Graduate Program and Curriculum

Programs

On the graduate level, the Institute of Communications Research offers only a doctoral degree in communications; students wishing to study for a master's degree do so in related fields outside the Institute.

For students desiring professional degrees, the College of Communications offers master's degrees in Advertising and Journalism (news-editorial and broadcast). Allied departments, such as Economics, Linguistics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, and Speech Communication offer master's degrees usually acceptable toward advanced work in communications. Inquiries should be addressed to the department concerned, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801.

A graduate minor in Gender and Women's Studies (GWS) is available in cooperation with the Gender and Women's Studies Program, and certification in criticism and interpretive theory is available through the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, an interdisciplinary clearinghouse for faculty and graduate students interested in cultural criticism and critical theory.

The Institute cooperates with the University of Illinois College of Medicine in offering the combined M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. The Medical Scholars Program is the largest and broadest program of its kind in the world, with more than 150 students enrolled in fifty graduate programs. Equipped with an excellent medical education and Ph.D. training, graduates of the Medical Scholars Program have the credentials to assume leadership roles in academic medicine, medical research, and health policy. The Institute's advisor is Professor Paula Treichler, 228 Greg Hall, 810 S. Wright Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801; (217)333-1549.

Core Traditions of the ICR

The doctoral program in communications is administered and staffed by the Institute. However, it also draws upon faculty members from the College of Communications and other departments throughout the University of Illinois. At the core of the program are those traditions of research that have taken hold at Illinois over the years:

1) inquiry into social and cultural aspects of communication with emphasis on critical-historical analysis, 2) studies of economic and political aspects of communication institutions, 3) studies in language, meaning, and psycholinguistics, and 4) studies in the processes and effects of communication including public opinion and attitude change.

With the assistance of cooperating departments, significant studies also have been developed in advertising, agricultural communications, journalism, film, and interpersonal and organizational communication. The doctoral program is deliberately designed to be broad and flexible, and students are encouraged to draw upon the full range and interests of the faculty. Although students normally develop an area of specialization within communication, the program emphasizes a breadth of perspectives on human and mass communications as befits its interdisciplinary nature. Each student's program is individually designed (with the aid of an advisor) to reflect a particular interest in communication; some of the most successful graduate work has resulted from breaking traditional definitions of specialization and creating original programs reflecting novel perspectives.

Curriculum of the Doctoral Program

Proseminar (Communications 571 and 572). Because students are admitted from diverse backgrounds, the Proseminar first introduces them to the history of communication research. The second semester revolves around the current debates, typically divided into the four major lines of inquiry that characterize the Institute's research tradition. While gaining an overview of the central issues and learning a common language, students in the Proseminar are also able to locate their own interests more precisely within the field of communications in its historical and contemporary forms.

Overview Courses

While flexibility is the hallmark of ICR's program, students are strongly urged to take two or more overview courses that augment their area of specialization. Such courses, systematically extending proseminar material, give a broad overview of a significant body of scholarship in established areas of communication study, enable students to locate their own interests within the field as a whole, and provide solid preparation for courses that many students are likely to teach. Overview courses ensure breadth of knowledge within an interdisciplinary program such as the Institute's, where students have great latitude in designing their programs and are encouraged to take courses outside the field of communications.

A number of currently available courses accomplish these goals. Specific examples are listed below, and the list is periodically updated to reflect developments in the field and available faculty resources. Though these courses are not formal requirements for obtaining the Ph.D., students are expected to include at least two of them in their proposed program of study for the Program Evaluation Committee. Under exceptional circumstances, substitute courses that are equally broad might be proposed, or a proposal justified that forgoes these designated courses. In preparing proposals, students should consult with their faculty advisors; they are welcome to seek additional help from other experienced faculty, including members of the Program Evaluation Committee.

