Ph.D. in Rhetoric, Theory and Culture

The shifting technological and media landscape of our globalized world constantly offers up new objects and fresh questions for examination. At Michigan Technological University, we’re training a new breed of scholars who can work across disciplines to grapple with complex cultural realities. Heed the call.

You’ll engage in creative and critical interdisciplinary research that considers the connections between technology, communication, and globalization. Whether your interest is rhetoric, cultural studies, technical communication, or media studies, you’ll gain a rich understanding of the ways in which communicative practices are embedded in cultural contexts with political, material, and social dimensions.

Michigan Technological University began as the Michigan Mining School in Houghton in 1885. Established by the state of Michigan to train mining engineers to better operate the local copper mines, the school started with four faculty members and 23 students on the second floor of a building on Montezuma Avenue in Houghton. The building, operated as the Houghton Fire Hall for decades, is now a nightclub and restaurant.

The Michigan Mining School and the subsequent Michigan College of Mines trained nationally and internationally recognized mining engineers. Our first president, Marshman E. Wadsworth (1887-98), oversaw creation of a strong faculty, movement to our present campus location, and a college mission.

At Michigan Technological University, our 7,000+ crazy smart students build and launch nanosatellites, make prosthetic ankles better, and connect robots with kids. This year alone, Michigan Tech undergraduates will spend 126,000 hours working alongside faculty mentors on paid research. Our 18 centers and institutes are armed with $80.4 million in research expenditures. Huskies go on to earn the ninth highest starting salaries in the country at $65,000 (median). It's a future like no other.