Master of Arts in Communication Studies
Engage, motivate, and positively impact your community.
Overview
The Department of Communication Studies is committed to fostering an intellectually robust, empirically grounded, and socially engaged master's degree that will enrich students’ knowledge and skills for the unique challenges of our day. Our students join us at UNLV to improve public policy, defend justice, promote health, enhance mediation, and otherwise help the world to communicate more effectively and humanely.
Artful communication brings leadership opportunities. We teach the communicative arts, from interpersonal relationship development to public persuasion, applying them in a vibrant, unique, and exciting urban setting. In our MA program, students engage a wide spectrum of communities across a wide range of communicative themes, concluding their experience with a scholarly thesis or a professional paper/project.
Tracks/Options
Our program is a 32-credit degree. Students may complete either a thesis or a professional project for their culminating experience.
Testimonies
We are dedicated to helping our students succeed. Students who have obtained their undergraduate degree in Communication Studies have gone on to many great jobs. Recent graduates have also gone on to join our M.A. program, a great opportunity to extend your education.
People should pursue an MA in Communication Studies because they are flexible and versatile. As a practical
Darrian Carroll, Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Maryland College Park
discipline, Communication Studies teaches skills that can be useful in the business world and the American
academy. My MA provided me a great foundation for my current occupation. As a graduate student at the
University of Maryland, on a daily basis, I benefit from the knowledge I gained at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Since obtaining my degree in Communication Studies at UNLV, I have had the opportunity to not only grow in my career field but utilize my skillset
Ashlyn Gentry-Yue, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Attention Capital
as a competent communicator in other ventures of my life. Working in the field of public relations and marketing means that I am constantly talking
with different clients, members of the media and team members to tell stories and bring awareness to various community organizations. The
knowledge I’ve gained from my professors at UNLV has given me a strong foundation since graduating and continues to impact the work I do today.
Getting an M.A. in Communication Studies opens up so many doors for you. You're really able to gain a set of critical thinking skills, begin to ask questions you may not have thought of before, and get the experience of teaching a college course. It's a very exciting environment where you can learn from your professors, cohort, but also implement and refine your own knowledge. What I especially liked during my M.A. is that Communication Studies includes various different contexts of messages, whether that be interpersonal communication, mediated communication, or persuasion. By the end, you really are an expert of the way in which messages work, but you should also have a specific area within communication in which you are an expert.
Larissa Terán, Doctoral Candidate at the University of Arizona
Financial Assistance and Other Opportunities
- Department financial support for conference travel, paid assistantships, and professional development.
- Opportunities for summer teaching (over $3,000 value).
- Full tuition waiver, monthly stipend, and waiver of most service fees.
- Opportunities to work directly in the community through the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs.
- Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA) offers a wide range of resources for graduate students, including funding for conferences and research activities.
- Participate in other's research projects.
- Join a professional organization and network with peers.