Murray State University's Department of Journalism and Mass Communications - Online Master's in Mass Communications

Murray State University’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communications offers a 100% online Master’s in Mass Communications program that features an optional concentration in Public Relations. The Master’s in Mass Communication is delivered primarily asynchronously to maximize students’ scheduling flexibility while enrolled in the program.

The curriculum for this program consists of 31 course credits, with students taking core courses on media’s interactions with culture, gender, and race; mass communication theory; new media technologies; mass media ethics and philosophy; communication research methods; strategic communications; and seminars in public relations and advertising. In addition to the required core courses, students choose one elective in an area such as crisis communication, marketing planning, and social entrepreneurship. They are also able to complete a professional internship in mass communications for their elective credit, if they receive approval for the internship site and role from faculty advisors.

The culminating experience for this program is a comprehensive project, which requires students to meet with the graduate coordinator of the program, connect with a faculty advisor, develop and present a proposal to their advisor, and obtain approval to move forward with their project. Through their project, which can be research-oriented, creative, or professional in focus, students apply what they have learned in the program to a concrete deliverable that can serve as an artifact to show future employers, function as a springboard into further scholarly and/or creative work.

Murray State University is accredited through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).