Public Affairs Reporting Master’s Degree Program

Points of Pride AR is a one-year, professionally oriented master’s program that trains Pstudents to become journalists who produce intelligent news coverage • An affordable University about government, politics and other public affairs. of Illinois master’s degree earned in less than one year The program concentrates its instruction in three areas: journalistic skills (news • Real on-the-job experience reporting and writing for digital, broadcast and print), public affairs knowledge covering state government and professional responsibility. and public affairs for a professional news organization The program’s centerpiece is a six-month, paid internship, where PAR students work for a professional news organization in the Statehouse press room to • A portfolio of work that report on the Illinois General Assembly’s spring session. will make newsroom hiring managers take notice

• Membership in the close- From our alumni... knit PAR alumni network, Natasha Korecki (’97), Ray Long (’81), Chicago which includes hundreds of POLITICO: “For any Tribune: “If you want to graduates working in media aspiring reporter who be a hotshot covering across the country wants on-the-ground politics and government, training, I cannot point come learn what it takes to a better program than PAR. It did to work on the Greatest Beat on more to prepare me for the real Planet Earth. (PAR) plugs you into the world in one year than four years of same electrifying Illinois Statehouse undergrad. The classes are designed environment that propelled Barack to be specifically relevant to public Obama to Washington and sent a string affairs and what you’re later covering. of governors to prison. The experience The real experience working in the will catapult you ahead of your peers.” UIS.edu Capitol is invaluable.” Qualifications Affordability Bay Times, Cleveland.com, The • Bachelor’s degree with a good PAR is one of the most cost-effective and Indianapolis Star, The Baltimore Sun, academic record. time-efficient ways for a journalist to The Dallas Morning News and other major • Solid writing skills and a desire to earn a graduate degree while building a metropolitan newspapers, as well as with report on government, politics and resume and getting high-level experience The Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg other public affairs topics. with a professional media outlet. During News, POLITICO and The Hill. • The Graduate Record Exam is not the internship, students receive a tuition Broadcast alums are executives, required. waiver and a $585-a-month stipend. producers and reporters with television In addition, the program is supported and radio outlets in Chicago, St. Louis, Course Requirements by generous donors who annually Washington, Boston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Fall: provide thousands of dollars in Denver, Orlando, Raleigh-Durham, • PAR 501 Advanced Public Affairs scholarships to PAR students exhibiting San Diego, Nashville and other markets Reporting 6 hrs. exemplary academic performance and throughout the U.S., as well as with Al • PAR 510 Developing Public Policy financial need. Jazeera and NPR. in Illinois 4 hrs. • Two graduate-level electives A Record of Success Program Director in Political Science or Jason Piscia, ma ’98 par Communication 8 hrs. Somewhere near you, a PAR grad is Spring: informing a community about important Professor Piscia returned • PAR 503 Legislative Issues 2 hrs. issues. They are prepared to step into to UIS following a 21-year • PAR 504 Internship 12 hrs. the most demanding beats, and hiring career at The State Journal- • One graduate-level elective in managers know it. That’s why editors Register in Springfield, Illinois, where PSC or COM 4 hrs. and news directors with openings call he was a reporter, digital editor and Summer: us looking for alums who might be managing editor. He also earned degrees • PAR 505 Internship (through available; in fact, the callers are often from Illinois State University and Illinois June 30) 4 hrs. PAR grads themselves. Today, hundreds Valley Community College. He is a of graduates of the PAR program work native of Peru, Illinois. Six-Month News Internship at the nation’s newspapers, television In January, PAR students begin an and radio stations, press agencies, and in Apply by April 1 internship with a newspaper, wire related communication careers. service, television or radio station, under Their ranks include editors, columnists at uis.edu. the guidance of professional working and reporters at the Chicago Tribune, journalists who serve as mentors and Chicago Sun-Times, The Wall Street coaches. Students’ coverage of the Illinois Journal, The Washington Times, the

General Assembly will be read, seen or Houston Chronicle, The Arizona Republic, Information effective Spring 2020. Subject to change without heard by audiences throughout the state. (Minneapolis) Star Tribune, the Tampa notice. See uis.edu/uiscatalog for up-to-date requirements.

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Public Affairs Reporting uis.edu/par | [email protected] University of Illinois Springfield One University Plaza, MS PAC 350 fb.com/UISpringfield.PAR Springfield, IL 62703-5407 @UISPAR | 217-206-7494