The public relations program offers numerous hands-on learning opportunities. The upper division PR skills courses require students to develop plans, strategies and tactics that would be produced in the public relations field. Often, projects relate to actual client communication challenges. In PR Campaigns, students complete research and create a public relations plan for a real client. Public relations majors also are required to complete 150 hours of an internship.

Students have the opportunity to apply for positions at two student-run agencies and to get involved in the award-winning Kent State Chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America. Other opportunities for practical experience include news, production, management, sales, performance and promotional positions on the campus newspaper, the Daily Kent Stater, and its online edition; the campus television station, TV-2; the campus radio station, Black Squirrel Radio; and the campus magazine, the Burr, and its online edition.