This year the back-to-school brigade holds a special meaning for Allan Schoenberg, associate director, technology public relations at the Chicago Mercantile
Exchange.
In January, after completing his capstone project, which focuses on how trust, influence and leadership impact the corporation, Schoenberg will receive a Master's of Science
Degree in Communications Management, from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication. The fully accredited program, which kicks off its
11th year this week, is offered in a limited-residency/distance-learning format to PR professionals of every stripe: corporate, agency, nonprofit and public affairs,
for example.
Although he can't make any guarantees, Schoenberg is confident that with the Master's Degree under his belt, senior managers will soon give him added -- and more strategic --
responsibilities. "They think of me as a business manager doing communications rather than a communications person who is in the business," says Schoenberg, who embarked on his
Master's in 2003, and, like most of the students enrolled in the program, took two years to finish. "If I want to change departments and go into strategic development, or products
and services, I'll already have that flexibility [through earning the Master's degree]."
With the PR profession undergoing tremendous change, education holds an important key for those practitioners struggling to unlock the door of enhanced value. As PR execs
strive to get (and keep) a seat at the table, they need to present to their managers a "body of knowledge" about business communications in the same way that, say, attorneys can
discuss legal precedent and chief financial officers about monetary issues.
While the 'APR' designation is awarded for those individuals who can grasp the fundamentals of PR (read: media relations, writing press releases), it's limiting for those who
want to climb the corporate ladder. On the other hand, traditional MBA programs tend to short shrift hard-core communications practices and do not hold widespread appeal for
communication pros.
"This is an 'MBA' program for PR people," says Maria Russell, Professor of PR and Director of Executive Programs in Public Relations at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public
Communications, who helped to create the Master's program in 1995 after being asked by one too many PR pros: "How do I get a seat at the table?"
She adds: "What do PR people usually say when they get into the boardroom? 'I think...' or 'I feel...'" which, compared with other disciplines, doesn't cut it with decision-
makers. A Master's of Communications Management "provides the knowledge PR people need to be a real counselor to their bosses or clients."
The 36-credit program draws its interdisciplinary curriculum and faculty members from three of Syracuse University's divisions: The Newhouse School of Public Communications,
the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. The program is a spin-off from the Newhouse PR Department, which has been
recognized as one of the best in the country by U.S. News & World Report.
Research, Finance, Accounting and Communications Law are just a few of the more important core courses while electives include branding, crisis communications, conflict
resolution, leadership, facilitation and negotiation. PR 101 is left at the door
Organizations that have been represented in the course reads like a Who's Who of corporate America: American Express Corp., Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rochester,
New York, Edelman Corporate Affairs, Intel Corp., Ketchum Public Relations, Phillips Consumer Electronics, Nike, Texas Instruments,
Time Warner Cable and the U.S. Postal Service. Indeed, former students say the networking opportunities afforded by the program are just as valuable as the
curriculum.
The program wins high marks from graduates, many of them seasoned veterans who say it's one of the surest ways to get outside of the bubble PR pros sometimes create for
themselves.
"The biggest lesson learned from taking the program was not to practice PR in isolation," says Daniel Minchen, director of PR, developing markets, operations, for Xerox
Corp. (Stamford, Conn.), who completed the course in 1998. "I think we get too comfortable in our positions. We know our companies well; we know our product marketing managers
well and so on. [But] we owe it to management to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to advanced techniques of communicating their hard work to people who are interested in it.
And you can't be easily exposed to that by sitting in an office with a door in it."
Regarding the course work, Minchen adds: "It's good to run into professors who push on some of your assumptions and at the same time provide you with some interesting
[communications] techniques. That's good for your company and good for you individually."
After obtaining his degree from Syracuse in 1999, Minchen was asked to create and manage a PR network for the company's international markets, which span the globe. "I was
energized out of Syracuse with some really clear understanding of the financial implications of the business and a better understanding of how to achieve a decent ROI," he says.
"I'm able to look at this large conglomeration of affiliates and many different techniques and many different languages, and try and bring a tighter management control over the PR
aspect for the betterment of the brand because we want [Xerox] to be recognized the same way in those markets as it is in the States."
Anthony D'Angelo, director of marketing communications and training for the replacement division of Carrier Corp. (Farmington, Conn.), was one of the students in the
program's inaugural back in 1995. "I needed to get to the next level and get a more in-depth grasp of management issues," he says. Since obtaining his degree, D'Angelo's
department has grown to 25 people from just two.
Before taking the course, "I didn't know what 'Net Percent Value,' meant, and that's the kind of thing that keeps my CFO up at night," D'Angelo says. "Now that I do know, I
can empathize with him as well as all the other managers around the table." In the long-term, "the course has helped me to be fully integrated with other business units, as
opposed to being on the sidelines after the business decision has been made."
Contacts: Anthony D'Angelo, 315.433.4750, [email protected]; Daniel Minchen, 585.231.2452, [email protected]; Maria Russell, 315.443.3368, [email protected]; Allan Schoenberg,
312.930.8189, [email protected]
Set A Course
Since being introduced in 1995, the Communications Management Program at Syracuse University has helped PR pros of all stripes to get to the next level, e.g., being able to
speak the "language of business," heard by CEOs in the decision-making process (rather than knocking out a press release after the fact) and operating on the same plane as the
legal and finance types. Here are some vital stats about the program:
- 260 Number of PR professionals who have enrolled in the program since its inception
- 2 Minimum number of years it takes to obtain a degree
- 10-20 Years of professional experience among the vast majority of students enrolled
- 6 Days required (per semester) on the Syracuse campus to qualify for the degree
- 3.0 Grade-point average needed to remain in good standing
- $31,320 Tuition for entire program
- MAY 15 Deadline for enrolling in the program, which starts in late August