International PR course to take students to Romania

A faculty-led study abroad program to Romania will give students the opportunity to experience public relations and communication management firsthand. The program will allow students to be immersed in the culture of this Eastern European nation, according to Sorin Nastasia, a professor of applied communication studies.

Dr. Department of Applied Communication Studies professor Sorin Nastasia and the 2012 study abroad students in front of Peles Castle, Romania.

Nastasia said the program involves 25 days abroad, including a week and a half in Bucharest, the Romanian capital, four days in the Carpathian Mountains, and a week and a half in the largest city in Transylvania. The program will include exchanges with faculty and students at local universities, as well as visits to organizations with demonstrated excellence in strategic communication and visits to historical and cultural sites, according to Nastasia.

The program is suited for undergraduate –junior and seniors– and graduate students with an interest in public relations and communication management, Nastasia explained.

Nastasia, who will lead the program, has extensive research and professional experience in public relations and communication management in European settings.

“We live in a global, interconnected world in which having international experiences are paramount,” Nastasia said. “There is nothing that is more beneficial to personal and professional growth than abroad experience for students.”

During the study abroad, students gain insight into how people from another culture reason and operate in different ways, and also into how PR, media, and general communication concepts are put to practice differently in a different social, economic, linguistic, and cultural context than the one in the United States, according to Nastasia.

“They also gain invaluable hands-on experiences, by visiting and working with local PR professionals in country-based firms as well as international agencies that they can put on their resumes,” Nastasia said.

All students participating in this program will enroll in ACS 419 Special Topics in Speech Communication: International Public Relations (Study Abroad). This course involves both online learning and study abroad, according to Nastasia.

For more information contact Nastasia at 618.650.5826 or snastas@siue.edu.

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