Public Relations

Wow guys, we are reaching towards the end of this series. This is the final paper that I have for you guys to see. This one actually goes back awhile. This was the one that I wrote for my senior project, done over a year ago. It's pretty big, so I'll have to divide it up. But anyways, enjoy!

Public relations between people have existed since humans first began congregating, but the idea is less than 100 years old and has been defined in many different ways. People who are PR specialists would “serve as advocates for businesses, nonprofit associations, universities, hospitals, and build and maintain positive relationships with the public” (Career Information). Some early examples of public relations include when a farm bulletin was produced informing farmers how to grow crops in 1800 B.C, when Pope Gregory XV created the College for propagating the Faith in 1623, when colonists staged the Boston Tea Party, and when Edward Bernays led an effort to inform the public about the dangers of smoking (Second).

Successful public relation specialists must have an outgoing personality, possess self-confidence, have an understanding of human psychology, and have an enthusiasm for motivating people. They also need to be competitive, yet able to work in a team. Specialists held about 188,000 jobs in 2004 (Career Information). Currently the number of qualified applicants is expected to exceed the amount of jobs available, but job availability will increase to higher than average through 2014 (Career Information).

One of the many colleges that offers a public relations program is Ferris State University. The college is located in Michigan, with many different campuses in the area. Its public relations program is one of the most interesting among universities because one can earn a bachelor’s of science in business and also receive a degree in public relations. The different courses offered for a degree in public relations include advertising, marketing communications, and journalism. Although Ferris University has four requirements, students only need three for admission (Public Relations). They include a high school GPA of 2.5, English SAT of 370 or higher, a math SAT of 460 or higher, and reading ACT of 19 or higher. Their graduation requirement is a 2.0 GPA in their core courses (Public Relations). The tuition for a non-resident is $15,900 for a year, and room and board for a year is $8,940, making the entire tuition $24,840 for one year (2009).

Another college which offers a public relations program is Baldwin Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. The program mandates that students take the typical liberal arts courses, along with the specific classes for public relations major. Their program has more than one hundred mentors available to students, which is more than any program in the area. Students will not only receive experience in public relations, but also in communication, event planning, marketing, and journalism. There are 32 required courses plus prerequisites to complete the public relations major. A minor has a required 24 credit hours and includes other courses. Students have the opportunity of going to such locations as Chicago, Miami, England, and Australia to work on their public relations campaign. Students also have the opportunity to learn from real public relation campaigns. As of 2009, the tuition for an out-of-state student is $13,124 for one semester and $24,230 for a full year, and a student can expect to pay $17,104 for one semester or $34,208 for one year for a double room (B-W).

A public relations specialist’s education prepares him/her for numerous duties such as handling organizational functions which include media, community, employee relations and governmental campaigns. They are sometimes required to write speeches and press releases, which they release to the media for broadcasting. PR specialists also arrange and conduct events and programs to maintain contact between organizations and the public, as well as write proposals for different projects. They sometimes handle publicity for individuals or, small organizations. They may also initiate advertising campaigns to support marketing attempts (Career Information).

To Be Continued...