About Our Graduate Programs

Minnesota has been recognized historically as one of the foremost institutions for the study of mass communication. One reason for this is the quality of our faculty members, which is apparent with a quick look at the awards they have won, the positions they have held in national and international organizations and their roles as editors, editorial board members and contributors to the discipline's top journals. State-of-the-art classrooms, labs and research facilities enhance graduate education at Minnesota, as does the program's location in a dynamic media hub.

Perhaps our greatest resource is our graduate student body. Every year, our students present research at major conferences, publish in leading journals and books, receive recognition by academic organizations and work for major media organizations. SJMC Ph.D. graduates have gone on to academic positions at top-ranked universities such as Harvard, Wisconsin, Georgia and Penn State. Other Ph.D. and M.A. students have pursued careers at high-profile nonprofit organizations, major advertising, public relations and media organizations, large corporations and as consultants.

Mass audiences might accumulate and grow in different ways than in the days of three U.S. broadcast television networks, but mass audiences nonetheless are still vital to understanding global dynamic. Doing research in this arena in a satisfying way requires an interdisciplinary approach. Our faculty composition reflects this idea. We have psychologists, attorneys and anthropologists on our faculty. We actively collaborate with faculty and students in political science, public health, psychology and computer science, among other programs. What unites us is a fundamental interest in understanding the structure, function and processes involved in mass communication and a commitment to advancing useful knowledge.

The School of Journalism & Mass Communication offers academic M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in mass communication designed to develop independent scholarship, originality and competence in research. Both degrees are intended to refine your intellectual skills and prepare you to conduct research, teach mass communication and/or advance your professional communication career through theoretical study of the field in which you work.

The SJMC and the University of Minnesota Law School offers a M.A. in Mass Communication & J.D. in Law (dual degree), a program which recognizes that modern law practice increasingly intersects with an draws from other disciplines. In this program, students gain valuable interdisciplinary training by simultaneously pursuing a law degree and another university graduate or professional degree. These innovative "dual" and "joint" degree programs enable students to tailor their education to suit future career goals.

The SJMC offers a Professional M.A. in Strategic Communication designed exclusively for working professionals in advertising, public relations, corporate communications, non-profit organizations and government. The program is conceptually and structurally distinct from the academic master's degree in mass communication in that it focuses on advanced professional study of communications strategy, planning, evaluation and creative management. The curriculum is tailored to provide a solid foundation for future communication leaders, and recognizes that the communication industry is changing rapidly and is more volatile than ever.