Programs Offered
Master's Degrees
Doctoral Degree
The Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design (APRD) offers the graduate programs listed below.
The MA in Corporate Communication is an online professional master’s degree designed for early and mid-career professionals who want to advance their career in corporate communication in an increasingly globalized corporate environment. It is well-suited for corporate communication practitioners in business, governmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as mid-career professionals from allied disciplines such as journalism, advertising and marketing who want to switch to corporate communication jobs due to increased demand in this sector. The program’s coursework blends conceptual knowledge and practical techniques to make students invaluable and nimble communicators in a globally relevant profession.
The MA in Strategic Communication Design (MSTCM) is an immersive 39-credit hour program typically completed in a full calendar year. Located in a state-of-the-art studio in the heart of Boulder's entrepreneurial tech community, the MSTCM is entirely project-based. With the guidance of industry-driven instructors, our students leverage design's potential as a critical problem-solving tool in a rapidly changing world. This human-centered program evolves students into branding design and entrepreneurial professionals through innovative, intensive, and progressive learning experiences. MSTCM graduates have been appointed to leadership design positions in top companies, including Google, Apple, Uber, Twitter and Dropbox–to name just a few.
The Marketing Analytics track of the MS in Business Analytics is an APRD, CMCI and Leeds School of Business partnership. In this advertising and marketing specialization in the Leeds Master's in Business Analytics graduate program, students become experts in cutting edge digital advertising techniques and learn how to find, create, and analyze advertising data. The ten-month MS degree starts every July. Students leave the program ready to work in analytical roles at digital advertising agencies, DSPs, DMPs, programmatic shops and digital marketing departments.
Strategic Communication is a distinct track of the PhD in Media Research and Practice program. Students gain an understanding of scholarship through coursework, independent studies and research assistantships that explore theories and methods that shape strategic communication research. We welcome and appreciate both qualitative and quantitative approaches to research. The program emphasizes how theory informs practice, critically analyzing how advertising and public relations operate in ways that can—or could—constructively contribute to the successful, ethical and resilient functioning of society. Students taking this track focus their research and teaching in the areas of advertising, public relations and various types of promotional communication such as health communication, political communication, social media and video gaming.
The department actively encourages students to enroll in courses offered both within and outside CMCI and APRD graduate course are open to students in other units.
Course code for these programs is APRD.
Faculty
While many faculty teach both undergraduate and graduate students, some instruct students at the undergraduate level only. For more information, contact the faculty member's home department.
Doty, Dawn
Senior Instructor; MA, Johns Hopkins University
Duncan, Thomas R.
Professor Emeritus
Elliston, Diane
Instructor; MFA, Claremont Graduate University
Fisher, Jolene
Assistant Professor, Associate Chair; PhD, University of Oregon
Gangadharbatla, Harsha
Professor; PhD, University of Texas at Austin
Griffin, Glenn
Associate Professor; PhD, University of Texas at Austin
Hopp, Toby
Associate Professor; PhD, University of Oregon
Labrecque, Joseph
Instructor; MA, University of Denver
Lee, Seow Ting
Professor; PhD, University of Missouri–Columbia
Ligon, Dan
Senior Instructor; MFA, Brown University
Logan, Kelty Irene
Associate Professor Emerita; PhD, University of Texas at Austin
Moriarty, Sandra E.
Professor Emerita
Robbs, Brett
Professor Emeritus
Schauster, Erin E.
