Philip Merrill College of Journalism Ph.D. Program

At least 36 credit hours are required, including:

Nine credit hours (minimum) of required research design and methods courses. Two of the three methods courses should be taken as early as possible to establish a foundation for a variety of research methodologies.
- JOUR775 — Quantitative Methods
- JOUR776 — Qualitative Methods.
- A third methods course in or outside the College
Eighteen credit hours (minimum) of journalism courses including:
- JOUR601 – Theories of Journalism (or equivalent if taken for a master’s or other program)
- JOUR610 – Seminar in Mass Media History
- JOUR800 – Introduction to Doctoral Study
- JOUR801 – Advanced Public Communication Theory

This includes journalism elective courses (numbered 600 or above) offered by College. Elective credit can include an independent study in or outside the College with approval by the Director of Ph.D. Studies.

Nine credit hours in your cognate
- Cognate courses numbered 600 or above are taken from another department on campus or a combination of departments that relate to your research interest. If you prefer to take cognate courses from different departments you must justify in writing the relationship of those courses to your research.
- Courses numbered 400 require the permission of the Ph.D. director.

By the time you complete your courses, you should have selected an advisor plus a committee of at least three additional faculty members to complete your written and oral comprehensive exams.

After successfully completing your written comprehensive exams, you will prepare a formal proposal for unique research with guidance from your advisor. You formally present your written proposal to your dissertation committee for feedback and approval. After completing your research, the committee assembles again for the defense of your work and results.

More About Merrill's Ph.D. Program

Admissions Information OUR RESEARCH FACULTY Graduate Information Sessions

The Philip Merrill College of Journalism is a professional school dedicated to two missions: First, to educate and train students to become leaders of the news business in print, television/radio and online journalism. Second, to prepare scholars of distinction whose published works and critiques will advance the standards and practices of journalism, and our understanding of the news media and its influence on society.

These missions are complementary; together, they embrace the larger purposes for which the American free press was created: to assist the public and its leaders to receive the kind of reliable information essential for the functioning of the democracy.

In offering a Ph.D. in Journalism Studies, the University of Maryland provides scholars and journalistic practitioners a unique opportunity to study the workings of the media and assess its effect on society in the news center of the world. Intellectual resources on the Maryland campus alone offer a rich menu for scholars at a university and a journalism college that take pride in striving for the broadest application of the indispensable principle of diversity in its students, its faculty, and its course offerings.

Among the highly regarded university programs available for Ph.D. candidates to explore are such subjects as American studies, women’s studies, information technology, public policy, sociology and a wide range of specialty areas covering the fields of business, the sciences, environmental policy, and studies relating to concerns affecting women, the family, race and minorities. In addition to these advantages, the capital area forms a unique laboratory for examining the professional functioning of journalism practiced by the most numerous and diverse domestic and foreign news organizations operating anywhere. It also presents an opportunity for scholars to take advantage of the unrivaled archival/historical resources available here through such institutions as the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the National Public Broadcasting Archives and Library of American Broadcasting (located on the University of Maryland campus), numerous museums, galleries, national “think tanks,” as well as the principal government agencies and departments, the courts, the branches of Congress with their multiple fact-gathering committees and subcommittees, and the interest groups, political consultants, and pollsters all seeking to influence the legislative process and the way issues are portrayed in the media.

With this as background, the Philip Merrill College of Journalism envisions its Ph.D. program as being focused on, but not restricted to, a broad range of general subjects for study. Among them: Media and Society. Media and the Family. Media and Minorities. Media and Gender and Ethnicity. Media and the Presidency. Media and Government and Politics. Media and the Law. Media and Science and Technology. Media and Business and the Economy. Media and Foreign Affairs. Media and Public Opinion. Media and the Military.

