The P.I. Reed School of Journalism announces a new online minor in public relations. Every organization, whether nonprofit, trade association, corporate, or government agency, needs to tell its story to survive and thrive. Public relations practitioners, also known as corporate communicators, public information officers, promotions directors, spokespersons and a host of other terms, tell these stories. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates some 200,000 persons are employed in the public relations profession.

In addition, those in professions as varied as medicine, engineering, education and social work now need an understanding of basic public relations principles to engage their communities and clients. Regardless of title or area of emphasis, all of these professionals need a solid base in written, oral and visual communications, along with an understanding of various audiences and the media and interpersonal mechanisms with which to communicate with them.

Students in colleges and units outside of the P.I. Reed School of Journalism may earn a minor in Public Relations online during summer sessions by completing the following courses and meeting the requirements as stated below.

Prerequisites and Schedule Hours:

To earn a minor in Public Relations a student must earn a grade of C or better in each of the five courses.

The PR minor is not available to any student enrolled in the P.I. Reed School of Journalism.

Students who double-minor in Advertising and Public Relations may choose an additional course from the School’s online and 200-level open enrollment courses in place of JRL 101 (which they will have already taken for the Advertising minor.)

Students can complete the minor with the two lower division courses during the school year and the online courses in one summer.Students completing the entire minor online can expect to complete it in two summers.

All courses are taught completely online via eCampus. Students need to plan on logging into eCampus daily during the week, but can do so at the time of their own choosing. Students should budget the same amount of time for an online class as they do for classroom classes.

To get permission to register for online journalism classes, contact Dr. Ralph E. Hanson.