Bachelor of Arts - Integrated Marketing Communications

This major focuses on both the management function of public relations and marketing professionals, and the communication functions of developing a brand identity and marketing it across a variety of media to a target audience.

Today, marketing, public relations, social media and advertising are integrated functions. Hood’s major in integrated marketing communication is distinct because it is an interdisciplinary program offered jointly by the Department of English and Communication Arts and The George B. Delaplaine Jr. School of Business, where most are offered by one department. Hood College's major offers a full complement of classes from both departments, providing students a more balanced IMC curriculum to move them forward academically and professionally.

Students will benefit from both disciplines and learn the theory of organizations; the process of communicating information about a product, service or organization; the role of the marketing and public relations professional within an organization; and the central importance of the consumer in making decisions.

In the capstone Seminar in Communication Ethics, students will confront the ethical questions and concerns raised by the new ways to communicate. Students can apply the practical and leadership skills they will learn in the classroom by joining student media or the Public Relations Student Society of America. Students will be required to complete an internship that gives them real-world experience in their field. Hood College's students have interned at both for-profit and nonprofit organizations in Frederick, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.