The Ph.D. program is designed to be completed in 4 years, and requires at least 60 credit hours beyond the master's degree. These hours will be in a planned course of study approved and overseen by the student's advisor and advisory committee.

The department currently offers two areas of concentration:

• Organizational Communication
• Media and Society

Students with a master's degree in another discipline may be required to complete additional graduate course work in specific areas of communication deemed necessary by the student's advisor and advisory committee. Graduate work taken beyond the master's degree may be judged applicable by the advisory committee, but post-master's graduate credits beyond 9 semester hours will not count toward the 60 credit minimum required for the Ph.D. Doctoral students may not take more than six credit hours of independent study. In line with NDSU policy, a minimum of 27 course credits that the PhD student takes need to be taken in a classroom setting (not online or asynchronous).

Students are strongly encouraged to take all of the Summer Scholars courses.

Core Courses (12 credits)

• COMM 701 - Advanced Research Methods
• COMM 702 - Intro to College Teaching
• COMM 711 - Communication Theory
• COMM 735 or COMM 783 - Theory courses in Media and Society or Organizational Communication

Content Concentration

• Minimum of 12 credit hours in 700-level courses in the student's major concentration area
• Minimum of 9 credit hours in 700-level courses in the student's minor concentration area

Research Methods Courses (at least 12 credits, exclusive of COMM 700)

Dissertation (at least 15 credit hours)

• PhD Timeline
• Graduate Courses