The faculty hiring network for PhD-granting communication programs

Abstract

What is the structure of the faculty hiring network in the communication discipline? Using the Doctoral Program Guide of the National Communication Association, we compiled a list of 87 communication doctoral programs from 77 institutions, and obtained information on 1323 faculty members, including current university employment and where they earned their PhD. These data allowed the construction of a communication PhD hiring network, in which degree-granting universities were linked to current places of employment. Social network analyses addressed structural questions about faculty hiring in communication. Key findings include that hiring in communication is characterized by an open arrangement, without a clear clique-based structure, that self-hires are related to faculty size and university centrality, and that over time the hiring structure evolved from one with a number of feeder universities to one where hiring is more decentralized.