Associate Professor; PhD, University of Missouri–Columbia
Slayden, David Lee
Associate Professor; PhD, Indiana University Bloomington
Sriramesh, Krishnamurthy
Professor; PhD, University of Maryland College Park Campus
St. John, Burton
Faculty Director, Professor; PhD, Saint Louis University
Tashakori, Parisa
Instructor; MA, Islamic Azad University (Iran)
Vargo, Christopher
Associate Professor; PhD, University of North Carolina
Weaver, Kay
Chair, Professor; PhD, University of Stirling (Scotland)
Willis, Erin
Associate Professor; PhD, University of Missouri–Columbia
Courses
APRD 5001 (3) Foundations of Strategic Brand Design
Focuses on the challenges of designing brands targeted to customer needs and desires. The course is structured around the process of identifying brand opportunities, idea generation, design, testing and launch opportunities. Through a series of projects, students address aspects of practice and theory, from brand adaptation of cultural values to maintenance of brand integrity and global design strategies. Where applicable, case studies will supplement studio execution.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students in Strategic Communication Design (STCM-MAP)
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 5002 (3) Experience Design Foundations
Provides a comprehensive understanding of design thinking and its processes to design innovative branded experiences and exchanges in a variety of strategic communication contexts. Students learn design methods applications that can be applied not only to experiential design, but to a problem where design thinking is meaningful to branded experiences. They learn standard and currently practiced design methods and, through repeated application, internalize them into a personal design aesthetic.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students in Strategic Communication Design (STCM-MAP)
APRD 5003 (3) Toward a Unified Theory of Brand Equity
Builds on and extends concepts and executions covered in Foundations of Brand Design. While Foundations of Brand Design grounds the students in core branding concepts and applications, this course expands both executional skillsets and conceptual frameworks through the development of a unified theory of branding that transforms objects into meaning bearers. Through research, strategic definition, identity, expression, communications and behavior study, students will learn how to create opportunities for complex, meaning centered relationships between people and things.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students in Strategic Communication Design (STCM-MAP)
APRD 5004 (3) Interaction Design and the Digital Delivery of Products and Services
Builds on and extends concepts and applications introduced in Experience Design Foundations with a concerted focus on prototyping quickly and often the best way to both communicate and improve one's design. Integrates prototyping activities, along with research and testing techniques, into every stage of the design process. Students will learn how to choose the appropriate method to suit different dimensions of a design problem at different stages in the process and the pitfalls of each approach.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students in Strategic Communication Design (STCM-MAP)
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 5006 (3) Introduction to Designing for Entrepreneurism
Brings students' attention to design as a form of social innovation and develops awareness of the social, political and economic contexts of design. They become literate in re the often implicit narratives embedded in design products and services, then use scenarios and storytelling to generate new strategies, build and test prototypes and write a case study detailing what was learned.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students in Strategic Communication Design (STCM-MAP)
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 5008 (3) Access to Tools for Entrepreneurism by Design
Develops awareness of and access to necessary tools, smart objects for example, that can enable complex dynamics among people, objects and information via a combination of physical and digital design methods, all with an eye to design driven innovation for social change. This course shifts the usual strategic communication design point of view from the typical perspective of "trend noise" and market driven models to identifying actual problems and providing possible design solutions to those problems.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students in Strategic Communication Design (STCM-MAP)
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 5010 (3) Design Sprint
Executes a five-day, immersive process for answering critical business questions through design, prototyping and testing ideas with sponsoring industry partners. The outcome is a fully functional prototype that is demoed and evaluated on the final day of the sprint. This project based studio is team taught and process based. The tangible outcomes from the project, along with documentation of the process, will go into the students' professional portfolios.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students in Strategic Communication Design (STCM-MAP)
APRD 5011 (3) Book Lab
Dedicated to building out an industry-ready professional portfolio, in this immersive studio-focused course students will work from design briefs to concept, design and solve a variety of design problems. Ranging from finished supercomps to functional prototypes - physical, video, projections mapping, etc. - students to market portfolios will demonstrate their command of strategic communication design across a range of media platforms.
Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 9.00 total credit hours.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 5012 (3) Entrepreneurship and Product Innovation by Design
Results in learning how to both think like an entrepreneur and develop innovative products and experiences competitive with the most successful startups in Boulder. Taught by successful entrepreneurs sharing valuable insight into the skills, mindset, and culture that results in the design of innovative products and experiences.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students in Strategic Communication Design (STCM-MAP)
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 5013 (3) Designing for Branded Experiences
Explores both the theory and the practices of identity and branding through the creation of a series of projects related to the senses. Most of our visual world is made up of one or more identity components--from the basic form and structure of something to the specific experience which a brand provides.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students in Strategic Communication Design (STCM-MAP)
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 5014 (3) Advanced Tools of Interaction Design
Introduces students to advanced practices and tools of the experience design profession. Topics vary to reflect current and emerging trends in the profession, but the core focus of the course consists of three broad themes: information design principles, understanding and defining user behaviors, and designing for emerging cross-channel experiences.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students in Strategic Communication Design (STCM-MAP)
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 5015 (3) Brand Design for Sustainable Futures
Takes an in-depth look into engagement with challenges of designing for sustainability. Moves beyond the cradle to grave approach to designing for cradle to cradle with immersion into design ethics and the power of visual communication. Students are taken beyond the project brief to investigate why a brand or service should exist and the consequences of its existence.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students in Strategic Communication Design (STCM-MAP)
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 5016 (3) Experience Design and Narratives of Interaction
Organizes our annual inquiry and execution of a real-world project around an essential question in design, such as "Can design make us empathetic problem solvers?" Curated by our faculty and executed in collaboration with our industry partners, Experience Design and Narratives of Interaction pairs students with teams from design-driven companies to develop advanced projects over the course of a full semester.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students in Strategic Communication Design (STCM-MAP)
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 5841 (1-3) Graduate Independent Study
Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 6.00 total credit hours. Allows multiple enrollment in term.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
APRD 5851 (1-6) Graduate Professional Project
Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 6.00 total credit hours.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
APRD 5931 (1-3) Internship
Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 3.00 total credit hours.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
APRD 6342 (3) Digital Advertising
Covers both traditional and emerging digital advertising methods, the popular platforms used to execute ads, and the leading analytic tools that can be used to assess advertising performance. Core advertising platforms covered include search, display, social media, native advertising, sponsored content and mobile. This class focuses on best practices and Key Performance Indicators that go with each advertising platform. Department consent required.
