The history of public relations at the University of Texas at Austin goes back more than 50 years, when Professor Alan Scott taught the school's first public relations course in 1951. As one of the nation's first full-time professors of public relations and founders of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), Scott helped establish UT as a leader in public relations as an academic discipline that continues to this day.
Today the University of Texas carries on Scott's legacy by teaching tomorrow's practitioners how to seize the opportunities and manage the risks ushered in by the new world of digital media, integrated communication, global markets and media convergence. With an emphasis on the fundamentals of critical thinking, strategic writing and ethical practice, our interdisciplinary curriculum includes coursework in advertising, business, marketing, journalism and communication and culture. Combined with a sequence in business foundations and required internship for credit, our undergraduate degree program has few rivals in training students for the real-world demands of public relations in the 21st century.
By the time they graduate, our students will complete required courses in public relations principles, strategies and techniques -- with emphasis on ethics, public communication, media relations, employee relations, consumer relations, government relations, investor relations and crisis/issue communication -- as well as courses in research, media writing, media law, business, marketing, advertising, integrated communications management and campaigns. In addition, students can elect to take specialized courses in health campaigns, integrated communications for sports, integrated communications for nonprofits and public relations in entertainment. The University of Texas also features one of the largest and oldest chapters of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) in the nation, founded in 1968.
Through our internship program and strong connection to industry leaders our students regularly go on to work for such high-profile organizations as The Lance Armstrong Foundation, American Red Cross, American Cancer Society, Burson-Marsteller and GCI Group (both international PR groups with offices in Austin), TateAustin (a top Texas PR firm), Elizabeth Christian and Associates Public Relations (based in Austin), and the University of Texas Department of Athletics. Nationally, our students successfully compete for coveted internships with such organizations as ESPN, the NFL, CosmoGirl and Williams and Sonoma. The feedback that we receive indicates that our students are perceived as highly qualified, driven and competitive.
Graduates of our program are able to leverage these high-profile internships into fulltime jobs with agencies such as Edelman, Fleishman-Hillard, TateAustin, Burson-Marsteller, Pierpont Communications, LatinWorks, Widmeyer Communications and GCI Group; corporations including National Instruments and AMD; nonprofits including the Austin Film Society, and political organizations including the Women's National Democratic Club.