Public Relations

You'll learn from professors with extensive experience in the field, while gaining experience of your own through a required internship. Our campus is just steps away from Boston's leading PR firms and media organizations—employers who routinely hire Suffolk students. Graduates of our program often go on to work at agencies and major non-profit, government, and commercial organizations, as well as pursue graduate degrees in law, public policy, or business.

As a student in our public relations program, you will:

• Learn how to present and answer questions in a professional environment
• Use research and persuasion to create effective messaging strategies for press releases, reports, pitch letters, social media posts, and other types of collateral
• Create and manage events designed to increase the visibility of your clients
• Work as part of an agency in the Public Relations Campaigns class to create a public relations campaign for a specific client
• Gain valuable job experience through internships at local public relations agencies, companies, social media firms, and government and non-profit agencies

Program Options

The Major

In this major, students can choose to earn a Bachelor of Science or a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations. You’ll learn the foundations of public relations, including its history, theory, trends, and practices, and take courses in professional writing, digital media, web design, and event planning and promotion. All of this leads to advanced courses in planning public relations campaigns and events for corporate or nonprofit class clients. Social media courses are featured in the public relations curriculum; however, students can choose to build on those courses further to complete our social media minor.

All PR majors are required to complete a professional internship in advertising, integrated marketing communication, or social media. The internship course is typically taken during your senior year, although it can be taken your junior year. Students can take up to two different, semester-long internships for academic credit.
View the Public Relations Major Curriculum

The Minor

Learn how to support an organization’s image and communicate their message with our minor in public relations. To complete the minor, you’ll take four required courses that cover PR principles, research, strategic writing, and event planning and promotion, as well as an elective of your choice.
View the Public Relations Minor Curriculum

Customize Your Degree

Public relations students complement their skills with courses, minors, and double majors in areas such as:

• Advertising
• Global & Cultural Communications
• Journalism
• Marketing
• Political Science
• Social Media Minor
• Undergraduate Law