The College also sees its Ph.D. program as being created to fulfill the following critical needs:

To bring together professional journalists and academic media specialists and teach them to speak the same language. At present, each side tends to talk at cross-purposes. Too often, the journalists are so busy “doing their job” that they lack sufficient time to reflect on what that job is or should be and thus fail to assess adequately the strengths and weaknesses of contemporary journalism in order to improve its standards and ethics. At the same time, too often the academics engage in research that confirms the obvious, thus providing little practical utility, and write in language that is needlessly abstruse. Some scholars offer radical critiques of the commercial media system and the First Amendment under which it operates. Maryland’s Ph.D. program is designed to help bridge this gap between the professionals and the academics and indeed to force engagement between the practitioners and the scholars in hopes that each side will gain insights from exposure to the other.
To provide a wide range of coursework that acquaints students with various theories of journalistic practice while emphasizing the most rigorous standards of scholastic inquiry. At the same time, the college offers Ph.D. candidates a strong component of history, political science and social science research that makes use of the area’s resources. In furtherance of these goals, the college stresses coursework on the literature and philosophy of journalism that emphasizes the basic relationship among the media, the government and society. Essential to realizing this goal is coursework that exposes scholars to archival/historical research techniques and emphasizes scholarly research methodologies. Another strong component emphasizes the vital role of cross-cultural journalism and examines how well, or poorly, journalistic presentation of art, drama, film, books, sports, religion, and cultural manners, mores, values and attitudes affect or reflect the wider society.
To prepare media teachers and critics who will become leaders in training and influencing future generations of journalists and whose published works will stimulate critical examination of the media. Merrill faculty have published widely on critical elements of journalism in society, including work by Prof. Mark Feldstein on the rise of Washington’s scandal culture; Prof. Susan Moeller on terrorism and conflict coverage, Prof. Sarah Oates on the internet and social change; and Prof. Linda Steiner on women and the media.
To prepare students to explain the American media system to the world in a way that goes beyond merely defending or criticizing it, and helps provide insight into how the media affects the formulation of foreign and domestic policy. In furtherance of this goal, the College actively seeks to attract international scholars interested in studying the workings of the American media as well American students with a primary interest in foreign affairs and policy.

To achieve these doctoral goals, the Philip Merrill College of Journalism is committed to strive for excellence in the professional and scholarly credentials of its faculty, its scholastic standards, its coursework, and its mission to elevate the principles and practice of journalism.

Merrill College’s Ph.D. graduates find tenure/tenure-track positions and other jobs all over the U.S. and around the world.

