American University - SOC - School of Communication
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SOC Grad Overview The Filmmaker - Claudia Myers SOC Student Changemaker - Nick Tucker Check Out Tech Equipment Available to SOC Students Graduate Student Resources Inspiring Clips from SOC's Media in the Mix Podcast Panels and Guest Speakers Virtual Campus Map
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Public Communication Game Design Journalism Film & Media Arts Communication Studies Political Communication
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    American University - SOC - School of Communication
    Home

    Meet SOC

    SOC Grad Overview The Filmmaker - Claudia Myers SOC Student Changemaker - Nick Tucker Check Out Tech Equipment Available to SOC Students Graduate Student Resources Inspiring Clips from SOC's Media in the Mix Podcast Panels and Guest Speakers Virtual Campus Map

    Career Advancement

    Career Advancement The NYC Career Intensive The LA Career Intensive

    Graduate Programs

    Public Communication Game Design Journalism Film & Media Arts Communication Studies Political Communication

    Undergraduate Programs

    Public Communication Film and Video Journalism Communication Studies Photography
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    Graduate Apply Visit SOC Undergraduate info AU Map
    Graduate Apply Visit SOC Undergraduate info
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    Public Communication
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    Political Communication

    Shaping Political Thought

    Whether you want to be a communications director on a political campaign, a media consultant devising national grassroots outreach, or a leading public affairs strategist guiding your client through a crisis, our master's in Political Communication is for you.

    Navigate a Fast-Changing Landscape

    The Master of Arts in Political Communication is a joint degree program between the School of Public Affairs and the School of Communication. It combines expertise and scholarship to develop a thorough grounding in political science, strategic communication, research, and media. The interdisciplinary degree prepares you to navigate the fast-changing landscape of politics and communication-our students gain the knowledge, skills, and ethical grounding to be successful as political advocates, policy-makers, communication professionals, and campaign executives.

    Hone Your Skills

    Taught by today's leading political communication scholars and practitioners, you'll take hands-on courses in applied politics and communication skills over a broad range of media and production topics that will introduce you to news writing, persuasive writing, public opinion research, online advocacy, and campaign management. For this 36-credit degree students can choose courses from a variety of areas including speechwriting, social media strategy and tactics, research for communication, and political advertising, as well as classes in AU's Women and Politics Institute, Campaign Management Institute, and Public Affairs and Advocacy Institute.

    "In this political climate, which is so polarized, people need to figure out a way to talk to each other, not past each other. And political communication gives you those skills."

    Candice Nelson
    Professor, Chair, and Co-Director, M.A. in Political Communication Program
    Department of Government 

    Build Knowledge and Expertise

    If you're seeking to build a strong background in research skills, a broad knowledge of political issues, a deep understanding of how the political process and media work, and the expertise necessary to create, shape, and manage political communication, you'll find what you're looking for in SPA and SOC's joint degree in Political Communication.

    The Political Communication program is a joint program between the School of Communication and the School of Public Affairs. And it really allows us to leverage the strengths and advantages of both schools. The Campaign Management Institute and the Public Advocacy Institute are examples of classes, where we bring in experts who are practitioners in their field. We mimic an actual campaign. And so students are really learning skills, but doing that in a very applied and relevant way. We have a campaign class, where we take students in presidential years to New Hampshire and to South Carolina, to cover the primary as political journalists. The capstone experience is really the culmination of the program for students, it's an open-ended opportunity for students to develop a significant body of work that then they can use as part of their portfolio when they're entering into the professional world. I wanted to come to DC because I knew they offered a lot of specialization, specifically with politics and campaign work. And I felt like the Political Communication program did a really good job of giving their students the practical experience to go out into the campaigns world, and into politics and use their skills and be able to translate them to whatever they do. The networking opportunities in the program-- I think one of the greatest strengths of the program, our alumni are very loyal. And they come back and they guest lecturer and they offered to help students with their job opportunities and to give them advice. One of the proudest aspects of the program as a program director is what our students go on to do. We have students who are working on Senate campaigns, congressional gubernatorial campaigns, working on Capitol Hill, working for advocacy organizations, as communication directors, press secretaries. We really love to keep track of our students and their amazing accomplishments.

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