Advertising and Public Relations Minor

Overview for Advertising and Public Relations Minor

The advertising and public relations minor prepares students to analyze audiences, write advertising copy, prepare press releases, select media, and manage broad-scaled persuasive campaigns. Students are grounded in the basic theories of persuasive communication enabling them to create persuasive messages with a strong emphasis on ethical decision-making.

Notes about this minor:

  • This minor is closed to students majoring in advertising and public relations.
  • Posting of the minor on the student's academic transcript requires a minimum GPA of 2.0 in the minor.
  • Notations may appear in the curriculum chart below outlining pre-requisites, co-requisites, and other curriculum requirements (see footnotes).

The plan code for Advertising and Public Relations Minor is ADVPUB-MN.

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Curriculum for 2023-2024 for Advertising and Public Relations Minor

Current Students: See Curriculum Requirements

Course
Required Courses
Choose one of the following:
   COMM-211
   Principles of Advertising
An introduction to principles and practices of advertising. Topics include advertising theories, ethics, regulation, consumer research, media planning, message strategy, and campaign planning strategy. Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring).
   COMM-212
   Public Relations
An introduction to the practice of public relations. Topics include history, research areas, laws, ethics, and social responsibilities as they relate to the theory and practice of public relations. Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring).
Electives
Choose four of the following:*
    COMM-202
   Mass Communications
The history and development of U.S. media, theoretical aspects of mass communications, the composition of media audiences, law and regulation of mass communications and how the media affect and are affected by society are presented. Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring, Summer).
   COMM-211
   Principles of Advertising
An introduction to principles and practices of advertising. Topics include advertising theories, ethics, regulation, consumer research, media planning, message strategy, and campaign planning strategy. Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring).
   COMM-212
   Public Relations
An introduction to the practice of public relations. Topics include history, research areas, laws, ethics, and social responsibilities as they relate to the theory and practice of public relations. Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring).
    COMM-221
   Public Relations Writing
This course covers a variety of forms of writing for public relations, including news releases, newsletters, backgrounders, public service announcements, magazine queries, interviews, coverage memos, media alerts, features, trade press releases, and public presentations. Students will write for a variety of media including print, broadcast, and the web. Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring).
   COMM-223
   Digital Design in Communication
In an increasingly visual culture, and culture of online user-created content, non-designers are called upon in the professional realm to illustrate their ideas. Graduates entering the workforce will encounter situations where they will benefit from possessing a visual communication sensibility and vocabulary to communicate effectively with a broad range of audiences, including professional designers. Creative approaches to challenges, such as visual thinking, are also shown to improve students’ comprehension and problem-solving abilities. Digital Design in Communication is an opportunity for undergraduates to receive an introduction to principles of visual message design from a critical rhetorical perspective. They will also get the opportunity to apply these principles to a variety of visual products such as advertisements, logos, brochures, resumes, etc. A variety of computer software applications are available to support the research, writing, visualization, and design of messages. Lecture 3 (Fall, Summer).
    COMM-303
   Small Group Communication
This course provides students with opportunities to engage in small group decision making and problem solving. Students will analyze and evaluate their own experiences and relate them to theories and research from the field of small group communication. Lecture 3 (Fall or Spring).
   COMM-305
   Persuasion
An in-depth study of the theories, practices, effects, and ethics of persuasion. Persuasion is defined as human communication designed to influence one’s beliefs, values, attitudes, and actions. This course examines persuasion from a receiver-oriented perspective with interpersonal, small group, organizational, and mediated perspectives. Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring, Summer).
   COMM-321
   Copywriting and Visualization
An opportunity for undergraduates to learn the verbal and visual skills utilized in the creation of advertising messages. To create an effective strategy for an advertising campaign, the advertising copywriter/art director team needs to combine linguistic and visual metaphors into a persuasive message. Students will develop creative advertising messages by researching and writing a creative brief and then implementing the plan by transforming concepts into actual advertising messages and campaigns. (Prerequisites: COMM-211 or equivalent course.) Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring).
    COMM-322
   Campaign Management and Planning†
This course introduces students to the managing and planning of advertising and public relations campaigns. It takes a team project approach thereby helping students learn how to work together in class as well as in a competitive agency. Service-learning will be used to expose students to community causes. (Prerequisites: COMM-211 and COMM-212 or equivalent courses.) Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring).
    COMM-341
   Visual Communication
This course is an introduction to the study of visual communication. The iconic and symbolic demonstration of visual images used in a variety of media is stressed. The major goal of the course is to examine visual messages as a form of intentional communication that seeks to inform, persuade, and entertain specific target audiences. Lecture 3 (Fall or Spring).
   COMM-346
   Global Media
An introduction to media technologies from a global perspective. Major theories about the media, current trends in media, journalism practices, and governmental challenges and restrictions are reviewed. Students will use various media technologies both locally and abroad through site visits, readings, and online resources resulting in a media production (mini-documentary, movie trailer, and/or international film review). Special focus on the growing importance of the internet and digital media on news flow, advertising, and entertainment. Lec/Lab 3 (Fall or Spring).
   COMM-356
   Critical Practice in Social Media
With the advent of virtual communities, smart mobs, and online social networks, questions about the meaning of human communication and how we construct our online and offline personal and professional identities need to be reevaluated. This course explores the relationship between social media and the construction of both individual and social identities as well as best practices for constructing the desired community or identity. Although the course is grounded in theory, it is equally committed to practice, and much of the class discussion and activity takes place in various online spaces. As a practicum, those who complete this course will know how to engage productively in practices such as tweeting, blogging, tagging, etc. and will develop an understanding of how these practices affect their construction of identity and community both personally and on behalf of an organization. Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring).
   COMM-489
   Topics in Communication
An in-depth examination of a selected aspect of the communication discipline (e.g. strategic communication, technical communication, visual communication, computer mediated communication, advertising, public relations, journalism). Topics in Communication can be taken multiple times provided the topic being studied has changed. Lecture 3 (Fall or Spring).
   COMM-489
   Special Topics in Communication
An in-depth examination of a selected aspect of the communication discipline (e.g. strategic communication, technical communication, visual communication, computer mediated communication, advertising, public relations, journalism). Topics in Communication can be taken multiple times provided the topic being studied has changed. Lecture 3 (Fall or Spring).

* At least one course must be taken at the 300 level or higher.

† This course has two pre-requisites: Principles of Advertising (COMM-211) and Public Relations (COMM-212).