The School of Journalism and Mass Communications offers a flexible graduate program in journalism and mass communications with a health care public relations area of emphasis. The program accommodates persons with or without an undergraduate degree in journalism and with or without mass communications or professional public relations experience. Career interests should include public relations positions in health care organizations or agencies that work on public relations health care campaigns.
The W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications offers a Health Care Public relations Master’s emphasis. This 30-hour area of emphasis covers public relations campaigns for medical services and organizations (both internal and external audiences; research, planning, communicating, and evaluating), writing and other public relations tactics for health care audiences, the use of public relations in the health care setting in time of crises, media relations in health care, privacy laws, budgeting, and the use of social media in health care organizations.
Required courses
- JMC 600—Proseminar in Graduate Studies
- JMC 601—Theory of Mass Communication
- JMC 602—Mass Communications Research
- JMC 604—JMC Law and Ethics
- JMC 612—History of Mass Communication
- JMC 620—Public Relations in Health Care
- JMC 539—Public Relations Campaign Management
- JMC 501—Multi-Media Writing (required if no JMC background)
- CL 105—Medical Terminology (required if no background in health care)
- EDF or PSY 517—Statistical Methods/Intermediate Behavioral Statistics
Choose remaining required hours from
- JMC 537—Public Relations Writing
- JMC 641—Web/Online Strategies
- CMM 574—Health Communication
- HCA 600—The Health Care System
- HCA 640—The Health Care Professional OR
- HCA 655—Health Care Marketing
- JMC 508—Strategic Communications Research
Admission to the master’s programs requires:
- a completed admission form,
- an earned bachelor’s degree, and
- a 3.0 undergraduate gpa (on a 4.0 scale) and a total score of 370 on the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), OR
- a 2.5 to 2.99 undergraduate gpa (on a 4.0 scale) and a total score of 396 on the GRE.
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