About The Program
The Department of Communication Arts and Sciences at Penn State offers M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. The academic programs are developed by the individual students in consultation with their graduate faculty committees. Although academic work in most areas of communication is available, there are no prescriptive programs of study in any particular area. Typically, each student chooses an academic adviser from the graduate faculty and, in consultation with that adviser, chooses additional faculty members from inside and outside of the department to serve on his or her committee. The student then proposes for acceptance by this committee the course work that will constitute his or her formal program of study. The program of courses may or may not be confined to one of the areas of emphasis listed below. In sum, each student nominates his or her own graduate faculty and develops his or her own curriculum. Individual programs of study represent one of the unique features of graduate study in communication at Penn State.
The Graduate Program Offers Top-Ranked* Educational Opportunities Emphasizing the Following Areas
INTERPERSONAL/FAMILY COMMUNICATION: Parent-Child Communication, Lifespan Communication, Family Dynamics, Divorce and Family Communication Systems, At-Risk Behavior in Intimate Relationships, Dialectics of Disclosure and Avoidance, Uncertainty and Information Management
HEALTH COMMUNICATION: Social Influence, Health Campaigns, Doctor-Patient Communication, Organizational Communication in Health Care Settings, Health Message Design
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION: Intergroup Communication, Ethnicity and Identity, Rhetoric of Culture, Language and Culture, International Communication, Ethnicity and Health
RHETORIC: Political Discourse, Social Movements, Rhetoric of the Media, Rhetorical Criticism, Rhetorical Theory (classical and modern), History of Public Address
*Penn State Ranking
Health communication (tied for first)
Intercultural-international communication (ranked seventh)
Interpersonal-small group communication (ranked third – includes family communication)
Political communication (ranked tenth)
Rhetorical communication (ranked third)
