The Doctor of Philosophy in agricultural communications and education is a resident degree designed to prepare students for a future career as a faculty member. The program provides an opportunity for advance study in the human dimensions of agriculture (agricultural communications, agricultural education, & agricultural leadership) to meet the growing demand for college and university faculty who can provide instruction in more than one dimension.

This degree program requires a minimum of 48 semester hours of graduate coursework along with the development of a dissertation (12 hours) beyond a master's degree (total of 60 hours post-master's degree).

Each doctoral candidate is expected to demonstrate competency by satisfactorily completing (1) a comprehensive written examination, (2) a dissertation that demonstrates original, independent scholarship, (3) a final oral examination, and (4) a minimum of ten outside-of-course experiences in the various human dimensions of agriculture including, but not limited to, teaching, communications, extension, international, and research