communication, with an emphasis on argumentation, democratic inclusion, digital media, political institutions, and public memory.
Across both areas of research, our department collectively focuses on communication as it relates to gender, race, social class, national identity, and other cultural indices. Moreover, the department offers training in qualitative, quantitative, and rhetorical methods.
Almost all Communication Studies graduate students are funded through the department as either Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTA) or Graduate Research Assistants (GRA), which both include competitive stipends, tuition coverage, and health care benefits. In addition, all GTAs and GRAs are provided annual travel assistance to attend academic conferences, and the department awards approximately $25,000 a year in graduate awards for research, teaching, and service.
Admission to Graduate Studies
An applicant seeking to pursue graduate study in the College may be admitted as either a degree-seeking or non-degree seeking student. Policies and procedures of Graduate Studies govern the process of Graduate admission. These may be found in the Graduate Studies section of the online catalog.
Please consult the Departments & Programs section of the online catalog for information regarding program-specific admissions criteria and requirements. Special admissions requirements pertain to Interdisciplinary Studies degrees, which may be found in the Graduate Studies section of the online catalog.
Graduate Admission
Eligibility criteria for admission to the Ph.D. program follow Graduate Studies' admission policy. Non-native speakers of English must meet Graduate Admissions' English proficiency requirements.
Potential students must submit a complete online graduate application. For all domestic and international Ph.D. applicants, please check the most updated application requirements and deadline on the COMS PhD Admissions page.
For additional questions regarding program requirements and application processes, please contact the Director of Graduate Studies, Dr. Yan Bing Zhang, or the Graduate Program Coordinator, Alec Graham.
Ph.D. Degree Requirements
The Communication Studies Ph.D. program is designed for students who have previously completed a Master’s degree in communication. Students are required to complete 42 credit hours of coursework, with at least 30 of those credit hours taken within Communication Studies. In addition to coursework, doctoral students will complete a comprehensive exam including both written and oral components. Following the comprehensive exam, doctoral candidates will complete a written dissertation and defend the dissertation in an oral defense.
Requirements include:
Course List | Code | Title | Hours |
| COMS 859 | Introduction to Graduate Studies in Communication Studies | 3 |
| |
| COMS 851 | Communication Research: Historical and Descriptive | 3 |
| or COMS 852 | Communication Research: Behavioral and Social Science |
| 12 |
| 18 |
| 6 |
All new GTAs must take COMS 920: Seminar in Teaching Oral Communication, this can be an elective or potentially part of a content area.
Any adjustment to the required number of COMS course hours must be approved by the Graduate Committee through a formal petition. That petition should offer a full explanation of why the adjustment is being requested and have the full support of the advisor. If a student has received an M.A. degree from the Department of Communication Studies at KU, they will need to replace the required courses they have already taken during their MA studies (e.g., COMS 859; COMS 852 or COMS 851) with additional electives to reach 42 hours of doctoral coursework.
Research Skills & Responsible Scholarship requirement:
- The university requires that every doctoral student have training in responsible scholarship and research skills pertinent to the field of research and appropriate to the doctoral level. This requirement must be met before taking the Comprehensive Oral Exam.
- This requirement may be fulfilled by taking either COMS 851 Communication Research: Historical & Descriptive or COMS 852: Communication Research: Behavioral & Social Science, in addition to four graduate research methods courses as approved by the Director of Graduate Studies.
Successful candidates will satisfactory complete both a written and an oral comprehensive examination over communication theory, research methodology, and the student’s two areas of emphasis. All students must enroll in dissertation hours (COMS 999) in accordance with the University policy on Doctoral Candidacy.
Doctoral students will complete a written dissertation in consultation with their faculty advisor & committee members and must successfully defend this work in a final oral examination.
Approved Methodology Courses
The following lists identify methods courses taught in and outside of the department for the two main research areas: Relationships & Social Interaction and Rhetoric & Political Communication. The faculty of the Communication Studies Department agrees that these courses qualify as methods courses toward the course requirements for doctoral candidates.
Three caveats:
- These lists are not comprehensive. Other courses may count as methods courses provided the student receives approval from the advisor.
- The courses on these lists are not required. These are recommended courses for training in each methods type.
- All methods courses should be chosen with the advisor's input.
Rhetorical methods courses include but are not limited to:
Course List | Code | Title | Hours |
| COMS 930 | Seminar in Speech: _____ (Postmodern Rhetorical Theories) | 1-4 |
| COMS 930 | Seminar in Speech: _____ (Contemporary Theories in Public Address) | 1-4 |
| COMS 930 | Seminar in Speech: _____ (Critical Theory as Critical Method) | 1-4 |
| COMS 930 | Seminar in Speech: _____ (Feminist Theory) | 1-4 |
| COMS 951 | Seminar in Movement Theory and Genre Criticism | 3 |
| COMS 952 | Seminar in Mythic and Narrative Approaches to Rhetorical Criticism | 3 |
| COMS 955 | Seminar in Rhetorical Criticism | 3 |
Please consult with your advisor and other relevant faculty members about courses that may meet the research methods requirement. Courses that may be used to meet a Methods requirement instead of Theory, because they involve systematic and explicit reflection on research methods including appropriate research questions, objects of study, and units of analysis include:
Course List | Code | Title | Hours |
| COMS 933 | Theories of Rhetoric: Neo-Classical | 2-3 |
Courses outside of COMS may qualify as a rhetorical methods course subject to advisor approval.
In Department Qualitative Methods Courses
Course List | Code | Title | Hours |
| COMS 855 | Qualitative Research Methods | 3 |
| COMS 930 | Seminar in Speech: _____ (Analyzing Qualitative Data) | 1-4 |
| COMS 930 | Seminar in Speech: _____ (Ethnography and Social Interaction) | 1-4 |
It is recommended that graduate students complete COMS 855 prior to taking qualitative methods courses outside of Communication Studies
Qualitative Methods Graduate Courses at KU that are Not in Communication Studies:
Courses with an asterisk have been recommended by our graduate students or affiliate faculty. Please review all course selections with your advisor prior to enrolling.
Course List | Code | Title | Hours |
| |
| AMS 803 | Research Methods in American Studies * | 3 |
| AMS 998 | Seminar in: _____ (special topics) * | 3 |
| |
| ANTH 783 | Doing Ethnography * | 3 |
| |
| JOUR 829 | Marketing Communications Research | 3 |
| |
| POLS 708 | Advanced Qualitative Research Methods | 3 |
| |
| PUAD 937 | Qualitative Methods in Public Administration | 3 |
In Department Quantitative Methods Course
Course List | Code | Title | Hours |
| COMS 856 | Communication Research: Quantitative Analysis | 3 |
| COMS 930 | Seminar in Speech: _____ (Conditional and Indirect Effects in Statistics) | 1-4 |
| COMS 930 | Seminar in Speech: _____ (Social Network Analysis) | 1-4 |
It is recommended that graduate students complete COMS 856 prior to taking quantitative methods courses outside of Communication Studies
Introductory Outside COMS Quantitative Courses
Course List | Code | Title | Hours |
| PSYC 790 | Statistical Methods in Psychology I | 4 |
| or EPSY 810 | Regression and ANOVA: General Linear Models |
| PSYC 818 | Experimental Research Methods in Social Psychology | 3 |
| EPSY 811 | | 3 |
Advanced Outside COMS Quantitative Courses
Course List | Code | Title | Hours |
| PSYC 791 | Statistical Methods in Psychology II | 4 |
| EPSY 940 | | 3 |
| PSYC 896 | Structural Equation Modeling I | 4 |
