Communication, Culture and Media Studies

About CCMS

The department provides doctoral-level studies leading to the PhD, which focuses on communication problems of importance in an emerging digital and multicultural world.

The curriculum is designed to train scholars and academic leaders to contribute to interdisciplinary research in communication with a particular emphasis on multicultural and mediated communication.

The program offers core competencies in research strategies (qualitative, quantitative, and critical), theory, and methodology. The program also responds to the university’s historical mission to advance African Americans and other underserved communities by emphasizing multiculturalism, global issues and social justice concerns in its curriculum.

Applicants to the CCMS program must possess a master’s degree by the time they enter the program. The CCMS department does not offer a master’s degree.

The MET Building

300 Bryant Street, NW,

Room 101-C3

Washington D.C. 20001

Interim Chair: Lance Park

email: ccms@howard.edu or

email: lance.park@howard.edu 

A Message From Our Chair

Welcome to the Department of Communication, Culture and Media Studies, the only doctoral level program in Communications at an HBCU.  The study of communication remains a most vital field and our interdisciplinary approach makes possible innovative and transformative research.   

We offer three tracks in CCMS:  Health Communication, Technology, Policy and Society; and Media and Cultural Studies, each fulfilling the mission of Howard University to develop scholars and professionals who drive change and engage in scholarship that provides solutions to contemporary global problems. Our location in Washington DC as a governmental, health, and media hub provides unique opportunities for study and experience with a world-class faculty committed to student success.  

Our students are drawn from across the globe, representing a variety of ethnicities, races, genders, backgrounds, and interests. Our alumni go on to successful careers in academia as scholars and administrators, and to private industry, government, and NGOs as researchers, consultants, and policy analysts. 

Our Programs

Our Faculty & Staff

Loren Saxton Coleman, Ph.D.

(she/her)
Communication Culture & Media Studies

Frances Gateward, PHD

she/her

Professor and Chair

Communication Culture & Media Studies

Nina Gjoci, PHD

Public Memory

Communication Culture & Media Studies

Gyo Hyun Koo, Ph.D.

she/her/hers

Assistant Professor

Communication Culture & Media Studies

Lance Yong Jin Park, Interim Chair

New Tech

Communication Culture & Media Studies

Monica Lindsey Ponder, PhD

Assistant Professor Health Communication & Culture

Communication Culture & Media Studies

Wei Sun, PHD

Professor

Communication Culture & Media Studies
Affiliate Faculty

Dr. Roger Caruth, Communications

Dr. Jae Eun Chung, Communications

Dr. Emily Cramer, Communications

Dr. Jean Claude Kwitonda, Communications

Dr. Kehbuma Langmia, Communications

Dr. Chuka Onwumechili, Communications

Dr. Stacy Patton, MJFC

Dr. Samantha Powers, Communications

Dr. Tia Tyree, Communications