Karin Assmann '19: Assistant Professor, College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia
Saranaz Abdollahzadeh Barforoush ’17: University of British Columbia in Vancouver
Ronald N. De Munbrun ’17: Career civil service employee and Vietnam War veteran
Joanna Nurmis ’17: Press attachée, French Embassy in Estonia
Stanton Paddock ’17: Most recently with Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Saswat Pattanayak ’17: Professional Blogger and Journalist
Allissa Richardson ’17: Associate Professor of Journalism and Communication, Director of the Charlotta Bass Journalism and Justice Lab, University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
Yacong Yuan ’17: Communication Studies Program, University of Maryland Global Campus
Rob Wells ’16: Assistant Professor, Lemke Department of Journalism, University of Arkansas
Tetyana (Tanya) Lokot ’16: Lecturer, School of Communications, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Dublin City University in Ireland
Michael Koliska ’15: Assistant Professor, Georgetown University
Robbie Morganfield ’15: Chair, Dept. of Mass Communication, Grambling State University (2017)
Merrilee Cox ’14: Adjunct Lecturer, Philip Merrill College of Journalism
Stine Eckert ’14: Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, Wayne State University
Jacqueline Incollingo ’14: Assistant Professor of Communication, Rider University
Klive Oh ’14: Assistant Professor of Communication, Seaver College, Pepperdine University
Elia Powers ’14: Associate Professor of Journalism and New Media, Towson University
Raymond McCaffrey ’14: Ethics Ctr. Director, Lemke Department of Journalism, University of Arkansas
Jing Guo ’13: Public Opinion Research Group, World Bank, Washington, D.C.
Sergei Golitsinski ’13: Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Studies, Univ. of Northern Iowa
Jeff Lemberg ’13: Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Curry College
Jessica Roberts ’13: Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, Boise State University
Kevin Swift ’13: Department Chair-Mass Communications, Methodist University in Fayetteville, N.C.
Matthew Bates ’11: Assistant Professor of Communications, Trinity Washington University
Eric Easton ’11: Professor of Law, University of Baltimore School of Law
Sonia Pedrosa Pereira ’11: Associate Professor, Associação Carioca de Ensino Superior in Rio de Janeiro
Lane Williams ’11 (ABD): Dept. of Communication, BYU-Idaho
Lindsey Wotanis ’11: Associate Professor and Broadcast Journalism Pgm. Director, Marywood University
Ira Chinoy ’10: Associate Professor, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland
Megan Fromm ’10: Assistant Professor o fMass Communication, Colorado Mesa University
Shuling Huang ’10: Associate Professor, Department of Communication and Technology of the National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
Priyanka Matanhelia ’09: Project Manager for the Flamingo Consulting Group in Mumbai, India
Wenjing Xie ’09: Assistant Professor of Journalism, Southern Illinois University in Carbondale
Chunying Cai ’08: Media Production Professional, Washington, D.C.
Marlene Cimons ’08: Adjunct Professor, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, UMD
Ray Gamache ’08: Retired as Assistant professor of Mass Communication, Kings College
John Kirch ’08: Assistant Professor of journalism and new media, Towson University
Paul Mihailidis ’08: Associate Professor, Emerson College
Indira Somani ’08: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Media, Journalism and Film, Howard University
Carlos Agudelo ’07: Universidad de Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia
Natalie Hopkinson ’07: Assistant professor in the Department of Communication, Culture and Media Studies, Howard University
Norm Lewis ’07: Associate Professor of Journalism, University of Florida
Tracy Lucht ’07: Assistant Professor, Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, Iowa State University.
Svetlana Markova ’07: Communications Office, The World Bank
Jad Melki ’07: Chairperson, Communication Arts Department, Lebanese American University
Bu Zhong ’06: Journalism Professor, Penn State University
Tamara Henry ’05: Former Adjunct Professor, Philip Merrill College of Journalism
Stacy Spaulding ’05: Associate Professor, Towson University

Ph.D. Cohort Entering 2021

Mohammed Ademo joins Merrill after two decades as a journalist, media executive, community organizer and human-rights advocate. He holds a dual master’s in Journalism and International Affairs from Columbia University in New York. A former TV producer and opinion editor at Al Jazeera Media Network, Ademo is the founder and editor of OPride.com, an independent news and opinion website covering Ethiopia. Most recently, he served as a senior diplomat at the United Nations. His research examines mediated political participation in transitional societies and how new media and transnational advocacy networks influence political narratives, conflict dynamics, and power relations.
Ivy Lyons maintains a research interest in the intersection of race, sexuality, rhetoric and the progress of journalism in the 21st century. More specifically, the way generations of journalists cultivate and reshape communications methods, including data journalism and polling methods. They hold a bachelor's degree in Philosophy from Greenville University and a master’s degree in Journalism from Georgetown University. Since 2018, they have gained invaluable experience as an Ed Greelegs Scholarship recipient turned Capitol Hill staff, at WJLA in Washington and with NBC News in Washington.
John McQuaid is a journalist and author. At The Times-Picayune (New Orleans), he was lead reporter on a Pulitzer Prize-winning series about global fisheries collapses and co-lead on a series that anticipated the city’s near-demise by Hurricane Katrina. He has written on science and the environment for publications including Smithsonian Magazine and Scientific American, and was most recently a Wilson Center fellow. He is the co-author of "Path of Destruction: The Devastation of New Orleans and the Coming Age of Superstorms," and the author of "Tasty: The Art and Science of What We Eat," on the biology and history of flavor.
Wenyou (Aaron) Ye is interested in large-scale and computational approaches to journalism and the media, as well as the implementation of new technologies to enhance communication. He received B.A. and M.Sc. degrees in Journalism from Indiana and Boston Universities. Before joining the doctoral program at Merrill, Ye led a two-year interdisciplinary research project in collaboration with Harvard University and Stanford University medical and computational scientists. The goal of the project was to characterize the social-media communication strategies of major societal stakeholders, and their evolution during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ph.D. Cohort Entering 2020

