Communications: Professional and Community Relations Major
Strong communication is one of the top skills organizations are looking for in potential employees. We communicate with others every day — verbally and in writing — and it is essential to be clear and concise. We focus on developing these critical skills to help you become confident in the workplace and your daily life.
Program Details
Program Overview
This major prepares students for a career in business or with a nonprofit organization. You will learn public relations strategies, tactics and skills along with specific professional writing and oral communication techniques.
Program Concentrations
This program is made up of the following concentrations. Learn more about concentrations.Concentration Overview
Business to Business and Community Relations Concentration is perfect for those looking to have a career in business or with a non-profit organization. Students learn strategies, tactics, and skills for reaching multiple publics (customers, donors, community members, etc.), how to effectively deal with a public relations crisis, and ways to motivate publics to achieve the organization’s goals.
Courses in this Concentration
Concentration Overview
The professional writing concentration marries the love of language with the practical writing skills essential in today’s workplace. With a combination of professional and creative proficiencies, you will enter the workforce with experience and keen insight in a broad array of written forms and styles. From technical and business writing and communication, to poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, you will differentiate yourself across many career fields including nonprofit, content development and editing, publishing, and technical writing.
Courses in this Concentration
Concentrations on this page are required for this program. Additional courses or concentrations may need to be added to meet program or credit requirements.
Program Coursework
- Personal Branding
- Persuasive Communication
- Public Relations Strategies
- Public Relations Workshop
- Crisis Management
- Research Writing
- Business Writing
- Technical Writing
- Write Your World: Creative Nonfiction
The specific degree requirements on the website are for illustrative purposes and may change at any time. Please contact the Registrar's Office, Academic Advising or refer to the course catalog for detailed program requirements.
Liberal Arts Core
LEADERSHIP: 4 credits
- Freshman Seminar (1 cr.)
- Spiritual & Ethical Literacy (3 cr.)
- Personal Branding Communication (3 cr.)
- Writing for the 21st Century (3 cr.)*
- Quantitative Problem Solving (3 cr.)*
- Language & Culture (3 cr.)
CORE LITERACIES: 15 credits – Choose one (1) course from each broad theme. Course options can be found in the course catalog or on the academic advising page. Broad themes are:
- Narratives of Identity (3 cr.)
- Science, Environment & Culture (3 cr.)
- Social Tensions (3 cr.)
- The American Experience (3 cr.)
- Approving the Better Things (3 cr.)
Professional Core
Culminating Experience
- Pre-Internship
- Internship
- Capstone
Dr. Barbara Spies
Chair - Undergraduate Business & Communication
Our program is dynamic. We are always changing and improving by looking at the world around us, making our courses adaptable to the organizations outside of them.
Miles Jett, '21
Interdisciplinary Studies
You have the opportunity to create your own future. You can always push past your potential depsite what life has to throw your way. I have the honor of being the very first student to graduate with an Interdisciplinary Studies degree.
Cassie Ziegelbauer, ‘18
Arena Marketing Coordinator at Milwaukee Bucks, Inc
The faculty in the Communication department are the most supportive group of people. Throughout my college career I leaned on the faculty numerous times – how to navigate studying abroad, how to improve my public speaking skills, and just overall life lessons.
Experiential Learning
Internship Sites
We will provide you with real-life, professional experience to properly communicate results before entering the workplace.
You can expect to apply what you learn in the classroom to your work with nonprofit organizations to asses surveys and questionnaires, analyze what is working for the organization and determine areas for improvement.
Placement sites may include:
- Aflac
- Campus Vote Project
- Cardinal Stritch University (Admissions and Communications Department)
- Catholic Charities
- Elite Sports Club
- Leaders Initiative Program
- Medical College of Wisconsin
- Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
- Milwaukee Justice Center
- Milwaukee Radio Alliance
- National Basketball Academy
- Northwestern Mutual
- Spanish Journal Newspaper/Azteca WI 38
- St. Thomas More High School
- Target
- Urban Ecology Center - Riverside Park
- Venyoeu
- Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce
- WISN-TV
Professional and Community Relations
Required Concentrations
With our Limitless Curriculum, you can create an academic pathway that best fits your interest.
Concentration Overview
Business to Business and Community Relations Concentration is perfect for those looking to have a career in business or with a non-profit organization. Students learn strategies, tactics, and skills for reaching multiple publics (customers, donors, community members, etc.), how to effectively deal with a public relations crisis, and ways to motivate publics to achieve the organization’s goals.
Courses in this Concentration
Concentration Overview
The study of effective writing and oral communication techniques for workplace environments prepares students to create and publish print, digital, and emerging forms of communication with a focus on cross-cultural communication and communication in professional settings.
Courses in this Concentration
Jobs As A Communication Major
Job Options Potential Salaries
A degree in communications can be the right fit if you are interested in creating content to influence, entertain, and inform.
Employment in media and communication occupations is projected to grow 4 percent from 2019 to 2029, about as fast as the average for all occupations, and will result in about 46,200 new jobs. Demand for media and communication occupations is expected to arise from the need to create, edit, translate, and disseminate information through a variety of different platforms (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017).
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Contact admissions or the program faculty with questions about this program.
Barb S. Spies
Director of Mission Integration
