Strategic Public Relations

Program-at-a-Glance

The George Washington University’s Strategic Public Relations Program follows an innovative approach to building professional credentials that will position you to excel in this challenging profession. You’ll master core public relations skills and the practical application of strategic thinking.  You can choose to enter as a master’s degree or graduate certificate candidate. Graduate certificate students can later apply the core public relations curriculum to the master’s degree.

• Flexible credentials allow you to apply the graduate certificate toward the Strategic Public Relations Master’s Degree
• 18 credit hours (6 classes) for the graduate certificate
• 33 credit hours (11 classes) for the master’s degree
• Classes meet Monday through Thursday evenings
• New location for Fall 2008! Alexandria Graduate Education Center (near King Street Metro)
• Program is particularly relevant to PR people who work in the public policy and political arenas

You want to capture public attention, shape key public policy debates, and earn the public trust as a successful strategic public relations professional. Yet you know the public relations field is changing—you need to employ more than traditional methods in the new-media world. Online communication, viral marketing, and wireless technology have forever changed how we share information. At the same time, the public relations profession finds itself converging with practices that used to be separate—PR practitioners must often fulfill public affairs and marketing roles in addition to traditional communications functions.

This program takes advantage of GW’s connections in the Nation’s Capital, focusing on the public policy system and the advocacy role played by PR firms and PR operations in corporations and associations in the Washington metropolitan area. The Graduate School of Political Management taps into experts in both the PR and political arenas. Plus, you’ll graduate prepared for professional advancement in the field.

Focus Areas*:

• Media & Communications Theory
• Ethics & Law
• New Media Strategies
• Evaluating Communications Programs
• Crisis Communications
• Media Relations
• Management Skills

*These focus areas serve as guidelines - you do not choose or declare one.

Public Relations Courses and Syllabi

Public Relations Degree Requirements

Master's Degree in Strategic Public Relations Online