Requisites: Restricted to MS Business Analytics (BUAN-MS) majors and MKAG-CERG students only.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 6343 (3) Applications of Advanced Statistical Techniques in Advertising
Building upon prior data acquisition and analysis coursework, students will effectively and flexibly generate advanced statistical models in a digital advertising-specific context. This course will focus on data originating from a variety of digital advertising sources. In addition to technical skill acquisition, students will learn how to interpret results and present them to clients and management. Department consent required.
Requisites: Restricted to Business Analytics (BUAN-MS) majors only.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 6871 (1-3) Special Topics
Graduate special topics. Topics vary by instructor and semester.
Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 15.00 total credit hours. Allows multiple enrollment in term.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
APRD 6940 (1) Master's Candidate for Degree
Registration intended for students preparing for a thesis defense, final examination, culminating activity, or completion of degree.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
APRD 6951 (1-6) Master's Thesis
Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 6.00 total credit hours.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
APRD 7001 (3) ProSeminar in Mass Communication Theory 1
Discusses prominent theoretical and methodological points of view in journalism studies and strategic communication that range from social science to critical studies to the humanities. The premise is that methods are driven by research questions, so there is no best way to conduct research. You should leave this course with an understanding of how to address various mass communication phenomena.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: JRNL 7001
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 7002 (3) Research Design
Adopts a holistic and creative approach to bridging theory with method for the purpose of research design. Students learn how to bridge theory and method, exploring research designs that effectively address research questions and hypotheses through elaboration of theoretical and operational linkages.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: JRNL 7002
Requisites: Requires prerequisite courses of APRD 7003 and MDRP 7051 and MDRP 7061 (all minimum grade C-). Restricted to graduate students only.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 7003 (3) ProSeminar in Mass Communication Theory II
Continues introducing and discussing theoretical and methodological points of view in areas of communication, journalism and persuasion. Discusses the most important qualitative and quantitative methodological points of view, and from theoretical viewpoints that range from social science to critical studies. The idea is to develop an appreciation for theories and methodologies that can be employed depending upon the research question.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: JRNL7003
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 7004 (1) Doctoral Professionalization Seminar
Introduces you to the university and gives you a chance to think out loud about what your academic future might look like. The course is designed to be responsive to your needs regarding your career, getting a job, getting tenure and teaching. In short, the course prepares you for a career in academia.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: JRNL 7004
Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 4.00 total credit hours.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 7011 (3) Seminar in Strategic Public Relations
Analyzes the various dimensions of public relations based on scholarship. The seminar seeks to expose students to key public relations specialties such as issues management, risk and crisis communication, corporate social responsibility, communication campaigns, public diplomacy. It also aims to train students to recognize public relations as a strategic practice that can contribute significantly to organizational effectiveness and social good.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: JRNL 7011
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 7012 (3) Ethnography and Media
Provides a ¿how to¿ concerning the intersection of ethnography and the media. During which, the course examines the epistemology of fieldwork. We will critically examine aspects and approaches to doing and writing ethnography, including with and without social science theory. We will discuss the challenges of entering, being in, and leaving the field. And we will explore data collection techniques.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: JRNL 7012
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 7013 (3) Mixed Research Methods in Mass Communication
Examines the practice of mixed-methods research in the social sciences with an emphasis on the pragmatic considerations necessary for such projects. The class will discuss the development and execution, the analyses of data obtained, and the practical tools required for such studies. Throughout the course, students will examine and discuss specific applications of mixed methods research.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: JRNL 7013
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 7014 (3) Experimental Design in Mass Communication
Introduces all facets of experimental design for studies of forms of communication. This course study experiments, both for your own research and to help you evaluate the work of others, and provide an overview of research in the field and the various ways in which media can be utilized in experimental research. This is a hands-on, nuts-and-bolts methods course. You will not only learn about the various theories and methodologies, but also implement your own.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: JRNL 7014
Requisites: Requires prerequisite course of JRNL 7061 or APRD 7061 (minimum grade D-). Restricted to graduate students only.
