COMMU-PHD - Communication (PhD)

Stanford's Department of Communication focuses on media in all its forms. The department studies the processes and effects of mass communication: the nature and social role of the various media; their structure, function, and ethics; and their impact on the political system, culture, and society. In this context, it considers not only traditional mass media, such as newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and film, but also information technology, online media, virtual reality, and the Internet. Students are trained as social scientists who can study the media and as potential practitioners in the use of the media in journalism, mass communications, and digital media. The department combines theory and practice and fosters individual research opportunities for its students, employing both quantitative and qualitative approaches.

University requirements for the Ph.D. are described in the "Graduate Degrees" section of this bulletin.

The minimum number of academic units required for the Ph.D. at Stanford is 135, up to 45 of which can be transferred either from a master's degree at the University or from another accredited institution.

The department offers a Ph.D. in Communication, which focuses on theory and research. First-year students are required to complete introductory courses in communication theory and research, research methods, and statistics. These core courses, grounded in the social science literature, emphasize how people respond to media and how media institutions function. In addition, Ph.D. students must complete a minimum of three literature survey courses and related advanced seminars in Communication. Students also take significant course work outside the department in their area of interest. Each student builds a research specialty relating communication to current faculty interests in such areas as ethics, computational journalism, information processing, data science, law, online communities, human-computer interaction, politics, voting, virtual reality, psychology of technology, history of technology, critical data studies, emotion regulation, personality expression, digital media and change across the life span, knowledge production, the influence of algorithms, personality and digital media, and information technology. Regardless of the area of specialization, the Ph.D. program is designed primarily for students interested in university research and teaching or other research or analyst positions.

Students must complete the requirements listed on the Degree Requirements Tab for the Ph.D. degree in Communication. Additional information is available in the Degree Requirements and Department Procedures for Ph.D. Students and Ph.D. Advisors (pdf).

Admission

Prospective graduate students should see the Office of Graduate Admissions website and the Applications and Financial Aid section of the department website for detailed information and application materials. Submission of general Graduate Record Examination (GRE) test scores is optional. The Communication Department does not require any GRE subject tests.