University of Massachusetts, Department of Communication

Film Studies Mass Communication/Media Studies (including New Media) Performance Studies Rhetoric
University of Massachusetts

overview of program

The emergence of Communication as a multifaceted social science discipline is connected with both the search for new perspectives on contemporary problems and the profusion of technologies of communication. The graduate program in the Department of Communication at the University of Massachusetts approaches communication as the primary social process through which social realities are constituted, maintained, and changed. Those varied processes and contexts constitute the core of their work, with opportunities to pursue communication theory and research.

Carnegie “Doctoral University: Very High Research Activity”

Communication doctorates conferred between 2010-19: 61

Contact information

Director of Graduate Studies

Dr. Henry Geddes

Department of Communication N308 Integrative Learning Center

650 N. Pleasant St.
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003-9278

Tel: 413-545-2795

  • Social Interaction & Culture
  • Film Studies
  • Media, Technology, & Society
  • Media & Cultural Studies
  • Rhetoric & Performance Studies

QS World University Rankings—Communication & Media Studies

  • #101-150 of 200 World Universities

URAP University Rankings—Language, Communication & Culture

  • #98 of 300 World Universities

  • h.D. candidates must have a master’s degree (or equivalent) from an accredited college or university. A student with a BA is not admitted directly into the Ph.D. program, but rather into the M.A. program. Application to the Ph.D. program may then be made before the M.A. is completed. Completion of the M.A. is a condition of—but does not guarantee—admission.

  • Assistant Professor Soo Young Bae, Ph.D., University of Michigan
  • Professor Benjamin Bailey, Ph.D., UCLA
  • Professor Donal Carbaugh, Ph.D., University of Washington
  • Professor Mari Castañeda, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego
  • Associate Professor Briankle Chang, Ph.D., University of Illinois
  • Associate Professor Anne Ciecko, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh
  • Professor Leda Cooks, Ph.D., Ohio University
  • Associate Professor Gonen Dori-Hacohen, Ph.D., University of Haifa, Israel
  • Associate Professor Henry Geddes, Ph.D., University of Texas
  • Associate Professor Stephen Olbrys Gencarella, Ph.D., Indiana University
  • Assistant Professor Seth K. Goldman, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
  • Professor Lisa Henderson, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
  • Professor Sut Jhally, Ph.D., Simon Fraser University
  • Associate Professor Claudio Moreira, Ph.D., University of Illinois
  • Professor Martin Norden, Ph.D., University of Missouri
  • Associate Professor Jonathan Corpus Ong, Ph.D., University of Cambridge
  • Assistant Professor Kimberlee Pérez, Ph.D., Arizona State University
  • Professor Erica Scharrer, Ph.D., Syracuse University
  • Associate Professor Shawn Shimpach, Ph.D., New York University
  • Assistant Professor Alena Vasilyeva, Ph.D., Rutgers University
  • Associate Professor Emily West, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
  • Assistant Professor Weiai (Wayne) Xu, Ph.D., University at Buffalo