Keegan Clements-Housser came to the program after a decade of experience as a journalist, media analyst and consultant in Portland, Oregon. He was a research assistant at Urbanism Next, a University of Oregon-based research center focused on investigating the impacts of automation and e-commerce on urban planning and design. Prior to that, he was the project manager at Gather, an Agora Journalism Center-based project and platform to support community-minded journalists and other engagement professionals. Clements-Housser received his M.S. in Strategic Communication from University of Oregon⁠ Portland, where his research focused on collaborative civic-professional media models.
Jodi McFarland Friedman, a journalism instructor at Central Michigan University, helped launch the digital news transformation MLive Media Group and guided the newsrooms of The Flint Journal, The Saginaw News and The Bay City Times. She was the first female editor of The Saginaw News, which was a two-time Associated Press Newspaper of the Year under her leadership. She has a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. Research interests include understanding the ways online news readers engage with reporters and news.
Dinfin Mulupi’s research interests focus on media, gender, politics, feminist activism and social media movements. She is also interested in journalists’ perceptions and experiences as it relates to gender inequality in the workplace, media representation of women and media coverage of gender/sexual violence. As a business journalist for six years, Mulupi covered the East African region. She holds the joint Erasmus Mundus M.A. in Journalism and Media and Globalization from City University of London and Aarhus University in Denmark. Since her 2018 graduation, she has also been researching sexual harassment and gender inequality in newsrooms located in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria.
Ho Chun (“Frankie”) Wong is interested in the international news media and civic engagements to the global audience. He holds a master’s in Security Studies from the UCL and a BSSc in Journalism and Communication from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research explores the relationship between media and international relations, including the uses of news media for policy goals and online political communication involving foreign netizens. He is now focusing on the dynamics among media-literate citizens, news media and governments.

Ph.D. Cohort Entering 2019

Mahfuzul Haque’s research interests include fact-checking, misinformation, computational journalism, impacts of digital technologies on news organizations, risk communication, and climate change communication. He holds a master’s in journalism from the School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi. He was a journalist in Bangladesh, worked for New Age, an English-language national daily. In more than half a decade as a journalist, he has covered environment, health, human rights, business, and the effects of climate change.

Ph.D. Cohort Entering 2018

Sara Browning comes to us from Maryland’s Department of Government and Politics. Her background is in political journalism with experience as a Washington correspondent. She is researching media history, media and politics and the role of investigative reporting in shaping history. She has produced an award winning paper on how the New York Times covered Chinese immigration, which was presented work at the conference of the American Journalism Historians Association.
Welma Campbell Mashinini Redd is Associate Professor of Multiplatform Production in the School of Global Journalism and Communication at Morgan State University. She received Morgan’s African Heritage Award for the documentary, “Botswana: An African Jewel,” screened as the centerpiece at Morgan’s 2010 TransAfrica Day Convocation. Her research interest is free speech rights and freedom of the press in Liberia and other parts of Africa.
Robin Sundaramoorthy has 20 years of TV news experience at the local and network levels. She has a master’s in journalism from Michigan State University. Her research interests include the social media habits of women and minorities in the U.S. and developing nations, how underserved communities around the world are using new media to tell new stories and all aspects of the Kerner Commission and its report.

Ph.D. Cohort Entering 2017

Sholpan Kozhamkulova has a background in agenda-setting and framing studies of news media in Kazakhstan. Sholpan was previously chair and assistant professor of the Media and Communications department at KIMEP University in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Her most recent research focuses on the language of persuasion online. In addition, Sholpan is interested in exploring “glocal” diffusion of information/innovations in news media and social networks in today’s multimedia environment.
Sohana Nasrin holds a master’s in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. A 2013 professional fellowship award from the U.S. State Department supported Nasrin’s to travel to the U.S. to learn the best practices in journalism and to complete a textual analysis of audience perceptions on humanitarian issues, public diplomacy through social media in Western Hemisphere countries, and critical cultural analyses of popular media. Sohana is now focusing on the social psychological aspects of online activism and users’ motivation behind slacktivism.

