The graduate program in Communication Arts and Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University trains students in communication science and rhetorical studies, with particular attention to political deliberation, health communication, interpersonal communication, public address, rhetorical theory, and the rhetoric of public culture. Our graduate students conduct research investigating how communication influences attitudes and behavior, relationship development and family dynamics, public life and public memory, democratic decision making, and struggles for social justice. The most recent assessment of doctoral programs conducted by the National Communication Association ranked our program in the top five for rhetorical studies, interpersonal and small group communication.
Part of the mission of Penn State's Communication Arts and Sciences Department is "to create knowledge about the role of communication in diverse interpersonal, communal, national, international, and cultural settings." To accomplish this goal, the department welcomes graduate students and affiliated scholars who represent the widest array of identities and perspectives. We value every individual's race, gender, sexual orientation, country of origin, level of ability/disability and political perspective. We respect and seek to ensure each person's right to define their own identity and to craft the language that best represents who they are. We foster community and shared belonging, but we also recognize that positions and interests sometimes diverge. A quality graduate program, like good communication, is the result of making room for and communicating across difference.