While many students have already registered for this semester’s classes, there is still time to drop or add. This list is made up of just a few of the enriching courses that Annenberg’s Black faculty teach. So if you’re looking to tap into some of USC’s diverse course offerings, here are a few you should know:
COURSE NAME: PR 250 - Strategic Public Relations: An Introduction
PROFESSOR: Melanie Cherry
SCHEDULE: Wednesday 2:30 p.m. - 5:50 p.m. (Spring 2023)
DESCRIPTION: This course will familiarize students with strategies and practices in the growing field of public relations/strategic communication through analysis of current events, landmark cases and practical implementation with special emphasis on historical roots, evolution, current and future practices. The practical implementation will include simulation activities where students are asked to operate in groups as agency and in-house communication teams through several simulation scenarios.
COURSE NAME: PR 429 - Business and Economic Foundations of Strategic Public Relations
PROFESSOR: Melanie Cherry
SCHEDULE: Wednesday 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. (Fall 2023)
DESCRIPTION: Guided by the principle of economic literacy, this course focuses on core themes related to the business and economics of public relations including: core economic principles, the basic principles that govern businesses, financial communications, investor relations and key entrepreneurial and innovation concepts.
COURSE NAME: PR 529 - Business and Economic Foundations for Public Relations and Advertising
PROFESSOR: Melanie Cherry
SCHEDULE: Thursday 3:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. (Spring 2023)
DESCRIPTION: Guided by the principle of economic literacy, this course focuses on core themes related to the business and economics of public relations including: core economic principles, the basic principles that govern businesses, financial communications, investor relations and key entrepreneurial and innovation concepts.
COURSE NAME: PR 455 - Public Relations for Non-Profit Organizations
PROFESSOR: Zahra Nealy
SCHEDULE: Thursday 6:00 p.m. - 9:20 p.m. (Fall Semester)
DESCRIPTION: Introduction to the specialized field of public relations for non-profit organizations including arts and culture, education, animal and social welfare, healthcare, scientific and advocacy-based organizations. This course is appropriate for students who want to learn the history of non-profits, the fundamentals of how they are governed and organized, the importance of strategy and fundraising, and how to develop and implement a comprehensive public relations campaign for such organizations.
COURSE NAME: PR 351A - Strategic Public Relations Media and Content
PROFESSOR: Darryl Ryan
SCHEDULE: Thursday 6:00 p.m. - 9:20 p.m.
DESCRIPTION: What defines the media? Who are they? What do they do? How do they get their stories? What tools are needed in today’s media environment? How do we best engage media in today’s environment of media convergence?
Today’s public relations professionals need to understand and be competent in many forms of communication. The business world they work in is rapidly evolving with earned, owned and paid media converging. Media relations, social media content creation and influencer engagement, and paid media are now equally important for any organization’s strategic communications. The role of the public relations practitioner has changed to reflect this shift and training needs to include intensive writing plus creating high-quality multimedia content for traditional, emerging and social media. This is an intensive, hands-on course designed to provide students with the skills necessary to engage with, and produce compelling content for, contemporary media channels of all types.
COURSE NAME: JOUR 580 - Reporting on Race & Justice (J580)
PROFESSOR: Allissa V. Richardson
SCHEDULE: Fall 2023
DESCRIPTION: The prime objective of this class is to expose students to the best journalistic practices in covering race and social justice issues. This includes a basic understanding of critical theories of race; the challenges and opportunities in covering marginalized communities; and the collaborative approach of community reporting.
COURSE NAME: JOUR 321 - Visual journalism
PROFESSOR: Robert Meeks
SCHEDULE: Wednesday 3:00 p.m. - 4:40 p.m. (Spring 2023)
DESCRIPTION: Students will gain an understanding of journalistic visual storytelling through theory and practical application while exploring current and emerging story forms. Students will learn how to produce and share compelling visual stories in a variety of formats. Skills of the class include: Introduction to video journalism for digital and social media platforms, principles of photography, design for web and mobile platforms, and the roles each play in interactive and engaging storytelling. We will emphasize visual stories for web, mobile and social media. In addition to providing you with skills necessary to produce journalistic multimedia stories, including videos, photos and graphics, we will also cover ethical, legal and social issues affecting visual journalists. Finally, we will explore an introduction to best practices for social media. We will take a practical, hands-on approach in this class. An introduction to photo, audio and video editing software will be provided.