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, mass communication, 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:

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

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 major and minor, a student majoring in advertising or public relations must complete at least 12 additional hours of 300- and/or 400-level courses in any areas of study outside of APR, JN, MC, TCF, and the student's minor. A student having a second major or minor may reuse 300- and/or 400-level course hours from that second major or minor in the special requirement. When choosing special requirement courses, the student should remember that at least 65 hours of the total 124 hours required for the degree must be in liberal arts and sciences (such as College of Arts and Sciences, communication studies, and economics courses).

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 21 credit hours in either advertising or public relations. The following courses are required for an advertising minor: MC 101; a 3-hour APR/JN/MC/TCF elective; 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; a 3-hour APR/JN/MC/TCF elective; JN 311; APR 231, APR 300, APR 332, and either APR 419 or APR 432.

A grade of "C-" or higher is required in all courses for the advertising or public relations minor.

Sample Curriculum for the Major in Advertising

FRESHMAN YEAR
First Semester Courses Hours COM 123 3 EN 101 3 MC 101 3 Fine arts 3 Science with lab (N) 4 ___ 16		Second Semester Courses Hours APR, JN, MC, or TCF elective 3 EN 102 3 MATH 110 or higheror equivalent 3 History 3 Science with lab (N) 4 ___ 16
SOPHOMORE YEAR
First Semester Courses Hours APR 221 3 EC 110 3 Foreign language or computer science (FL or C) 3–4 Literature sequence 3 Social/behavioral sciences 3 ___ 15–16		Second Semester Courses Hours APR 300 3 (HI) or (SB) course 3 Foreign language or computer science (FL or C) 3–4 Literature (second course in sequence) 3 Minor 3 ___ 15­–16
JUNIOR YEAR
First Semester Courses Hours APR 322 (W) 3 Elective or APR elective 3 Minor 3 Special requirement 3 Special requirement 3 ___ 15		Second Semester Courses Hours APR 422 3 Minor 3 Minor 3 Special requirement 3 Special requirement 3 ___ 15
SENIOR YEAR
First Semester Courses Hours APR 423 (W) or APR 418 3 MC 401 or MC 407 3 Elective 3 Minor 3 Minor 3 ___ 15		Second Semester Courses Hours APR 424 3 400-level mass communication course 3 Minor 3 Minor or elective 3 Elective or (W) course 3 ___ 15

Sample Curriculum for the Major in Public Relations

FRESHMAN YEAR
First Semester Courses Hours COM 123 3 EN 101 3 MC 101 3 Fine arts 3 Science with lab (N) 4 ___ 16		Second Semester Courses Hours APR, JN, MC, or TCF elective 3 EN 102 3 MATH 110 or higher or equivalent 3 History 3 Science with lab (N) 4 ___ 16
SOPHOMORE YEAR
First Semester Courses Hours APR 231 3 EC 110 3 Foreign language or computer science (FL or C) 3–4 Literature sequence 3 Social/behavioral sciences 3 ___ 15–16		Second Semester Courses Hours APR 300 3 (HI) or (SB) course 3 Foreign language or computer science (FL or C) 3–4 Literature (second course in sequence) 3 Minor 3 ___ 15–16
JUNIOR YEAR
First Semester Course Hours JN 311 (W) 3 Elective or APR elective 3 Minor 3 Special requirement 3 Special requirement 3 ___ 15		Second Semester Course Hours APR 332 (W) 3 Minor 3 Minor 3 Special requirement 3 Special requirement 3 ___ 15
SENIOR YEAR
First Semester Course Hours APR 432 (W) or APR 419 3 MC 401 or MC 407 3 Elective 3 Minor 3 Minor 3 ___ 15		Second Semester Course Hours APR 433 3 Elective 3 400-level mass communication course 3 Minor 3 Minor or elective 3 ___ 15