The College of Communication and Information offers a unique, interdisciplinary PhD that combines Information Sciences with Advertising, Communication Studies, Journalism and Electronic Media, and Public Relations. As a doctoral student in the college, you will have the opportunity to work with world-class faculty from all the Schools, including the School of Information Sciences. IS faculty have a wide-variety of research expertise and are actively involved in a number of research projects. To learn more about faculty research see our Research and Engagement page, or view our faculty profiles.
Financial Aid & Support
A limited number of assistantships and associateships are available to PhD students. These assistantships/associateships provide competitive stipends and tuition waivers (in-state and out-of-state). Graduate assistantships/associateships are normally renewable for up to three years for doctoral students subject to the student maintaining a 3.3 grade point average or higher on graduate coursework and satisfactory performance in the requirements of the job.
More detailed information regarding the nature of graduate assistantships, graduate research assistants graduate teaching assistants graduate teaching associates is available in the Graduate Studies Handbook and at the College’s website: https://www.cci.utk.edu/graduate-studies-financial-aidfellowships-scholarships
Support is available to help students attend conferences where they are presenting papers or participating in certain activities, such as doctoral consortia.
College-wide Graduate Scholarship and Assistantship forms
- Application for College-wide Graduate Scholarships
- Graduate Assistant or Graduate Teaching Assistant/Associate Application
Travel Support
Requests from SIS
Requests from CCI
Travel Support Requested from the Graduate Student Senate
Program Goal
The goal of the PhD program is to prepare graduates for positions in a wide-variety of research-intensive careers in academic, industrial and government settings, including as faculty and research scientists.
Program Curriculum and Concentrations
After completing the core courses (17 hours), IS students work with their advisor to select additional courses (12 hours), along with a cognate consisting of nine credit hours. Students are also expected to register for a minimum of 24 hours of dissertation credit. Please see https://www.cci.utk.edu/phd-program-requirements for more information about the requirements.