In the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design, you’ll learn how to generate ideas and solve problems for brands and issues through a design thinking process that is grounded in analytical and creative thought.

With the explosion of digital and social media, there’s never been a more exciting time to work in the rapidly growing field of strategic communication.

Degrees Offered:

BS: Strategic Communication

MA: Strategic Communication Design

PhD: Media Research and Practice

Undergraduate Opportunities

We offer a bachelor’s degree in strategic communication—an umbrella term that refers to the way in which organizations use advertising, public relations and design to accomplish their communication goals. Outside of class, you’ll have many opportunities to showcase your work. For example, our students consistently take top awards in the prestigious international One Show "Young Ones" competition in New York City.

As an undergraduate student you can choose to specialize in one of three tracks:

The advertising track will prepare you for a career in the strategy side of advertising.  All advertising jobs require knowledge of the fundamental principles of brand-building and audience engagement across media platforms, whether the brand is a product, service, celebrity, nation or cause. Students preparing for careers in account management, account planning or media management will also require experience with research design and execution, data analysis and strategy development. Advertising creative is housed within our media design track.

The public relations track will prepare you for a career in one of the nation’s fastest-growing fields. You will learn to work closely with news organizations, build relationships with media and other stakeholders, create content for traditional and emerging media platforms—including social media—and manage public relations campaigns.

Design changes not only how we see the world but how we experience it. Media design prepares graduates for leadership in the diverse and evolving media environments of the 21st century. As a student in media design, you can focus on advertising copywriting, advertising art direction or user experience design.

 

Undergraduate Advising

BS Degree Requirements

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Graduate Programs

We offer graduate degrees for students interested in furthering their professional careers and for students who wish to expand the frontiers of knowledge in our discipline by producing scholarship and research at the highest level.

In the 21st century’s connected economy, design increasingly plays a strategic role in communications––from its impact on local everyday engagements to global change. Whether the end result is a product, service or branded experience, this program focuses on the delivery of useful, desired, and strategically impactful results effected by design-driven innovation.

The Media Research and Practice PhD program is dedicated to interdisciplinary inquiry into the social, political, economic and cultural dimensions of media, strategic communication, and journalism, both nationally and internationally, and in historical and contemporary contexts. The degree combines the research and teaching emphases of the three participating departments––Advertising, Public Relations and Design (APRD); Journalism (JRNL); and Media Studies (MDST)––and encourages doctoral students to develop research agendas that bridge disciplines and cross between academic research and professional practice.

 

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MA Degree Requirements

PhD Degree Requirements

How to Apply