Course Work
The Annenberg Ph.D. program represents a five-year commitment.
The first four years typically comprises the coursework and milestone exams. The
fifth year is usually devoted solely to completing the dissertation. Only 3 of the
courses are required; the rest are chosen by the student with the guidance of his
or her advisor. The goal is to gain expertise in a specialized area of communication
research, culminating in the completion of the doctoral dissertation.
Annenberg’s curriculum is structured to help the student become an expert in a chosen
research area. A total of 20 course units are required before starting the dissertation;
up to 5 of these may be transferred from a previous Master’s program with approval
from the student’s academic advisor. All students are required to take a noncredit
proseminar as well as introductory courses in research methods and statistics. Students
are also expected to achieve milestones along the way, including the Qualification
Evaluation, the Comprehensive Examination, and the Proposal Defense.
Our courses available represent a mix of our 3 core research areas: Communication
Influence, Communication and Culture, Communication Institutions:
- Faculty and students who study Communication Influence at Annenberg tend to look
at such topics as the
- effects of media in relation to health communication campaigns,
- political knowledge and socialization,
- the information children glean from various types of video programming, and
- the way in which social networks influence and are influenced by new media technologies.
- The Communication and Culture area at Annenberg includes faculty and students grappling
with issues including
- the meaning of popular culture,
- the history and culture of journalism,
- the qualitative reactions of audience members to media,
- the historical and contemporary relationships of media materials to people’s lives,
and
- the implications of visual elements of media such as photography, television, film,
video games, and print.
- Communication Institutions is an area where faculty and students meet around such
questions as
- the role of copyright in the emerging media world,
- the processes and social implications of database marketing,
- the ways in which journalistic organizations create agendas for society,
- the formation of new media structures, and
- the comparative organization of media systems around the globe.
Approximately 15 graduate courses are offered by the Annenberg School each term.
While course titles recur, course content often changes with the interests of faculty,
students, and the world around them. With permission from the academic advisor,
all students are permitted to supplement their Annenberg courses with classes from
across Penn’s 12 graduate and professional schools. Students have benefited from
coursework in the schools of Business, Education, and Social Policy and Practice.
Programs within the school of Arts and Sciences (for example, African-American Studies,
Fine Arts, Psychology, and Sociology) offer relevant courses as well.
Sample Annenberg course offerings are listed below.
Advertising and Society
Attitude and Behavioral Prediction
Children & Media: Evaluation Techniques
Conceptualizing Media Effects
Diasporic Dreams
Diffusion of Innovation
Journalism and the Academy
Mass Media Industries
Media & Sovereignty
Media Ritual
Message Effects
New Media and Social Relationships
Politics of Representation
Public Health Communication
Public Opinion
Sociology of Mass Communication
Social Networks
Social Psychology of Communication
Visual Communication
For detailed descriptions and a current graduate course schedule, visit:
Graduate Offerings .