If you’re considering teaching communication in college, a bachelor’s degree won’t be enough. The Communications Liberal Arts and Sciences option master’s degree from the Department of Communication Studies is a great place to start. It’s also a useful foundation for a professional communication career and can be another step down the road toward a doctorate if that’s where you’re heading.
A graduate degree in communication studies requires a 12-credit core of four courses: Introduction to Communication Studies, Quantitative Research in Communication, Qualitative Research in Communication, and Studies in Communication Theory.
For the Communications Liberal Arts and Sciences option, you’ll add five more courses totaling 15 hours: Theories of Rhetoric, Rhetorical Criticism, Interpersonal Communication, Interpersonal Communication in Contexts, and your choice between Studies in Persuasion or Contemporary Rhetoric and Public Issues. You’ll need 9 hours of electives chosen from a list specified for this degree; among the elective choices is a paid, professional internship.
At the end of it all, you’ll be required to demonstrate your competency in the field, by preparing and defending a thesis or research paper or completing a series of comprehensive written and oral examinations:
· To pursue a thesis, you must enroll in THES 698, submit your approved thesis, and successfully complete an oral defense of your thesis.
· As an alternative, you may take comprehensive exams. This entails successfully completing a written exam and an oral defense of that exam.
· If you prefer to submit a scholarly research paper, you should enroll in RES 697, submit your approved paper, and complete both the written and oral comprehensive exams.
If you’re enrolled full-time, you should be able to complete your master of art’s degree in communication studies in two years. You also may enroll part-time; completion time will vary depending upon your class load. Find even more details in the
graduate catalog for communication studies.