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[College of Communication and Information Sciences]

DEPARTMENT AND PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

DEPARTMENT OF ADVERTISING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS (APR)

Dr. Bruce K. Berger, Chairperson
Office: 412 Phifer Hall

Requirements for Advertising and Public Relations Majors

A total of 124 hours is required for graduation. Following the tradition of a liberal education, students must take at least 80 semester hours in courses outside the departments of advertising and public relations, journalism, and telecommunication and film, with at least 65 semester hours being completed in the liberal arts and sciences.

Advertising and public relations majors must have at least 30 hours, and no more than 36 hours, in advertising (APR), public relations (APR), journalism (JN), mass communication (MC), and telecommunication and film (TCF) courses. Specific course requirements for the major in advertising or public relations include the following:

MC 101 Introduction to Mass Communication

MC 401 Mass Communication Law and Regulation or MC 407 Mass Communication Research

MC 400-level elective (either MC 401 Mass Communication Law and Regulation, MC 403 Survey of Communication Theory, MC 405 Mass Communication Ethics, MC 407 Mass Communication Research, MC 409 Mass Communication History, MC 411 International Mass Communication, MC 413 Communication and Diversity, MC 415 Mass Communication Processes and Effects, MC 417 Mass Communication and Public Opinion, MC 420 Media Management, MC 421 Political Communication, or MC 495 Special Topics*)

Required elective from APR, JN, MC, or TCF (three hours)

One of the following major sequences:

Advertising major. APR 221 Introduction to Advertising, APR 300 Visual Communication, APR 322 Advertising Copywriting, APR 422 Advertising Media, APR 424 Advertising Campaigns, and either APR 418 Advanced Advertising Development or APR 423 Advertising Management

Public relations major. JN 311 Reporting, APR 231 Introduction to Public Relations, APR 300 Visual Communication, APR 332 Public Relations Writing, APR 433 Public Relations Campaigns, and either APR 419 Advanced Public Relations Development or APR 432 Public Relations Management

*Requires permission of academic advisor.

Minors for Students Majoring in Advertising and Public Relations

The department requires each of its students to complete minors, which may not comprise any advertising and public relations, journalism, mass communication, or telecommunication and film courses. Advertising and public relations students minor in such diverse areas as communication studies, general business, political science, art, psychology, history, mathematics, cultural studies, and languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish. No more than 27 hours in the minor may be counted toward fulfillment of graduation requirements. At least 6 hours in the minor must be at or above the 300 level. Two minors may be pursued, but College of Communication and Information Sciences policy requires that at least one of the minors be taken in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Core Curriculum and General Education Requirements

I. Freshman composition (FC): 6 hours		EN 101 (3)
EN 102 (3)
or by exam1
II. Humanities (HU) and fine arts (FA): 12 hours		fine arts (3)
literature sequence (6)
COM 123 (3)
III. Natural science (N) and mathematics (MA): 11 hours		natural science (4)
natural science (4)
MATH 110 or higher or equivalent (3)
IV. History (HI) and social/behavioral sciences (SB): 12 hours		history (3)
EC 110 (3)
social and behavioral sciences (3)
HI or SB (3)
V. Premajor requirements: 15-17 hours		MC 101 (3)
APR 221 (3)2
APR 231 (3)3
foreign language sequence or computer science (6-8)

ADDITIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA CORE REQUIREMENTS

Writing (W): 6 hours⁴

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¹Or EN 103, if eligible.
²Required of advertising majors and highly recommended for public relations majors.
³Required of public relations majors and highly recommended for advertising majors.
⁴APR 322, APR 332, APR 423, and APR 432 as well as selected MC 400-level courses designated W may be used.

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Special Department Requirements

Students are asked to make special note of the following Department of Advertising and Public Relations requirements:

• Prerequisites. A number of courses within and outside the department require other courses as prerequisites. A student who registers for any course without satisfying the proper prerequisites will be administratively disenrolled from that course. Before registering, students are advised to review course descriptions for prerequisites and other requirements.
• Minimum grade requirement. A grade of "C-" or higher is required in all courses counted in the undergraduate major. In addition, grades of "C-" or higher must be earned in all required external courses, including those established as prerequisites for courses in the major and those required directly in the major. In keeping with University policy, when a course is taken more than one time each enrollment will be counted in the cumulative hours attempted and used in computation of the grade point average, but only the final enrollment may count as credit toward the degree.
• Minimum grade point averages. A 2.0 or higher grade point average is required of all students who have earned 45 hours or more of college credit and wish to transfer into the College. A student must have a grade point average of 2.0 or higher in order to register for any 300-level or higher-numbered course in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations.
• Special requirement. In addition to fulfilling the University Core Curriculum requirements and the requirements for the minor, all advertising and public relations majors must complete at least 12 additional hours of 300- and/or 400-level courses in the liberal arts and sciences, economics, communication studies, and/or commerce and business administration. Students may apply no more than 6 hours in commerce and business administration courses toward this requirement. Students having a second major or a second minor in any area of the liberal arts and sciences or communication studies may re-use hours from those 300- and 400-level courses in the special requirement hours.

Requirements for the Minor in Advertising or Public Relations

Students outside the College of Communication and Information Sciences (with the exception of communication studies majors) may select the minor consisting of 18 credit hours in either advertising or public relations. The following courses are required for an advertising minor: MC 101; APR 221, APR 300, APR 322, APR 422, and either APR 418 or APR 423. The following courses are required for a public relations minor: MC 101; JN 311; APR 231, APR 300, APR 332, and either APR 419 or APR 432.

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¹MATH 110 or higher (or equivalent) with a grade of "C-" or higher is a prerequisite.

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Sample Curriculum for the Major in Advertising

Sample Curriculum for the Major in Public Relations

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