Ph.D. Cohort Entering 2014

Katy June-Friesen is interested in how news media represent the identity of places and the people who live and work there. She is particularly concerned with how journalistic framing and language choices construct, reproduce, or dismantle dominant ideas about the culture and politics of U.S. regions, cities and neighborhoods, from West Baltimore to small-town Kansas. Her research draws on geography and cultural studies fields and often employs textual and discourse analysis.
April Newton is a journalism student, professional and teacher. Inspired by the Clinton impeachment trial, she returned to school to study journalism, ultimately finishing a master’s degree at Syracuse University. Since then, she has worked as a local television news producer, winning a regional AP award, and as a freelance journalist for local publications. She has also taught communication and journalism courses at several universities. April’s research interests are in broadcast journalism, visual journalism, and online and social media and journalism.

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Important Links

Fellowships & Awards

Each requires a student letter and/or faculty nomination to the Ph.D. director.

Michael Gurevitch Journalism Scholarship

Professor Emeritus Michael Guerevitch taught at the University of Maryland’s College of Journalism from 1983 to 2008, during which time he worked on original research on how journalists grasped the practical problems of keeping the public informed. The Michael Gurevitch Journalism Scholarship is awarded to one Ph.D. journalism student.

Eligibility: As stipulated by the donor, this award shall be used to provide annual non-renewable scholarships to a Ph.D. student at Merrill College with financial need, with a preference for an international student. Submit a letter explaining your request to the Ph.D. director before the deadline.

Professor Thomas J. Aylward Scholarship

The Professor Thomas J. Aylward Scholarship is awarded to one journalism Ph.D. student who demonstrates financial need.

Eligibility: As stipulated by the donor, the selection is based "on a combination of potential success and financial need." This scholarship was established as a tribute to Professor Aylward, the former chair of the University of Maryland's Department of Communication Arts and Theater and former director of the Division of Radio, TV, and Film before it was separated from the college. Submit a letter explaining your request to the Ph.D. Director before the deadline.

Ray Hiebert History of Journalism Award

This award reflects the interest of Professor Ray Hiebert, founding dean of the University of Maryland College of Journalism and himself a historian. The scholarship provides an annual award to any graduate student or faculty member at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism who writes the best material on any aspect of American journalism history.

Travel

If a conference is held in the Baltimore/Washington Metro area and no travel or hotel expenses are involved, the college will pay the REGISTRATION costs for doctoral students.

If a conference is held outside the Baltimore/Washington Metro area, the college will reimburse doctoral students up to $1,200 in registration and travel costs for students who are presenting papers or invited to speak.

If the conference involves international travel, the college will reimburse doctoral students up to $1,200 in registration and travel costs if they are presenting papers or invited to speak. In addition, the college has endowed “international graduate school travel scholarship funds” that vary every year depending on the earned income from the endowment. These scholarships may be used to supplement the regular travel allowance and will be awarded at the discretion of the Doctoral program director. Note: The total international travel fund is never more than a few thousand dollars a year.

For presenting original research at more than one conference annually, doctoral students will be eligible for a total annual reimbursement of up to $1,200.

The college does not have funds available for travel reimbursement for doctoral students not presenting at conferences. However, a handful of Doctoral faculty members have grants or endowed travel funds that may be used at their discretion to fund doctoral student travel.

In addition, Doctoral students may be eligible for supplemental travel grants awarded by the Graduate School. Please see the grad school’s website for information on these grants.

Please fill out our travel award application.

Gene Roberts Award

The Gene Roberts Award supports international travel by journalism students. Supports students with at least one research presentation at a scholarly international conference. For consideration, fill out the travel award application upon acceptance to a conference.

Hiebert Journalism International Endowed Travel Fund

The Hiebert Journalism International Endowed Travel Fund is awarded to support international travel for journalistic or research projects by journalism students. Supports students with at least one paper/research presentation at an international scholarly conference. For consideration, fill out the travel award application upon acceptance to a conference.

More travel grants are available through the UMD Graduate School.

More Merrill College Fellowship & Aid Opportunities.

Ph.D. Program