The graduate program in Communication at Cornell offers PhD students and candidates rigorous training in our rich, interdisciplinary field. Our faculty spans diverse areas within Communication, including human-computer interaction, media and platform studies, health communication and policy, risk communication, large language models, environmental communication, and big data. Our program takes empirical approaches to communication phenomena through a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods. We explore multiple forms of civic engagement, such as working with farmers using digital technologies, collaborating with local communities on environmental challenges, and developing social media platforms to build online resilience and digital literacy skills. We are committed to inclusive research and teaching practices that address inequities and social justice in communication processes.
The Communication program at Cornell examines communication in a variety of domains, including:
- culture and identity
- groups, organizations, and networks
- media studies
- policy and public engagement
- science, health, risk, and environment
- social inequality
- technology and social media
Our faculty approaches these domains at various levels of analysis (individual, dyadic, group, organizational, cultural, institutional, and societal) to generate knowledge about communication as a process and set of institutions that shape the social world. We are proud of our home within Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, a connection that emphasizes research engaged with social issues including health, risk, the environment, communication technologies, and media impacts.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
The Field of Communication at Cornell University offers a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree. The degree is completed in residence on the Ithaca, NY campus and admits students for the fall semester only. Our research degree program is designed to offer students a solid foundation in Communication theory and methods as well as flexibility in areas of specialization, topics for research projects, and methodological approaches. Our doctoral students become active, independent researchers. All first-year students take introductory classes in theory and methods, after which they complete an independent research project in their second year, an A exam in their third year, and a dissertation with defense in their fourth or fifth year, in accordance with the Graduate School’s timeline. Our PhD alumni have been very successful finding positions as teaching and research faculty at universities, as policy and research experts at government agencies, as senior staff at non-government organizations, as consultants in the private sector, and in other professions that benefit from an advanced Communication degree. Our faculty are committed to teaching, training, advising, and mentoring our graduate students from their arrival in the program through graduation and beyond.
This digital manual is intended to guide PhD students through the degree program in the Field of Communication. The information has been compiled by the Field’s Graduate Program Committee (GPC). The GPC establishes the detailed requirements and regulations for students in the Field listed in this manual, which is updated regularly.
