Feedback May 2002 (Vol 43 No 2)

The PR major at Central Michigan University also requires students to do amandatory six credit hour internship. Many of the students receive compensation. Ithas been the feedback from students completing the internships that has provided thestrongest support for the value of broadcast courses in a public relations curriculum.As one site supervisor stated; “I was telling the student that we will contact one of ourspecialty shops to do a VNR and the student told me she could do it. I was amazed!She did the VNR in the end and it was great!” Still another supervisor from a Fortune500 company was pleased that his intern could do copyrighting, write a script andcreate a storyboard. Requests for more IPR interns continue to grow.Lessons LearnedThe lesson learned is that students appreciate multiple perspectives from facultywith different expertise. The challenge for each department is to identify those facultywho have an appreciation of how their expertise can contribute to the development of awell-rounded public relations practitioner. Public relations has changed and programsneed to respond to these changes in the 21st century. In order to do this, broadcastingneeds to take a leadership role along with journalism and communication in publicrelations education. Public relations is no longer synonymous with print media and theinclusion of broadcasting courses in public relations curriculum will provide futurepractitioners with the necessary skills for competing in the fast moving world of publicrelations.Integrative Public Relations Major, B.A.A., B.S., B.A. degrees (59 credit hours)A grade of C or better in each course in the major including electives and a minimum 2.5 g.p.a.overall in the major is required. *Denotes courses with prerequisites.Required Courses (41 hours)Designator Hour Course NameIPR 101 (1) Foundations of Integrative Public RelationsBCA 210 (4) Survey of the Mass MediaBCA 311* (3) Broadcast and Cable CopywritingBCA 512* (3) Broadcast and Cable PromotionIPC 357 (3) Public SpeakingIPC 264 (3) Organizational CommunicationJRN 202* (3) Writing for Mass MediaJRN 302 (3) Introduction to Graphics and Visual CommunicationJRN 350 (3) Public Relations Principles and PracticesJRN 450* (3) Public Relations WritingJRN 551* (3) Case Studies in Public RelationsJRN 556* (3) Public Relations SeminarIPR 555* (6) Public Relations InternshipElectives (18 hours)Group A (6 hours) – Organizational CommunicationIPC 195 (3) Intercultural CommunicationIPC 353 (3) Small Group CommunicationIPC 362 (3) Male-Female CommunicationIPC 363 (3) Principles and Types of InterviewingIPC 365 (3) PersuasionIPC 560* (3) Communication and ChangeIPC 561* (3) Communication in Conflict Management20Feedback May 2002 (Vol. 43, No. 2)