Communication - PhD

The Ph.D. program in Communication provides students with a theoretical and practical understanding of the process of human communication. The department embraces a social science orientation that includes quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research. Students work alongside faculty employing empirical methods to study important societal issues concerning human communication. Our program is small by design and it provides students with essential preparation in theory construction, analysis, and research methodologies for conducting original scholarship in communication. Our primary areas include interpersonal-intergroup, media-digital, and organizational-group communication, and also many subareas.

Students entering the program without an M.A. in Communication will earn one on their way to the Ph.D. Review M.A./Ph.D. program requirements here for more information.

• Academia

• Industry

• Nonprofit organizations (healthcare)

• Universities such as Rutgers, Illinois, Texas, Tennessee, Amsterdam

• Meta, Linked-In

• Federal Government

• Students who earn Ph.D.s in our program have opportunities for employment in research universities, liberal arts programs, industry, healthcare, nonprofit, and governmental jobs. Many students refine their interests during their course of study.

• Other areas of social science including psychology, sociology, management, political science, media studies

• Global communication

• Media literacy

• Technology and society

• Policy and politics

• Healthcare

• Social justice

www.comm.ucsb.edu

www.comm.ucsb.edu/graduate

www.comm.ucsb.edu/graduate/prospective