The PhD in Communication Studies draws on preeminent scholarship in both the humanities and social sciences traditions. The program is designed for those intending to pursue a teaching and research career in higher education.

A concentration in Rhetoric and Public Culture enables students to explore how texts, images, and other media function as modes of action, with particular regard to those practices that organize public thought and social relations. Faculty and student research is interdisciplinary and participates in a range of contemporary theoretical discussions, paying special attention to how power, legitimacy, and identity are negotiated rhetorically. Program conversations attend carefully to the impact of social differences as organized by particular constructions of race, class, sexuality, gender, nationality, locale, and other factors.