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Contact: Graduate Program Director
Application Deadlines:
For domestic classified status, the deadline is approximately a month before the start of classes (Definite dates are on the application itself). International students, please see the FAQs #16 for your deadline. NOTE: If you are a new graduate student and you intend to apply for a Competitive Graduate Award (CGA), the deadline for having all of your application materials turned in moves up to January 15th. If you apply for the CGA but your SIUE application is incomplete, your application for the Competitive Graduate Award will be removed from consideration.
MASTER OF ARTS
The Department of Speech Communication offers a program leading to the degree, Master of Arts, in speech communication.
The goals of the Speech Communication graduate program are to deepen students' understanding of communication theory and to prepare them to analyze, generate, and apply communication research. Students are encouraged to clarify and focus their professional goals and are then assisted in selecting courses in theoretical and applied communication areas that will complement those goals.
Graduates in this discipline often enter careers in applied communication and education (at the community college level). Some graduates have chosen to pursue Ph.D. degrees in communication. In addition, opportunities for speech communication graduates in business, industry, and other non-teaching professions are expanding. Mastery of communication theory, research methods, and application strategies is particularly relevant for those seeking careers in fields such as management, training and development, sales, advertising, public relations, community relations, intra-and inter-organizational communication, consulting, government service, fund raising, and human resources.
For persons seeking graduate assistantships, application forms (including directions for submitting three letters of recommendation) are available through the department office. Completed assistantship applications and supporting materials usually must be submitted early in the spring semester preceding the academic year for which the appointment is desired. Please contact the Department of Speech Communication for specific information about assistantship application forms, deadlines, and selection criteria.
ADMISSION
In addition to Graduate School admission requirements, the following apply:
1. Applicants must have an undergraduate grade point average of at least 2.75.
2. Applicants must submit a typed statement (of at least 500 words) about the academic and professional goals they plan to attain through their work in the graduate program.
3. Applicants who do not have an undergraduate major in speech communication will be required, if admitted to the program, to demonstrate knowledge of basic communication theory and research methods before enrolling in any 500-level classes.
This demonstration of proficiency may be accomplished by completing, with a grade of "B" or better, either SPC 329-3 (Communication Research) and SPC 330-3 (Theories of Communication) or proficiency examinations based upon the content of those two undergraduate courses. Please contact the Department of Speech Communication for information about the proficiency examination procedures.
PROGRAM OF STUDY
Students must complete at least 35 semester hours for this degree. A foreign language is not required. With approval of the student's advisory committee, up to 12 hours of 400-level and 500-level graduate course work from outside the speech communication curriculum may be applied toward the minimum of 35 hours.
All students admitted to the program are required to enroll in the program core, which consists of two courses (8 hours total): SPC 500-4 (Seminar in Communication Theory) and SPC 501-4 (Communication Research Methods and Tools). The core courses must be completed with a minimum grade of "B" the first time that they are offered after the student is admitted. Students who fail to meet this stipulation will be restricted from enrolling in any other 500-level courses until the program core requirement is met.
Responsibility for the development of the remainder of the student's program of study rests with the student and student's advisory committee. The Department of Speech Communication offers a variety of courses designed to complement special professional interests in such areas as organizational communication, interpersonal and group communication, public relations, and communication education.
Students may choose either a thesis or a non-thesis plan of study. These plans are comparable, since all 500-level courses in the department will require students to conduct individual or group research projects. Those research projects will directly involve the students (regardless of the study plan that they have chosen) with the tools and methods used by researchers within the given content area of each course.
Thesis Plan
Students who select the thesis plan must declare their intentions by the time they have completed 18 semester hours of graduate work. They will complete a minimum total of 29 hours of course work. They will confirm their ability to conduct research in speech communication by submitting a thesis for six semester hours of credit in SPC 599.
Non-thesis Plan
Students who select the non-thesis plan will complete a minimum total of 35 hours of course work. They will confirm their ability to conduct research in speech communication through the research projects and papers that they complete during their course work.
EXIT REQUIREMENTS
The comprehensive examination is administered during each student's final term of course work. For students following the thesis plan, the examination is oral and focuses primarily on a defense of the thesis but may also cover the planned program.
For a student electing the non-thesis plan, the examination, which comprises both written and oral elements, includes both the required core courses and the individually planned program. The written examination is composed of two sections. One section focuses on speech communication theory and research methodology from which the student must answer successfully one item on theory and one on research. The other section of the written examination focuses on the individual program of study. The student must respond successfully to two items from this section in which a choice is offered among items prepared by the individual's advisory committee. The oral component then provides a supplemental assessment of the student's performance on the written portion of the examination.
POST-BACCALAUREATE CERTIFICATE
CORPORATE AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION
The Department of Speech Communication offers an 18-hour program of graduate study leading to a post-baccalaureate certificate that is designed to meet the needs of professionals who are seeking advanced education and training in intraorganizational and interorganizational communication. The program centers on a core of courses that provide these professionals with experience in diagnosing communication problems in organizations and implementing solutions, with a variety of methods to analyze organizational cultures and cultural change, with principles and techniques of communication consulting, and with a survey of the most current research in organizational communication. In addition to this core, certificate program students are offered the opportunity to select from additional courses that can expand their expertise at working with specific organizational communication processes.
ADMISSION
In addition to Graduate School admission requirements for degree-seeking students, the following apply:
Applicants must have an undergraduate grade point average of at least 2.75.
Applicants must have either (a) an undergraduate major or minor in communication, business, or a related discipline, or (b) three years of professional experience in a complex organizational environment. For further information about this requirement, please contact the department's Director of Graduate Studies at (618) 650-3090.
Applicants must submit a typed statement of at least 500 words about their professional experience and/or goals as they relate to the post-baccalaureate certificate program in organizational communication.
PROGRAM OF STUDY
Students will be advised by the Speech Communication Department's graduate program director. They must complete eighteen hours for the certificate.
Required courses (12 hours):
SPC 403 — Organizational Communication Theory and Applications;
SPC 540 — Survey of Organizational Communication Research;
SPC 541 — Seminar in Organizational Culture;
SPC 542 — Communication Consulting.
Elective courses (6 hours): (Select two)
SPC 510 — Seminar in Group Communication;
SPC 511 — Seminar in Intercultural Communication;
SPC 550 — Seminar in Public Relations.
If desired, a student also may choose, with the permission of the Graduate Program Director, any one of the following three courses as a part of the 18-hour program:
SPC 419 — Special Topics in Speech Communication;
SPC 590 — Individual Research in Speech Communication;
SPC 591 — Internship in Applied Speech Communication.
Substitution of other graduate-level speech communication courses will be allowed only after approval, in advance, by the department's graduate program director.
Each student will have a performance review beginning after the completion of the first two courses.
EXIT REQUIREMENTS
Students must maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 on a scale of 4.0, and must complete the 18-hour program of study in four years or less.