School of Journalism and Mass Communication

“San Jose State provided a phenomenal springboard for my career in public relations.”

Rene Shimada Siegel
Marketing Agency President

Undergraduate curriculum: Public Relations

Our Public Relations degree program is nationally recognized. It is one of the 28 "premier" programs in the nation, and it is the only degree program in Northern California. It is also one of the largest programs in the nation.

The PR program was one of the first such programs in the west. Since its beginning, it has been a leader in public relations education. It is an exciting career field for people who are creative and like a lot of variety in their jobs. It attracts people who like to write, give presentations, and prepare materials for newspapers, magazines, radio, television, newsletters, brochures and the Internet. It's also a great career for those who like to solve problems, participate in management-level decision making, organize meetings and events.

The public relations degree program has about 150 majors and represents a good multicultural mix of students from around the world. The program is housed in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, which is the largest unit in northern California with 650 undergraduate majors and about 75 graduate students. In addition to the Public Relations program, the School also has degree programs in Advertising and Journalism.

Program highlights

The most comprehensive PR curriculum in Northern California.
Program rated one of the ‘premier’ programs in the U.S. in a national survey conducted by Mar quette University.
All majors complete a required internship, which is excellent training for a career in the field.
The School of Journalism and Mass Communications is 100-percent wired for the Internet, and there are almost 200 computers in the building in student friendly Mac and PC labs.
Students in campaigns class plan public relations programs for actual clients, including Cisco Systems, Intel, American Cancer Society.
Public Relations majors gain solid, practical experience by producing the School's alumni newsletter and planning the School’s annual Alumni Dinner and December graduation convocation.
Distinguished Alumni include Rene Shimada Siegel, President and Managing Partner of HighTech.
Connect, and Sheri Benjamin, President of The Benjamin Group, and Jon Iwata, Sr Vice President of Communications, IBM Corporation.
One of the few programs in the nation to have course electives in Special Events management and the Principles of Fund-Raising.

Required lower division courses:

Engl 1A and Engl 1B
Jour 61A; Mcom 72 (GE Area D3)

Recommended lower division courses:

Area A1:     Comm 20; Comm 20N; MAS 74
Area B1:     Metr 10; Geol 02,20; Geog 01
Area B2:     Biol 10; NuFS 04
Area B4:     Stat 95
Area C1:     ArtH 10, 72; Dram 10; Musc 10AB
Area D1:     Psych 01
Area D2:     AfAm 2AB; AAS 33AB; Hist 15AB
Area E:       NuFS 09; RecL 10

Required advanced GE course:

Area Z: MCom 100W

Programs offered:

BS, Public Relations
MS, Mass Communication
Minor, Public Relations

Examples of careers in this field:

Sports/Entertainment Promotion
Special Event Management
Public Relations Counseling Firm
Political Affairs
Marketing Communications
Investor/Financial Relations
Government Public Affairs
Employee Communications