Cronkite School Launches Doctoral Program

The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University is launching a doctoral program designed for professional journalists and communicators seeking to enter the world of scholarship and research.

“Never in our history has there been a greater need for passionate journalists and communication professionals to help reinvent our news media future,” said Cronkite Dean Christopher Callahan. “This new doctoral program will bring to ASU intellectually curious communicators and immerse them in the world of scholarship and research. They will learn the intellectual tools to tackle the most critical problems facing a rapidly changing news media.”

The Cronkite doctoral program, which will enroll its first class in fall 2010, will be the only mass communication Ph.D. program in Arizona and one of the few in the western United States.

Doctoral students will work side-by-side with world-class researchers and top-flight professionals on the Cronkite faculty and across disciplines at ASU.

Professor Donald G. Godfrey, who played a key role in designing the program, will serve as the program’s director.

“The degree itself is immersed in research and the development of new knowledge within the discipline,” said Godfrey. “It is a degree based in philosophy, theory, differing scientific methodologies and critical thinking. Students will bring to the program divergent topical interests and work with faculty mentors researching and developing those interests.”

The new program will be highly interdisciplinary, requiring complementary course work outside of the Cronkite School.

Qualified doctoral students will be invited to teach undergraduate journalism courses at the Cronkite School.

The deadline for applications is Feb. 1, 2010, for the fall semester. For more information, visit http://cronkite.asu.edu/phd.