APRD 7020 (3) Controls of Media and Information
Investigates the role media play in the public sphere and democratic practices. Does media facilitate support or opposition to political and economic policies and cultural frames that become part of publics? Which institutions best inform publics and why? This course traces the development of U.S. and selected international media institutions. We analyze and debate the relationship of differing media content to political power, freedom of critical inquiry, and the facilitation or inhibition of democratic practices.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: JRNL 7020
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 7021 (3) Environmental Journalism and Science Communication
Focuses on mass communication of issues related to science and follows two lines of inquiry. The seminar takes a cultural perspective, and explores the concept of scientific uncertainty in media. It will use these as a springboard for examining how we use media to conceptualize science, environment, health, etc., and how that impacts the way we live on this planet.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: JRNL 7021
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 7030 (3) Media Sociology
Examines a range of theories for how media messages and media institutions turn out the way they do. `Media sociology¿ refers to theorizing about the media as the `dependent variable;¿ even though many of the `independent variables¿ explored are not narrowly sociological. It connects media actors, organizations, and institutions to sociological concepts such as socialization, interaction, roles, and structures.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: JRNL 7030
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 7031 (3) Moral Psychology and Media Ethics
Explores the psychological structures and processes that come into play as individuals interpret moral problems, and formulate, select and execute a moral action in response. The seminar will explore the work of Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, and James Rest, among others, and apply moral psychology theories and methods to contemporary issues and cases in media professions.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: JRNL 7031
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 7034 (3) Media and Health Communication
Advanced seminar that examines and critiques the literature on health communication in two specific areas: news about health and its impact on individuals, and health promotion campaigns.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: JRNL 7034
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
APRD 7051 (3) Qualitative Methods in Mass Communication
Provides a survey of various qualitative modes of inquiry, attending to the philosophical, conceptual, and practical foundations of qualitative research in media, communication, and information. The course is designed to support students in developing a critical understanding of the different considerations in and stages of qualitative research, including the development of research questions, theoretical and conceptual frameworks, methodological approaches, data collection, data analysis, and assessment of reliability and validity of qualitative data. Previously offered as a special topics course.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: JRNL 7051
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 7061 (3) Quantitative Research Methods
Introduces graduate students to concepts and applications in quantitative research methods. The course prepares students fordissertation writing through hands-on experience in developing research designs and conducting independent quantitative research.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: JRNL 7061
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 7062 (3) Advanced Statistical Analysis for Mass Communication
Provides instruction on the following topics: ordinary least squares regression, statistical mediation and moderation, path analysis, count and categorical data modeling, and factor analysis.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: JRNL 7062
Requisites: Requires prerequisite course of APRD 7061 or JRNL 7061 (minimum grade D-).
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 7063 (3) Text Analytics for Computational Mass Communication Research
This course tackles advanced advertising and marketing analytics through three advanced methods aimed at solving these problems: text classification, text topic modeling, and semantic network analysis. Each key area will involve a deep dive into the leading computer science methods aimed at solving these methods using Python. Students will walkthrough conceptual overviews of the methods, and dive into real-world datasets through instructor-led tutorials. Students will also conduct a major project for each of the 3 key methods.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: JRNL 7063
Requisites: Requires prerequisite course of APRD 7061 or JRNL 7061 (minimum grade D-).
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 7133 (3) Digital Games
Seminar that explores digital games, analog games, and play, and looks at the relatively new field of game studies; the field has moved toward issues of culture and social justice.
Requisites: Restricted to doctoral students.
APRD 7841 (1-3) Independent Study
Provides opportunities for independent study and research on the graduate level. Students perform independent research under faculty supervision.
Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 9.00 total credit hours. Allows multiple enrollment in term.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
APRD 7871 (3) Special Topics
Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 15.00 total credit hours. Allows multiple enrollment in term.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
APRD 7880 (3) Persuasion Theory
This seminar acts as an overview of psychological knowledge as it pertains to capturing consumer insight, and includes a consideration of how the brain works, what factors influence consumer choice, and a critical evaluation of psychological assessment tools.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: JRNL 7880
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
APRD 8991 (1-10) Doctoral Dissertation
Dissertation research and writing. A minimum of 30 hours is required.
Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 40.00 total credit hours.
Requisites: Restricted to PhD students only.
MDRP 7871 (3) Special Topics
Special topics.
Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 15.00 total credit hours. Allows multiple enrollment in term.
Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.