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M.S. in Public Relations
and Corporate Communication

CURRICULUM


Coursework in the Master of Science in Public Relations and Corporate Communication includes subjects ranging from public relations writing and media relations to international public relations and corporate communication management. You select from an array of Core courses offered in the evenings and on weekends. The Core requirements are designed to ensure that you gain a firm grasp of the most important elements of public relations and corporate communication. You choose the remainder of your courses from one of two concentration areas: Public Relations Management or Corporate and Organizational Communication. The program is rounded out by the real-world experience of a Practicum and completed by a Capstone project.  

The M.S. in Public Relations and Corporate Communication can be completed in four to five semesters of full-time study or seven to 10 semesters of part-time study and includes 14 three-credit courses for a total of 42 credits.


CORE COURSES
The eight required Core courses provide you with the fundamental knowledge and skills essential for success in the PR and corporate communication profession. The Core courses give you an in-depth understanding of:

  • Communication, ethics, law, and regulation
  • Building and maintaining relationships of credibility with the news media and developing a methodology for the successful practice of media relations
  • Developing specialized skills for effective public relations writing, including brainstorming, researching, planning, structuring, wording, presenting, and rewriting
  • Qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to produce knowledge-driven programs and to measure the outcomes of marketing strategies, crisis management, etc.
  • Developing strategic communication plans that include synthesizing internal and external initiatives that accommodate core company principles
  • Theory, history, and practice of public relations


CONCENTRATIONS
Students select one of two concentrations that build on the foundation attained in the Core coursework: Public Relations Management or Corporate and Organizational Communication. A concentration consists of four courses chosen from one concentration area or a combination of three courses from one concentration and one from the other.

REAL-WORLD CONNECTIONS: THE PRACTICUM
To give our students the opportunity to gain real-world experience, we cultivate practicum relationships with a variety of corporations, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, governmental or nongovernmental organizations, and public relations agencies. The Practicum is taken after the completion of your course requirements. Under the stewardship of a faculty member, you work in client teams with other students at an on-site work placement from a list of faculty-approved client organizations. Your assignment is to identify a communication problem or challenge and find a solution that would benefit the organization. You establish an objective, the achievement of which you measure as you work through the classic public relations process of research, planning, communications, and evaluation. You may also provide supportive case analysis based on primary research. The Practicum experience improves your strategic and tactical communication skills and provides you with an important résumé credit.

CAPSTONE PROJECT
The Capstone project is your final advanced individual project marking the culmination of your master’s degree program. You select your own topic—a communication challenge facing an organization, individual, product, service, or public policy issue, selected with faculty approval and conducted under the guidance of a faculty member. Topics may be tightly bound, discreet ones, such as devising a campaign to promote a new company, product, service, or public figure. The subject also may be a specific communications subset of a large, seemingly intractable issue, such as the use of steroids in athletics, the cost of prescription drugs, or the use of sex or violence by the entertainment media. By semester’s end, you have created a complete communication campaign, including research, objectives, strategies, tactics, and evaluation mechanisms, packaged into your Capstone report.

OPTIONAL CONTINUING EDUCATION COURSEWORK IN MARKETING OR JOURNALISM
As a graduate student, you have the opportunity via our continuing education offerings to study marketing communication, marketing strategy and branding, marketing research, advertising management, business-to-business marketing, direct and interactive marketing, entertainment and events marketing, and sales promotion and strategies. SCPS also offers courses in journalism. Although these courses are optional and not required or applicable to the M.S. degree, they are offered year-round, and we encourage you to enroll if you would like to develop additional skills.