580 Seminar on Social Interaction

563 International Communications

568 Political Economy of Communications

570 Communications and Popular Culture

573 History and Theory of Freedom of the Press

590 Media and Politics

590 Philosophy of Technology

590 Body, Gender, and Culture

590 Cultural Studies of Medicine

590 Women in Film and Television

Research Methods

Within the 64 hours of course work, students must complete at least 8 hours in research methods. In order to provide a competent background for constructively understanding the field's wide-ranging literature, one course will normally be quantitative and the other qualitative. Every other year on a rotating basis, the Institute offers Communications 592 (Quantitative Research Methods in Communications) and Communications 593 (Qualitative Research Methods in Communications), and typically students register for both. Communication Research Practicums, seminars in Historiography and Advanced Interpretive Methods (COMM/SOC 580), and courses in Advertising Research Methods are routinely offered as well.

In addition to methodology courses taught by the College of Communications faculty, students are encouraged to consider relevant courses in quantitative or non-quantitative methods elsewhere on campus. Listings of such courses are available in the ICR office.

While following the principles of breadth and flexibility, in consultation with their advisor, students will typically take more than two methodology courses in order to prepare adequately for dissertation research and for a productive scholarly life beyond graduation.

Major and Minor

Aside from the Proseminar, and making decisions about the Overview and Research Methods courses, students are expected to organize programs that are consistent with their designated interests. The program is designed in consultation with an advisor, and uses courses from both inside and outside the Institute. Students must identify both a major and a minor area of study.

A major consists of a minimum of 48 hours of course work plus a minimum of 32 dissertation hours. In the past students have had majors such as these approved: Advertising, Cultural Studies, Institutional Approaches to the Mass Media, Communication Systems, Sociology of News, Feminist Theory and Women's Studies, Mass Communication Effects, Mass Media and Politics, Gender and Race, Communication History, Communications and Interpretive Sociology, Philosophy of Communications, Information Science, Communications Technology, Technology in Developing Countries, International Communication, Sociology of Broadcasting, Communications Technology and Culture, Advertising Research, Popular Culture, Philosophy of Technology, Broadcasting and Mass Media Images, Media-Audience Relationship, Multiculturalism, Social-Economic-Legal Factors in Telecommunications Industries, Research Methods in Communications, Advertising and Marketing, Intercultural Communications, Communication Ethics, History and Social Theory, Legal/Ethical Issues in Advertising, Psycholinguistics, Public Opinion, Film and Radio-Television, Communication and Social Change, Theories of Popular Literature and Culture, Latin American Studies, and Consumer Socialization.

A minor can be completed in either of two ways: 1) A sole minor of 16 hours (in an area other than communications, which may be intradisciplinary or interdisciplinary). Such courses are chosen to complement the student's special field within Communications. 2) A split minor totaling 24 hours. Twelve of these hours are taken in an area other than communications and 12 hours within communications. The hours taken for minor credit within communications must not be in the defined major area. Courses cross-listed in communications may not be counted toward a minor in a discipline other than communications.

Interdisciplinary Concentration in Cultural Studies and Interpretive Research

As early in the doctoral program as possible, the student submits to the Student Evaluation Committee a preliminary Petition for Advancement to Candidacy that outlines the student's tentative program leading to the dissertation. The committee reviews the program and may make recommendations about the selection of proposed courses. Normally during the last year of course work a second petition is submitted that must be approved before the student can take the preliminary examination.

Preliminary Examination

After completing at least 64 hours of graduate credit in an approved program, the student takes the preliminary examination. This exam is intended to test the student's knowledge of the field of communications, the specialization, and the minor field of study. The examination consists of two parts: a written examination covering the general field and the student's particular interest, and an oral examination usually given shortly after the written examination. Before the oral examination is taken, the student submits a dissertation proposal to the doctoral committee since discussion of the proposed dissertation is usually part of the oral examination. The exam is administered by a doctoral committee selected by the student with the approval of the advisor and the director of the Institute. Upon passing, the student begins work on the dissertation.

Dissertation

Because the Doctor of Philosophy degree is primarily a research degree, candidates are required to demonstrate a capacity for independent research by producing an original dissertation on a topic connected with the special area of study.

Final Examination

After students distribute polished drafts of their dissertations, they take final oral examinations administered by the appointed committees. The student is required to support and interpret the dissertation to the committee's satisfaction, as well as to show an adequate grasp of the selected area of concentration that it represents.