Departments

• As of fall 2023, approximately 1,113 departments were awarding degrees in communication at colleges and universities in the United States. These departments included large, freestanding departments in the discipline as well as programs within departments awarding degrees in multiple disciplines. In the latter case, the department chairs were asked to report information for communication only.
• Of the 1,113 departments awarding degrees in communication, 349 (31%) were awarding graduate degrees in the discipline, with 147 (13%) awarding PhDs.

Faculty

• Communication departments employed 20,940 full- and part-time faculty members in fall 2023, with an average of 19 faculty members per department (and a median of 10).
• Approximately 41% of communication faculty members either had tenure or were on the tenure track.
• Faculty members employed full-time with tenure or on the tenure track taught an average of 20 undergraduate students in fall 2023, while full-time faculty employed off the tenure track taught an average of 35 undergraduates. Faculty employed part-time taught an average of 13 undergraduate students in that fall term.
• While 48% of communication departments had made at least one new hire for the 2023–24 academic year, amounting to 1,150 new permanent faculty, the departments collectively had lost an average of 1,240 faculty per annum over the previous two years. Among the faculty who left, 43% had retired (a much smaller share than all but one of the other disciplines in the survey).
• Approximately 14% of communication department chairs thought the number of tenure-line faculty in their departments had increased from fall 2020 to fall 2023, while 38% estimated that their tenure-line faculty count had decreased. In addition, 32% of chairs in the discipline thought the number of nontenure-track faculty had increased over the same period, while 23% thought the number had decreased.
• Looking ahead, 19% of communication department chairs expected the number of tenure track faculty in their departments to increase over the next three academic years, while 25% thought the number would decrease. (The remainder thought the most likely outcome would be no change or were not sure.) In contrast, 30% thought their nontenure-track faculty count would increase, while 17% thought the number would shrink.
• About 43% of the departments had a faculty member come up for tenure during the previous two years. Averaging over these two years, 410 faculty were granted tenure per annum nationwide, 30 were denied tenure, and 130 left prior to a tenure decision.
• Because it is not appropriate for a person to assign a demographic identity to another person, the survey did not ask department chairs to report their faculty members’ races or genders. However, the survey did ask chairs to describe themselves. Women constituted 50% of the chairs in communication departments in fall 2023, and 81% identified their race/ethnicity as white.

Undergraduate Students

• In fall 2023, departments that awarded degrees in communication had undergraduate course enrollments of 433,660, with an average enrollment of 390 per department. (These are duplicated enrollment figures, with students taking multiple courses in the discipline counted in every course.) The average is skewed upward by large programs, typically at research universities, which had significantly larger-than-average enrollments, as indicated by a median enrollment of only 225.
• Approximately 46% of communication department chairs thought undergraduate enrollments had held steady or increased from fall 2020 to fall 2023. This was a relatively small share in comparison to all other disciplines in the survey, as 54% of the departments—the largest share among the disciplines—reported a decrease in enrollments.
• On average, communication departments awarded 51 bachelor’s degrees per department in the 2022–23 academic year (with a median of 19 per department). These departments had an average of 115 juniors or seniors with a declared major in the discipline (but a median of just 36). These were the largest numbers among the disciplines included in the survey. Communication stands out for having a relatively small number of undergraduate student enrollments relative to the number of majors and bachelor's degrees awarded.
• In the 2022-23 academic year, communication departments awarded an average of 21 minors in the discipline (with a median of 9 per department) and 29 certificates or other microcredentials per department (with a median of 18). While the average number of certificates awarded by communication departments was substantially larger than that of other disciplines in the survey, only 18% of the departments reported awarding certificates or other microcredentials. This was in contrast with minors, which were offered by a much more substantial 47% of departments.

Graduate Students

• Degree-granting departments in communication had 15,480 enrollments in graduate courses in fall 2023, with an average of 44 enrollments (and a median of 35) per department with a graduate program.
• Approximately 13,610 students were working toward graduate degrees in communication. The average number of students pursuing an advanced degree in communication was 39 (with a median of 40) per department that granted such degrees.
• The 147 departments awarding PhDs admitted an average of 10.4 new doctoral students into their programs in fall 2023, for a total of 1,530 new doctoral students in the discipline.

Departmental Practices and Concerns

• Approximately 50% of department chairs were optimistic about the future of communication at their institution, while 20% were pessimistic. (The remainder were either unsure or neither optimistic nor pessimistic.)
• The survey found that 13% of the chairs in communication were concerned about the academic freedom of faculty members in their department—the smallest share among all the disciplines in the survey. Among those departments, the most common concern was threats to such freedom by boards of trustees and federal or state governments (each cited by 64% of chairs).
• While 86% of communication departments provided research support for their full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty members, and 65% offered such support for full-time nontenured faculty, only 18% offered such support for part-time faculty. These were among the smallest shares of support among the disciplines in the survey.
• Asked what their departments had done in recent years to attract additional majors, 76% of communication department chairs reported outreach to students who were in other majors or undeclared. The second most common strategy, reported by 56% of chairs, was offering events, classes, or other activities designed to aid student in thinking about future jobs or careers.
• An estimated 89% of departments supported the career development of their undergraduates by offering (and for a small share of departments, requiring) occupationally oriented lectures, while 98% offered internships, and 70% offered occupationally oriented coursework or workshops. These were some of the largest shares found among the surveyed disciplines.
• In departments awarding doctorates in the discipline, 100% offered occupationally oriented lectures for their doctoral students; 70% offered internships; and 90% offered occupationally oriented coursework or workshops.