Corporate and Public Communication

Florida State University Panama City Graduate Advising

Dr. Stan Lindsay, Professional Communication Advisor (Last name A-G)
Florida State University Panama City
Holley Academic Center, A111-F
(850) 770-2262, slindsay@pc.fsu.edu

Dr. Mike Wallace, Professional Communication Advisor (Last name H-M)
Florida State University Panama City
Holley Academic Center, A111-M
(850) 770-2246, mwallace@pc.fsu.edu

Dr. Sandra Halvorson, Professional Communication Advisor (Last name N-Z)
Florida State University Panama City
Holley Academic Center, A111-G
(850) 770-2249, shalvorson@pc.fsu.edu

Florida State University Graduate Coordinator

Natashia Hinson-Turner, Graduate Coordinator
Florida State University
School of Communication
(850) 644-5034, natashia.turner@cci.fsu.edu

Master of Science in Corporate and Public Communication

The College of Communication and Information offers a terminal Master's degree for graduate students currently employed in or seeking professional positions emphasizing public affairs, public information, and public issues management within business, government, not-for-profit organizations, or educational institutions. By the conclusion of the master's program, students will be competent in select areas of organizational communication.The goals of the CPC program include:

• Preparing students for professional careers within business, government, not-for-profit organizations, or educational institutions;
• Providing students with experience in making formal communication presentations;
• Helping students develop quantitative and qualitative skills in organizational communication contexts; and
• Equipping students with basic knowledge of communication theories with particular emphasis on those that apply to corporate and public affairs, public information, and issue management.

The skills to be developed include:

• The ability to successfully plan and implement marketing, advertising, or public relations campaigns;
• The ability to successfully resolve conflicts;
• The ability to successfully manage individuals, and crises;
• The ability to find in any case the available means of persuasion;
• The ability to analyze the content of various messages; and
• The ability to perform computer-mediated, social scientific communication research.

Admission Requirements
To be considered for admission a student must have attained a GPA (Grade Point Average) of at least 3.0 (on a 4.0 system) on all work attempted while registered as an upper-division student working toward a baccalaureate degree or a combined verbal and quantitative score of at least 300 on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). Students may be admitted from a field closely allied to Communication. Such students, however, may need to complete extra course work to make up deficiencies.

• University application for admission to a graduate program at Florida State University. (Must apply online at https://admissions.fsu.edu/gradapp/ ).
• Pay application fee. (Graduate students may pay online).
• Two official transcripts from all colleges attended. (Send to the College of Communication and Information, University Center C, Suite 3100, Tallahassee, FL 32306-2664, Attention: Natashia Hinson-Turner. Email: natashia.turner@cci.fsu.edu, Telephone: 850-644-5034).
• Official GRE scores. When registering for the GRE, you must select a location code to send the scores. This code is 5219 for FSU main campus; there are no other options.

School Requirements
All supporting documents must up loaded to the university online application.

• An applicant statement addressing the following questions:1. In which master's degree program are you most interested?
  2. What are your short and long-term career goals? What do you plan to be doing in five years and in ten years?
  3. Why have you chosen to apply to our master's program?
  4. What experiences and competencies make you a strong candidate for our program (internships, work experience, computer literacy, awards, etc.)?
   
• Three letters of recommendation
• A resume or writing sample (optional for master's students). Click here for instructions for submitting supporting documents.

Degree Requirements
This program requires a minimum of thirty-three (33) hours of course work plus a comprehensive exam. It is possible to complete the program in as few as two years if some course work is completed during summer sessions. The program requires students to take:

• Six (6) hours of course work in Theory and Principles,
• Six (6) hours of course work in Research and Methods,
• Nine (9) hours of course work in Applications,
• Twelve (12) hours of approved Electives, and
• A Comprehensive Examination

Students must complete a minimum of thirty-three (33) course hours, twenty-seven (27) of which must be letter-graded, twenty-one (21) of which must be taken in the College of Communication & Information. Students who have completed insufficient course work in Communication at the undergraduate level (e.g. students who did not major in a communication-related area) may be required to take up to nine additional hours of letter-graded undergraduate course work as determined by their graduate advisors. [Note: These additional hours will not count toward completion of the thirty-three (33) graduate-level semester hours].

Planned Course Schedule
Note: All graduate courses are offered in the evenings (5 p.m. or later)

No more than 2 classes outside of the Communication major may be taken.

Courses in brackets are not currently offered.

Printable version of degree requirements (pdf 94.33 kB)

Degree planning worksheet (pdf 173.83 kB)