Graduate Program

Welcome

Welcome to the Graduate Program in Communication and Rhetorical Studies at Syracuse University.  Ours is a highly special program, stressing innovation, application, and theoretical and methodological diversity.  It represents a bold and innovative approach to communication and rhetorical studies, the kind that explores important threads and the kind that allows for piercing insights and specialization.  Our program is specifically designed for persons who value the importance of theoretical rigor in the making of good praxis, who wish to do important scholarly work, and who appreciate the demands of excellence.  We offer three areas of study: 

1. Communication Theory and Research

This area focuses on the study of human communication as symbolic interaction.  Its goal is to explain communication processes in many facets of human communication and interaction, such as interpersonal, family, intercultural, language and social interaction.  Through a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches this area focuses on such topics as sexual communication, intra/inter racial and ethnic relationships, and social cognition.

2. Cosmopolitan Studies

This area uses a variety of critical, feminist, postmodern, and post-colonial perspectives to examine organizing as a communication phenomenon.  Its goal is to identify problems, practices, and systems that undermine the full expression of organizational and public life.  It also focuses on such problems as representation, identity and difference, non-hierarchical organizing processes, organizational spirituality, emergent organizational models, alternative forms of public dialogue, community activism and organizing, and other social justice issues.

3. Rhetorical Theory and Criticism

This area focuses on the study of rhetoric from antiquities to contemporary theories.  Its goal is to explore the persuasive elements in social, political, economic, and artistic processes.  It also focuses on the relationship between theory and criticism and explores through a survey of theoretical threads and critical tools issues such as the construction of rhetorical texts, popular culture, public sphere, identity, and public memory.

These three areas provide a comprehensive view of the discipline and allow graduate students to select a path for further study at the PhD level.  In short, we believe that our graduate program ensures an updated and even cutting-edge study of communication and rhetorical studies.  We rely on outstanding faculty whose research and scholarly successes are paramount to the success of our program.

Amos Kiewe, Ph.D.
Department Chair and Professor