NCA's Doctoral Program Guide

University of Pennsylvania, Annenberg School for Communication

The University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication (ASC) is home to world-class faculty and students. ASC combines the intimacy of a selective graduate program with the dynamism, resources and personnel of a major research institute embedded within one of the nation’s top research universities. The School is also a crossroads for numerous visiting scholars and practitioners, providing Annenberg students opportunities to interact both formally and informally with some of the most exciting intellectual talent in the world.

Association of American Universities Member

 

Carnegie "Doctoral University: Very High Research Activity"

 

Communication doctorates conferred between 2010-19: 127

 

Areas of Study

  • Culture, Society, and Communication
  • Global Communication
  • Health Communication
  • Media Institutions
  • New Media and Information Technologies
  • Political Communication
  • Visual Communication

Rankings

QS World University Rankings—Communication & Media Studies

  • #10 of 200 World Universities

URAP University Rankings—Language, Communication & Culture 

  • #19 of 300 World Universities

Admission Requirements

  • Online application form
  • Three letters of recommendation
  • Statement of purpose
  • CV or Resume
  • Official GRE scores
  • Student/unofficial copies of transcripts - from all colleges and universities attended
  • Application fee of $70.
  • Official TOEFL to IELTS scores (Non-native English speaking candidates only)
  • Writing sample (optional)

Graduate Faculty

  • Professor Joseph N. Cappella, Ph.D., Michigan State University
  • Associate Professor Damon Centola, Ph.D., Cornell University
  • Professor Michael X. Delli Carpini, Ph.D., University of Minnesota
  • Associate Professor Emily Falk, Ph.D., UCLA
  • Assistant Professor Sandra González-Bailón, D.Phil., Oxford University
  • Professor Amy Gutmann, Ph.D., Harvard University
  • Professor Robert C. Hornik, Ph.D., Stanford University
  • Professor John L. Jackson, Jr., Ph.D., Columbia University
  • Professor Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin
  • Professor John B. Jemmott III, Ph.D., Harvard University
  • Professor Marwan M. Kraidy, Ph.D., Ohio University 
  • Assistant Professor Yphtach Lelkes, Ph.D., Stanford University
  • Assistant Professor Jessica Lingel, Ph.D., Rutgers University
  • Professor Diana C. Mutz, Ph.D., Stanford University
  • Assistant Professor Sharrona Pearl, Ph.D., Harvard University
  • Associate Professor Victor Pickard, Ph.D., University of Illinois
  • Professor Joseph Turow, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
  • Professor Guobin Yang, Ph.D., New York University
  • Professor Barbie Zelizer, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania

NCA Awards Received by Faculty and Students, 2000-present

  • Diamond Anniversary Book Award, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2021
  • Miller Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award, 2011
  • Winans-Wichelns Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Rhetoric and Public Address, 2009