Mass Communication BA/Public Relations MA (0601)

The Department of Mass Communication offers a combined bachelor’s degree and master’s degree program that enables a student to take graduate courses beginning with junior year and to complete a half of the coursework for the Iona MA in Public Relations by the end of senior year. Students must be in the public relations concentration in the department and hold a GPA of at least 3.0 and be invited to join the combined program after a faculty review.

During junior and senior years, selected students will take graduate courses in place of specific undergraduate courses, attending classes with regularly enrolled graduate students. Graduate courses taken as an undergraduate are prices as undergraduate courses.

BA in Mass Communication, Public Relations

Overview

College Core	57 credits
Major Courses - 36 credits
Common Courses	12 credits
Specialization Courses	18 credits
Outside Area Electives	9 credits
Liberal Arts Electives	0 - 9 credits
Open Electives	18 - 24 credits
TOTAL	120 credits

Note:

* The following courses in the major program are “professional courses” and not liberal arts courses: MCO 327 , MCO 428 , MCO 447 , and MCO 448 . The number of liberal arts electives varies according to the number of nonliberal arts credits taken.

Credit Requirements

Credit requirements for undergraduates remain at 120 credits, but 18 credits will be counted for both undergraduate and graduate courses. 57 Core credits; 24 liberal arts electives; 39 credits in the major.

Prerequisite

Must be enrolled in PR concentration for Mass Communications BA or have taken the four required courses for the PR concentration.
Must have 3.0 GPA at end of sophomore year to enroll as junior.
Must pass an interview and review process by departmental committee.

Undergraduate Major Requirements

Undergraduates will take MCO 200 and MCO 213 and will be encouraged to take MCO 498 Internship.

Corequisites and Replacement Courses

Undergraduate students will take the following graduate courses.

MCO 300 Media Law and Ethics replaced by PR 605 Media Law and Ethics
MCO 496 Seminar in communications replaced by 980 Thesis/Project Preparation and PR 981 Thesis/Project Completion
MCO 240 Digital Literacy replaced by PR 629 Converged Technologies for PR
MCO 397 Research Methods replaced by PR 604 Applied Communications Research.

MA in Public Relations

GPA Requirements for Admission to the MA Program

Must have an overall GPA of 3.0 at end of sophomore year to enroll as junior.

Graduate Core Requirements

PR 604 Research for PR
PR 605 Media Law and Ethics
PR 609 Writing for Mass Media
PR 615 Principles of PR
PR 616 PR campaigns
PR 617 Media Relations
PR 629 Converged Technologies
PR 980 and PR 981 thesis/project planning and completion.

Culminating Experience or Internship Requirements

Students in the combined BA/MA program are required to take a professional internship as PR 699 and to complete the culminating experience as courses PR 980 and 981. They are not eligible for the alternative culminating experience of an exam and final paper.