University of Washington

Students in the Political Communication concentration must satisfy the PhD requirements of their home department (Communication, Political Science, Human Centered Design and Engineering). Students should consult department advisors to discuss how the Political Communication concentration will fit with home program requirements.

A Ph. D. concentration in Political Communication requires the completion of 25 credits from the following four areas. These courses should preferably be completed in this order.

A. Core Course (5 credits)

All students are required to take COM 551/ POLS 551 Political Communication as an introduction to the field. This course is generally offered yearly.

B. Additional Courses (10 credits)

Students will choose two courses from this list. Both of these courses should be from outside the students' home department. Joint listed courses may be counted either way.

C. Methodology

Students must complete one post-Masters methodology course in addition to home department program requirements. Students should consult with program advisor to determine what methodology class should be taken. Students may choose from qualitative, quantitative, and combination methodology courses .

D. Supervised Research

Students recruit a faculty supervisor and develop a research program. This may be arranged as an independent study in which students work independently on the research program with the chosen faculty advisor. Alternately, this may be developed as part of a research-oriented graduate course conducted by the faculty supervisor. The faculty supervisor will notify the program director of satisfactory completion of the research project. Students are encouraged to use these projects as models for dissertation research and/or to submit them for conference presentation and publication.

University of Washington Home Page