Graduate Students

Graduate Applicants

The College of Media, Communication and Information’s graduate programs offer an exciting, dynamic environment in which to study. We draw students from around the world to take part in cutting-edge research, creative work and teaching.

CMCI students engage with an innovative curriculum founded on the principles of intellectual openness, interdisciplinary inquiry, and a belief in the importance of public scholarship and creative practice. Our faculty are committed to providing graduate students with challenging coursework, strong teaching and mentorship, dedicated professional development, and a stimulating and supportive intellectual climate.

While graduate students are admitted to a particular program, there are opportunities to take classes with students from other programs and to access courses and faculty across the college.

Master's Programs
PhD Programs

Master's Programs

BAM: Information Science Bachelor's-Accelerated Master's

Increase the return on your investment by earning a bachelor's degree and master's degree at an accelerated pace. The Information Science Bachelor's-Accelerated Master's ("BAM") degree at CU Boulder has been created in recognition of the increasing demand for master's level training and research skills.

MA: Communication

Analyze and solve problems with processes and interaction, collaboration, participation, deliberation and decision-making. This degree provides students with knowledge of communication scholarship and develops their ability to analyze complex communication situations.

MA: Corporate Communication

The Master of Arts in Corporate Communication is a fully online, asynchronous degree program that enhances the ability of working professionals to help their organizations build and maintain relationships through effective and ethical communication.

MFA: Interdisciplinary Documentary Media Practices

The MFA in Interdisciplinary Documentary Media Practices provides graduate students with an immersive experience in documentary media practices from a variety of philosophical and cross-disciplinary perspectives involving traditional and emerging media formats.

MA: Journalism

This program prepares students for professional success in news outlets, digital and social media platforms, and corporate communications.

MA: Media and Public Engagement

The Master of Arts in Media and Public Engagement (MAPE), is a 2-year interdisciplinary program that spans traditional boundaries between theory and practice, offers a critical study of the history, institutions, economics and social implications of the media, nationally and globally, combined with a practice-based media training geared toward civic engagement and community building.

MA: Strategic Communication Design

Use innovative multi-platform media to adopt a design-thinking approach to solving strategic communication problems.

PhD Programs

PhD: Communication

This degree provides graduate students with advanced work in the communication discipline that earns them academic positions at all levels of higher education, including research universities, liberal arts universities and teaching-centered colleges. The degree is also appropriate for some nonacademic careers, such as organizational communication consulting.

PhD: Emergent Technologies and Media Art Practices

The PhD in Emergent Technologies and Media Art Practices is a practice-led program of scholarly research and exploration of media practices, theories and innovations in art and technology. In this program, students both experiment with and research the media and artistic practices that they study.

PhD: Intermedia Art, Writing and Performance

Collaborate with faculty to create and do research on new forms of digital art, writing and performance.

PhD: Information Science

The PhD in Information Science is for students who want to engage in empirical investigations of interdisciplinary problems. Students in the PhD program will learn a diversity of methods, theoretical frameworks, design practices and computational techniques. A PhD student's scholarly practice will include collaborative research on grant-driven projects.

PhD: Journalism Studies

The PhD in Journalism Studies offered by the Department of Journalism is one of three separate and distinct tracks of the Media Research and Practice doctoral program within the College of Media, Communication and Information.

PhD: Media Studies

The PhD in Media Studies offered by the Department of Journalism is one of three separate and distinct tracks of the Media Research and Practice doctoral program within the College of Media, Communication and Information.

PhD: Strategic Communication

The PhD in Strategic Communication offered by the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design is one of three separate and distinct tracks of the Media Research and Practice doctoral program within the College of Media, Communication and Information.