RCID PhD program accepting applications for Fall 2021

October 30, 2020

Director of RCID, Dr. Cynthia Haynes, is interviewed about the program and the humanities in a new podcast interview with Dr. Jan Holmevik.

The Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design (RCID) PhD program is an interdisciplinary program grounded in the histories, theories, and practices of rhetoric, communication, and information design. It resides in the College of Architecture, Arts, and Humanities and is thus a graduate humanities program, primarily focused on rhetorical perspectives on the humanities. You can apply either as an online student or residential student, which means it is a “hybrid” program. The residential student option means you could receive a graduate teaching assistantship (with a tuition waiver) and gain experience teaching first-year composition and rhetoric. Online students typically hold other jobs wherever they are place-bound. Online students are required to come to Clemson twice: once to defend their exams and once to defend their dissertation. All RCID seminars occur in real time with residential and online students meeting in a classroom and synchronously via Zoom in the evenings, from 5:00-7:45pm EST. Clemson is on a semester system. The website explains more about the requirements. All new students begin in fall semester.

The RCID website contains all the information you need to apply.

The accreditation is by virtue of Clemson University’s accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). You will find a lot of information on the first link about the curriculum, the sequence of course studies, the former and current students, some of the core faculty, and so forth. In addition, there is financial information about all graduate programs on the link to Costs and Tuition under Prospective Students.

If you choose to apply to our residential program, please let us know if you would like to apply for a 4-year graduate teaching assistantship. The assistantship requires you to take 3 seminars (9 credit hours) per semester for 4 years. Prior to entering the program on a teaching assistantship, residential students must have a Master’s degree in English, Rhetoric and Writing, Communications, or other related fields. Students with a Master’s degree in another field of study, such as history, philosophy, languages, or the sciences, may apply to the program with the understanding that they may be required to successfully complete prerequisite, Master’s-level courses in composition/rhetoric or other areas prior to full admission to the Ph.D. program.

The total number of hours, including 18 credit hours of dissertation research, is 54 hours (36 hours of coursework plus the 18 dissertation hours).

Please contact Dr. Cynthia Haynes for questions.