We research communication processes at global, national, institutional, group, and interpersonal levels; we promote a consciously critical disposition in communication research, where familiar questions are expanded and recast, sometimes combining research methods and strategies that elsewhere would be considered unusual bedfellows (e.g., rhetoric and performance; content analysis and textual criticism; criticism and survey research). We aim to address matters of pressing social and cultural concern through the lens of communication as a process essential to our survival as a species and a polity.
'Turn challenges into opportunities,' is Dhardon Sharling's core message for Communication students
Dr. Dhardon Sharling's childhood as a Tibetan refugee in northern India has shaped her view of the world. As a new faculty member in the UMass Amherst Communication Department, she honors her students' life experiences and believes they are at the heart of how students learn.
Teaching Tech That 'Fuels Social Justice;' RaiL webinar with Esra'a Al Shafei
Human rights advocate Esra'a Al Shafei will lead a Department of Communication webinar on November 12 to explore practical methods to map surveillance networks -- companies that illegally gather information on activists, academics and journalists.
The admission for the Ph.D. program happens around the end of every calendar year for the following Fall. Fall 2025 is closed.
Updates about Fall 2026 admission are expected around October 2025.
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