Public relations principles and practices of business, industry, education and public agencies.
Overview: The course is geared to students whose career interests span a variety of disciplines and who work/plan to work in business, government or the not-for-profit sector. These individuals would benefit from understanding public relations principles and practices and might eventually oversee organizational communications as part of other responsibilities.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the course, students should understand:
- the nature of public relations, and how it relates to similar disciplines
- applications of public relations across a variety of organizations
- behavioral foundations for effective communications between an organization and its publics
- how to organize a communications program/campaign
- basic techniques used in communicating with the public, and
- ethical and legal considerations.
Organization: The course is organized in four units with 15 weekly modules:
- Introduction: Nature and History of PR Practice, PR in Business, PR in Not-for- Profit Organizations and Government, PR Departments and Agencies
- Behavioral Foundations: Persuasion and Public Opinion, Understanding Publics, Reaching Audiences and Media
- Program Process: Research, Planning, Communication/Implementation, Evaluation
- Special Topics: Crisis and Issues Management, Publicity and Written Tactics, Broadcast and Spoken Tactics, Ethics and Legal Aspects.
Students complete an essay exam upon the completion of each unit (pick three out of four possible questions) and write three written case studies interspersed throughout semester. A weekly audio review and written questions and answers from the weekly lessons and text are provided. Students also complete any six out of thirteen possible short assignments that are scattered throughout the semester to enable students to apply principles learned in class. These activities vary from analyzing Web sites to conducting a short survey among friends and writing a news release.
Textbooks and Materials
Please check the CSU Bookstore for textbook information. Textbook listings are available at the CSU Bookstore about 3 weeks prior to the start of the term.
Instructors
