Degree of Determination
The doctoral program is committed to an emphasis on quality in teaching and research

A decade after the School of Journalism and Mass Communications launched its doctoral program in mass communications, 25 graduates have gone on to teaching jobs and research positions across the country and around the world.

Currently 21 students are enrolled in the program, which some longtime faculty members say was started and sustained as a labor of love. The School continues to nurture the program and has taken a look back during the past year to help prepare the Ph.D. curriculum for the future. Visit the SJMC graduate Web pages>>

“We’re going to modify the program to keep it fresh, keep it modern,” says Dr. Erik Collins, Associate Director for Graduate Studies and Research.

Yet the program has stayed true to its original design. The initial proposal called for a purposefully small Ph.D. program with an emphasis on teaching to go along with research methods. “Because of that, and because of the inherent spirit of good will that permeated the faculty, the doctoral program got broad support inside the Coliseum," explains Dr. Ronald T. Farrar, director of graduate studies at the time.

Professors say several factors have kept the program competitive:

* The Ph.D. program is small, allowing more time for student focus. Only 15 students typically take classes at a time, though more could be working on dissertations.
* The program focuses on teaching and building an understanding of the field.
* Graduates are able to find positions where they want to find them, at universities all over the country.

The School is considering a number of qualitative changes for its second decade, following an outside review of the program completed last fall. The School already has responded to suggestions from the evaluation.

A key part of the improvement plan is to increase the number of credit hours required to complete the Ph.D. from 48 hours beyond the master’s degree to 60 hours. There would be a greater emphasis on research and theory, with a requirement for students to take courses in critical/qualitative/naturalistic theory and methods, as well as in social scientific/quantitative theory and methods.

Another change under consideration is defining academic focus. Collins said the journalism school plans to market the specializations of its faculty by adding courses. Those specialties include health communications, media law, new technologies and public relations.

The School also plans to increase stipends for incoming graduate students to help make the program more competitive and to attract the best doctoral candidates.

Students who have come through the program have brought unique perspectives to the Journalism School. A quick review of graduates’ dissertations shows a wide range of interests: changes in Southern newspaper culture resulting from the Civil War, corporate public relations practices in international business, Kuwait television audiences, and the credibility of media advertising.

Graduates have gone on to teach at schools both close to USC, such as The Citadel, and as far afield as Kuwait University. Some have stayed at the University of South Carolina, while others have taken their Carolina experience to the campuses of the University of Florida, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Arizona.

Dr. Lowndes Stephens, chairman of the School’s Graduate Council, says students have been able to make contributions in the classroom and at regional and national academic meetings. Numerous graduate students have entered research projects and won awards at the university’s Graduate Student Day held each April.

Stephens, a champion of the Ph.D. program since the beginning, notes that the college had two primary criteria for selection of its students: professional experience and interest in teaching journalism and mass communication. “It took a lot of persuasion to convince the faculty that we could manage a quality Ph.D. program without growing the faculty substantially,” Stephens says.

“We have rotated faculty in doctoral-level courses so that students get exposed to different points of view and our graduate faculty get the opportunity to work with Ph.D. students,” Stephens adds.

Dr. Lynn M. Zoch, Director of Master’s Degree Programs, says the doctoral program’s teaching emphasis helps set it apart as students must do research and teach before they graduate.

But Zoch would like to see the School require all applicants to have professional experience before being accepted, and she thinks the program needs room to grow, literally. “I’d like to have more room for the doctoral students to work so we can put together research teams and expand faculty-student projects,” she says.

Plans to move the School from the Coliseum to the LeConte building at the center of the USC campus by 2009 could help make that goal a reality. The plan calls for renovation of the existing facility and would allow the School to expand. The proposal currently is in the funding stage.

Faculty members already are looking at the possible benefits. The new building would help attract quality faculty and students because of improved research capabilities, Collins says.

No matter what happens, one thing is certain – the Ph.D. program will continue to evolve.

“It’s a program in the midst of change, and it should be after 10 years,” says Collins. “Even if you’re successful, you don’t want to rest on your laurels, only to find the competition has stolen the march on you.”

Many of the Journalism School’s Ph.D. graduates have gone on to teaching jobs and research positions at well-known schools, including: