Journalism and Public Relations

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Website: www.iup.edu/journalism
Michele Papakie, Chair

A bachelor of arts degree with a major in journalism and public relations at IUP prepares students to thrive in a wide variety of career fields, such as news media, public relations, entertainment, magazines, advertising, visual journalism, online journalism, web design, marketing, and social media.

In addition to these traditional, journalistic career fields, department graduates combine their outstanding communication skills with other fields about which they are passionate and land jobs in hospitals, hotels, politics, advocacy, sports, and planning, just to name a few, where strategic communication is essential.

This major’s curriculum is flexible enough to allow students to pick up a second major, or a minor, and still graduate within four years. This is how journalism and public relations majors differentiate themselves in the workforce.

With seven required courses (21 credits), students are empowered to individualize their degrees specifically in line with their interests and passions. Students choose six more major electives (18 additional credits), out of the 24 (72 credits) the department offers, to complete the major requirements.

Students in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences are also required to reach the intermediate level of a foreign language, which typically translates to three semesters (12 credits) of the student’s choice of a foreign language. These requirements make journalism and public relations graduates more marketable.

For students who choose to major in another program at IUP, the department offers an 18-credit minor that complements any major.

Successful alumni of this program represent a network of professionals throughout communications industries. This network assists students who seek internships, which are plentiful and strongly encouraged. These practical experiences often lead to job opportunities after graduation. Employers know if students can communicate professionally, they can succeed. Students who choose to study journalism and public relations at IUP graduate as accomplished communicators.

Course Sequence

The Journalism and Public Relations faculty offers the following operational policy for the course sequence and prerequisites.

1. Majors must complete JRNL 102 , JRNL 105 , JRNL 220 , and JRNL 328  before completing 21cr in journalism and public relations.
2. Eighteen credits must be at the 300- and 400-level.
3. No more than 6cr of special topics courses in journalism and public relations may count toward the 34cr required for the major.
4. Required courses requiring a grade of “C” or better may be retaken two times each. If a student fails to achieve a grade of “C” or better on the second attempt, he/she must meet with his/her advisor.
5. Students are advised to examine course prerequisites so their plan of study can be most effective. Exceptions can be made to the prerequisites only by the faculty member teaching the course after extensive consultation with the student to ascertain his/her readiness to succeed in that course. In the case of the required courses, that decision will be made by the department as a whole.
6. Seventy-two of the 120 credits required for graduation must be outside Journalism and Public Relations (JRNL) and Communications Media (COMM) and within the Colleges of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Credits beyond the 48cr of combined JRNL and COMM courses will be in addition to the 120cr required for graduation. This requirement applies to dual majors.

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