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HIGH POINT— When High Point University (HPU) leaders decided to offer a master’s program in strategic communication, they first took a hard look at the rapidly changing field. 

“We looked at what was happening in all the media industries, and in today’s market you have to be able to do it all,” says Virginia McDermott, director of the new graduate-level program at the university. “As the economy gets tighter, the expectation of what one person can do is higher.”

The program’s first class enrolled in January. It’s designed to give students the skills to manage a communication campaign from start to finish. McDermott defines such an undertaking as “a plan designed to address a problem, like a health risk behavior, an image or credibility problem.”

Students take a mix of courses exploring three areas: communication theory, which focuses on why some messages work while others don’t; technology skills, which teach students to create campaign messages; and research methods, which evaluate the effectiveness of a campaign. Public relations and health communication are offered as concentrations.

The public relations concentration delves into image management for organizations and individuals, while health communication turns students’ attention to campaigns about health behaviors.

Students develop two communication campaigns in the community, gaining valuable real-world experience. This summer students will partner with five high schools in Forsyth County to develop a safe-driving campaign geared toward teenagers.

“We want our students to be able to go out and use what they learn in class,” McDermott says.

Dionne Buie, 42, is one of seven students who make up the program’s first class. Buie attended HPU as an undergraduate, earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2009 while working full-time as an executive assistant with Hanesbrands in Winston-Salem and raising a son as a single mother.

During her undergraduate course work, Buie developed an interest in public relations. She’d done some public relations work as a volunteer for a local nonprofit, but knew she’d need more skills if she wanted to change careers. When she learned about the school’s strategic communication program, Buie felt it was a perfect fit, so she applied immediately.

Buie is taking a class on qualitative analysis, a topic that surprised her at first. “I wasn’t really expecting to do research, but I like that we are learning the basics,” she says.

McDermott says the research skills students learn represent one of the most valuable parts of the program.

“Our students will know how to create surveys, how to look at the data and can break down the statistics,” she says, adding that those working in the field often don’t look at the research behind communication campaigns to figure why a campaign was successful — or why it failed.

That’s also what sets the master’s program apart from undergraduate studies in public relations. “The main difference between any undergraduate and graduate degree program is the ability to answer ‘why,’” McDermott says. In the master’s program, the research methods learned can both guide the planning of a campaign and help evaluate its impact.

As part of her course work, Buie is working on a project on intimate partner violence, a subject that hits close to home. She was in an abusive relationship for 14 years, and says she can relate to the abuse victims she surveys. The questions she asks them have helped her understand the issue more, which is exactly what McDermott hopes all of her students find as they examine issues impacting the community.

Buie hopes to turn her research into her first academic journal article and, after graduating from the 35-hour program, find work as a public relations manager.

“I know when I apply for a position anywhere, I will have hands-on experience that proves I can do the job,” she says. “That’s what made me come back to HPU.”

Career Tracks, which publishes on the third Sunday of the month, focuses on education options available at public and private schools and learning facilities in the Triad. Have a suggestion? Contact Patrick Collins at 412-5934 or patrick.collins@news-record.com.