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• Introduction
• The University
• Undergraduate Studies
• Architecture
• Business
• Communication
  • General Information
  • Admission and Registration
  • Academic Policies and Procedures
  • Graduation
  • Degrees and Programs
  • Courses
  • Faculty
• Education
• Engineering
• Fine Arts
• Geosciences
• Information
• Liberal Arts
• Natural Sciences
• Nursing
• Pharmacy
• Public Affairs
• Social Work
• Appendix A
• Appendix B
• Index

Bachelor of Science in Public Relations

To be awarded the degree of Bachelor of Science in Public Relations, the candidate must complete 120 semester hours of coursework and must fulfill the University's General Requirements for graduation and the Core Curriculum requirements, the college graduation requirements given in Special Requirements of the College, and the requirements given in Special Requirements, Prescribed Work, and Major Requirements below.

The Consent Procedure

Part of the prerequisite for some advertising and public relations courses is consent of the instructor received prior to registering. To be able to register for such a course, a student must first ask for and receive the instructor’s consent. The student may be invited to an interview with the instructor or may be asked to provide supporting materials, such as an application or an essay. The student is responsible for knowing the deadline to apply. Consent forms are available online and in the Department of Advertising.

Special Requirements

To enroll in upper-division public relations courses, a student must have completed Advertising 318J in residence with a grade of at least B and must have a University grade point average of at least 2.25 and a grade point average in courses in the College of Communication of at least 2.00. Students who do not fulfill these requirements will be dropped from upper-division public relations courses, normally before the twelfth class day. The grade point average requirement is waived for the transfer student during the first semester of coursework, while he or she is establishing a University grade point average. Students may enroll in Advertising 318J no more than twice.

In addition, a student with a major in public relations must have a grade of at least C in each course taken in the College of Communication that is counted toward the degree and a grade of at least C in each course counted toward the major requirements; if the course is offered on the pass/fail basis only, the student must have the symbol CR.

Core Curriculum

All students must complete the University’s Core Curriculum as well as the requirements for the Bachelor of Science in Public Relations listed below under Prescribed Work. In some cases, a course required for the BSPR may also be counted toward the core curriculum; these courses are identified below.

Prescribed Work

1. Rhetoric and Writing 309K, 309S, or 310.
2. Two courses with a writing flag. Courses that fulfill this requirement are identified in the Course Schedule. They may also be used to fulfill other degree requirements.
3. Three semester hours of coursework in the College of Communication dealing with the study of communication issues concerning at least one minority or nondominant group within the United States. Courses that fulfill this requirement may also be used to fulfill other degree requirements. A partial list of these communication and culture courses is given in the Communication and Culture Requirement section under the College of Communication's Degrees and Programs section; a complete list is available in the college’s Student Advising Office before registration for each semester and summer session. The courses are also identified in the Course Schedule.
4. Students must demonstrate fourth-semester-level proficiency, or the equivalent, in a foreign language. Courses taken to meet this requirement may not be taken on the pass/fail basis.

   Students who enter the University with a foreign language deficiency must take the first two semesters in a foreign language without degree credit to remove the deficiency.

   The usual course sequence is 406 or 506, 407 or 507 or 508K, 312K, and 312L. For some languages, different course numbers are used; such courses may be counted toward this requirement if they are designed to provide first-semester-level through fourth-semester-level proficiency. Credit may be earned by examination for any part of the sequence.

   An extensive foreign language testing program is available at the University. Students with knowledge of a language are encouraged to take appropriate tests both to earn as much credit as possible and to be placed at the proper level for further study. Students should consult the Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment or the department concerned for information on testing.

5. Statistics and Scientific Computation 306, completed in residence. This course also meets the core curriculum mathematics requirement.
6. Twelve semester hours of coursework in business, preferably three hours in marketing, three hours in management, three hours in accounting, and three hours in either legal environment of business or finance. At least six of the twelve hours must be in upper-division coursework. Marketing 338 may not be counted toward this requirement.
7. At least thirty-six semester hours of upper-division coursework.
8. No more than twelve semester hours of transfer credit may be counted toward the major requirements given below.
9. Enough additional coursework to make a total of 120 semester hours. No more than thirty-six semester hours in one field of study may be counted toward the degree.

Major Requirements

1. At least thirty-six but no more than forty-two semester hours of coursework, of which at least twenty-four hours must be upper-division. The following courses are required:
   
   1. Advertising 318J, 344K, 345J, Public Relations 317, 319 or 331, 348, 350, 352, 353, 367, or 376, and 377K. The student must complete Advertising 318J in residence with a grade of at least B.
   2. Three additional hours in public relations or advertising.
2. At least six semester hours of coursework must be taken in the College of Communication but outside advertising and public relations. No student may count toward the degree more than forty-eight hours (including transfer credit) in College of Communication coursework.
3. No College of Communication course to be counted toward the degree and no course to be counted toward major requirement 1 above may be taken on the pass/fail basis, unless the course is offered only on that basis.

Order and Choice of Work

First Year

1. The student must take three courses from the following group each semester:
   
   1. Rhetoric and Writing 306.
   2. Courses to be counted toward the American history, American and Texas government, social and behavioral sciences, mathematics, and science and technology requirements of the core curriculum.
   3. Courses in a foreign language.
2. Advertising 318J and Public Relations 317.
3. Additional coursework to raise the student’s course load to fifteen or sixteen hours each semester. Courses should be chosen with the guidance of a college adviser.

First-year students may not take two beginning foreign language courses in the same semester. First-year students may not take more than eight semester hours in one department.

Second Year

1. The student must take three courses from the following group each semester; four are recommended:
   
   1. Rhetoric and Writing 306; English 316K; and Rhetoric and Writing 309K, 309S, or 310.
   2. Courses to be counted toward the American history, American and Texas government, social and behavioral sciences, mathematics, and science and technology requirements of the core curriculum.
   3. Courses in the foreign language, unless the language requirement has been fulfilled.
2. Public Relations 319.
3. Statistics and Scientific Computation 306.
4. Enough additional coursework, if needed, to raise the student’s course load to fifteen or sixteen hours each semester. Basic courses in writing are especially recommended.

Third Year

1. Two courses with a writing flag.
2. Any remaining courses in the core curriculum and the prescribed work.
3. Public Relations 348, Advertising 344K, 345J, Marketing 320F, and additional coursework to fulfill the major requirements.
4. Upper-division electives chosen to support the major. Public relations majors normally emphasize writing courses, such as those in English, journalism, and liberal arts; public speaking courses, such as those in communication studies; psychology; marketing; and/or management.

Fourth Year

1. The remaining courses listed as major requirements.
2. Upper-division electives chosen to support the major.

 

Related Fields of Study

• BS Advertising
• BS Communication Sciences and Disorders
• BS Communication Studies
• Bachelor of Journalism
• BS Public Relations
• BS Radio-Television-Film

On this page

• The Consent Procedure
• Special Requirements
• Core Curriculum
  • Prescribed Work
• Major Requirements
  • Order and Choice of Work
    • First Year
    • Second Year
    • Third Year
    • Fourth Year