Public Relations Degree at SUNY Fredonia

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Fredonia's Public Relations program prepares students to build and maintain strategic relationships between organizations and their publics through a comprehensive curriculum that balances theoretical knowledge with practical skills. Drawing from diverse disciplines including rhetoric, social sciences, and cultural studies, students learn ethical communication advocacy, campaign design, and message production techniques that enable them to effectively mediate organizational goals and public interests across professional and civic contexts.

Important: Beginning Fall 2025, the Communication Studies and Public Relations degree programs will be combined, updated, and renamed to Strategic and Professional Communication.

Strategic and Professional Communication

Career Opportunities for Public Relations

Public relations
Journalism
Corporate communications
Government relations
Copywriting

Media relations
Social media management
Crisis communications
Brand management

What does a 4-year degree look like?

View Example 4-Year Curriculum

What are all the required and elective courses offered to obtain this degree?

View Full Curriculum

COMM 105 Public Speaking

Basic principles involved in public communication. Emphasis on the techniques involved in audience analysis, critical thinking and argumentation, listening, ethics, and message structure and delivery for public presentations.

COMM 322 Public Relations Writing

Students learn basic research and planning principles associated with public relations writing and how to prepare an assortment of public relations documents. Associated Press (AP) style is reinforced and students learn how to construct news releases, media advisories, fact sheets, position statements, features and fliers. Students will begin portfolio building.

COMM 422 Public Relations Campaigns

This capstone experience focuses on strategic public relations management. Students will develop a campaign for a real client, with an emphasis on formative research, objectives, strategy, tactics, and evaluation, as well as engage in a news conference and client presentation.

It's Different Here

Professional faculty

You will learn from award-winning faculty members with years of professional and commercial experience.

communication clubs and organizations

Groups include Applied Communication Association, Lambda Pi Eta (honor society), Public Relations Student Society of America, and several campus media outlets.