PR Program at UA Ranked Among Top Education Programs by PRWeek Magazine

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. –The public relations program at The University of Alabama is ranked second in the nation according to new rankings produced and published in PRWeek Magazine. UA is the highest ranked university that offers both graduate and undergraduate programs.

This marks the second year that PRWeek has ranked education programs and the second year that UA’s PR program has been recognized as one of the top five programs. This year UA is ranked second only to New York University. NYU offers a graduate program only.

“Since NYU is solely a graduate program, we are very proud to say that our undergraduate program is ranked first in the nation,” said Dr. Joseph Phelps, chair of the UA advertising and public relations department. “That is exciting and our students, alumni and faculty should be extremely proud of this accomplishment. It is their efforts, facilitated by the many supporters of our department and college, which captured this distinction. For parents looking for the highest quality education for their children, this is yet more evidence that they can find it right here in Alabama.”

“We’ve known we had one of the strongest public relations programs in the nation,” said Dr. Loy Singleton, dean of the College of Communication and Information Sciences. “It’s rewarding to be recognized by the industry this way.”

Dr. Bruce Berger, professor and previous chair of the department, organized the application materials. The award recognizes achievement in lesson plans that educate the next crop of PR professionals. Entries were judged based on the ability of professors to use both real-world case studies and instructive scenarios to educate students about new media, media relations, crisis communications and other tactics.

Students in capstone PR courses plan and often execute an integrated communication project for a professional client. Examples include Alabama Reads and Literacy Is The Edge, which are currently being implemented.

UA’s advertising and public relations program, with more than 1,000 students, is the largest department in the College of Communication and Information Sciences. The program is the 12th in the nation to be reviewed and certified by PRSA.

PRWeek provides timely news, reviews, profiles, techniques and ground-breaking research for practitioners. The magazine launched the PRWeek Awards 11 years ago to showcase and recognize the best practices in the PR industry.