This new PhD concentration in Rhetoric at Indiana University offers the opportunity to explore the full range of rhetorical studies within an integrated program that brings Communication and Composition together.

Before 2015, Indiana University was home to two highly regarded graduate programs in Rhetoric, one in the Department of Communication and Culture and one in the Department of English. When the Department of Communication and Culture was disbanded, these two programs merged to form an innovative new program that draws on the rich traditions, national reputations, and award-winning faculty of both these two long-standing graduate programs in Rhetoric. This new PhD Concentration in Rhetoric dissolves artificial boundaries and allows students to develop expertise across the rich and diverse terrain of contemporary rhetorical theory and practice.

Our students and faculty collaborate on the vital educational, political, cultural, historical, and aesthetic interests emerging in research and teaching in rhetoric and the humanities. With a curriculum that brings together scholars in digital rhetoric, social justice, visual culture, critical-cultural rhetoric, and pedagogical theory — and immersed within the deep resources of a diverse and top-ranked English department — IU is an ideal place for graduate students to pursue their eclectic passions and interests in an environment of intellectual curiosity, creativity, scholarly rigor, social commitment, and community.

Graduate students are trained to teach both in composition studies and communication studies. This combined pedagogical training opens wider opportunities in an increasingly competitive job market.

Questions that our faculty and graduate students bring to their research and teaching include: How might we re-imagine the relationship of image, voice, and text in an age of technological convergence? How can we most productively understand rhetoric as both a civic practice and analytical frame? Where is rhetorical agency to be found in the era of the post human? What constitutes public or civic culture in an era of globalization and fragmentation?

Our program is committed to providing you with the resources for developing your fullest potential as scholars, teachers, and academic citizens. Faculty provide close mentoring and advising to cultivate excellence at every stage of your graduate career.