Public Relations Minor

This is a fundamental course in public relations that is designed to offer students a broad overview of public relations as a field and help them to set up a solid foundation for upper level Public Relations courses. It's intended to develop in students a broad and basic understanding of public relations -- what it encompasses, its history and influences, and its practices and processes in the contemporary business world and in society at large. Ethical issues for public relations practitioners will be considered, as well as the impact of globalization and new technologies in this field, through examination of current events and case studies.

Theories of Social Influence with particular attention to the means of changing  attitudes and behaviors.

This is an intensive course in public relations writing designed to expose students to professional-level strategic writing by focusing on communication objectives, techniques, styles and mechanics. Students will learn to write correctly and clearly in styles appropriate to the public relations profession, notably Associated Press (AP). Emphasis will be placed on learning to write in all public relations formats, including news releases, fact sheets, feature stories, blogs, pitch memos, media advisories, content, newsletters, brochures, broadcast scripts, backgrounders and others for real clients. Because most practitioners see writing as the foundation of professional public relations practice, the strong writing skills, writing for a "real" client and the online writing portfolio developed in class will definitely give students an edge in getting a great post-graduation job.

Specialized work on an individual basis, consisting of training and practice in actual service in a technical, business, or governmental establishment.

This course is designed to help students become more comfortable with speaking in public, and to familiarize them with the theory-based, basic skills of public speaking.  It will also help to increase students' communication, competence, and effectiveness, as well as improve  capabilities in research, and critical thinking.  This course will expose students to a variety of everyday speaking occasions.

This course provides an overview of sport industry-specific communication, including public relations, media relations and community relations within the sports and entertainment industry. Students will learn some of the unique attributes of the culture of sport and how public relations can play such a critical role in shaping one's identity of self, team, individual sport, governing organization, and the overall sport culture. Students will learn how social media and traditional media have influenced the industry. This course will provide students the opportunity to identify and analyze current and relevant sport communication trends. Students will examine ways on how the history of sport has influenced today's sport culture and sport communication in relation to gender, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. These  sport narratives provide both challenges and opportunities for the sports PR practitioner.

This course in an integrated approach to PR for the nonprofit sector, including strategic advocacy for these organizations and what makes nonprofit advocacy unique. This course will also examine this history and practices of various nonprofit organizations and how it has, in part, influenced the culture today. We will examine established norms with stakeholders in the community, such as media and corporate partnerships. Students will identify needs to a specific nonprofit and work through some of the PR issues and opportunities to better understand how to serve these organizations and their constituents.

This class introduces students to the strategic planning process required of public relations professionals in developing programs and campaigns. Students will learn how to develop, implement and evaluate effective strategies, with a focus on building and maintaining beneficial relationships with key stakeholders.

This class provides an overview of ethical theories and principles to develop a framework for ethical decision-making in the professional practice of public relations. The study of ethics helps identify the process public relations professionals use in order to make decisions about what course of action is the right one to take, and how to influence others to "do the right thing". Established codes of conduct and underlying ethical principles will be examined for their application to real, timely issues. This course provides students the opportunity to examine their own personal value system and compare it with the value systems inherent in what is conventionally described as ethical practice in public relations.

The discovery and development of effective creative communication for undergraduate students. The class includes an overview of creativity and communication strategies that relate to personal and professional situations. Learning modules include creative development, promotion techniques and skills as well as focus on establishing, maintaining and leading relationships through the integrated marketing communications process.

This course is designed to explore the theories and methodologies of public relations encompassing writing, principles and integrated campaigns. The course allows students to apply public relations and communication theory in a community-based project where students serve as public relations "consultants." This course provides students the opportunity to create a comprehensive and integrated PR campaign for a "client," and the opportunity to conduct research in analyzing and evaluating a successful PR campaign. In addition to serving the "client" and community, this course is designed to allow students to add to their professional writing portfolio and résumé for future internships or job interviews.

As unforeseen and unprecedented events occur, the role of the public relations practitioner in facing a crisis is of critical importance. People demand immediate information to explain and justify the actions of individuals, corporations, government entities and nonprofit organizations. At the same time, without thoughtful, careful responses a crisis can escalate with unfortunate results. This course will examine the specific strategies and actions to take before, during and after a crisis communication occurs, and review cases of successful and unsuccessful responses those in authority displayed in such instances. Readings and discussions will focus on case studies of historical and contemporary emergency situations and how the issues were handled, with close examination as to the role of public relations and its impact on the outcome.