School’s Doctoral Program Ranked among Nation’s Best

By Nathan Allen
Master’s Student

Columbia, Mo. (Nov. 3, 2010) — The Missouri School of Journalism’s doctoral program ranked among the best in a survey recently released by the National Research Council (NRC). The NRC took data from 82 communication schools from 65 public and private universities and compiled a comparative ranking system. The data were collected in 2005 and included 20 categories ranging from information regarding research activity to financial support to student activities.

“Missouri’s doctoral program rankings provide high praise to the Journalism School’s doctoral faculty and students-their commitment to excellence and their very hard work.”

Esther Thorson
Graduate Dean

Taking into account the 20 categories, the rankings give a placement range for each school. The University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison had a range of one to seven. The Missouri School of Journalism had a range of eight to 24, falling into a notable second tier of communication schools, on par with the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the University of Georgia-Athens.

“What makes our placement impressive is that the rankings include a broad range of all communication schools, not just journalism,” said Sarah Smith-Frigerio, senior doctoral academic adviser.

Smith-Frigerio said with the improvements made in cited categories since 2005, she expects the School of Journalism to rank higher than the results show.

“We submitted the data for these rankings in 2005,” Smith-Frigerio said. “Since then we have added working space for doctoral students, and our publication rate continues to increase.”

Esther Thorson, associate dean for graduate studies and research said, “Missouri’s doctoral program rankings provide high praise to the Journalism School’s doctoral faculty and students-their commitment to excellence and their very hard work.”

Categories in which Missouri ranked high are:

  • years to complete degree, an average of 2.9 years;
  • research activity;
  • student support and outcomes;
  • diversity among students and faculty;
  • average number of publications;
  • number of students graduating per year; and
  • job placement after graduation.

Updated: May 14, 2020

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