With such a massive need on the part of organizations, affording endless opportunities to the youth, can Stella Maris be far behind? Welcome to the Department of Public Relations – Stella Maris’ 12th PG Department, begun on August 7, 2007 with the vision of empowering young women to equip themselves with the latest skills and learning needed to pursue their big dreams.

This fledgling department however, is no stranger to Stella Maris. The seeds of this department were sown as early as 1975, when the University of Madras at Nandanam Arts College and Stella Maris College started the BA Public Relations Department. Under the guidance and with the collaboration of Mr. Gyan Haksar – Founder-Director of Institute of Public Relations and Management (IPRM), Mr.M. Gopalakrishnan and Mr. R.K. Bharathan, the department was able to step beyond the college to involve business organizations, service industries, governmental departments and even entire communities!

The very first shoots of this department immediately pushed forward, and the PR department quickly established itself as driven by a unique blend of passion and professionalism. Among its other activities, this early program of PR had outstanding activities. Mr. Sam Black, Chairman, International Public Relations Association (IPRA) visited and delivered guest lectures in college; Dr. Wayne Pace, Chairman, International Communication Association and Dr. Brent Patterson, both faculty in Management of Brigham Young University conducted training sessions, to name a couple of the very many interesting speakers, both national and international, who took the time to ignite young minds.

The department, for all its multifaceted accomplished was driven by a simple philosophy: students need to have solid roots in a variety of interlinked subjects like history, sociology, economics and psychology and also acquire fluency and proficiency in English and other languages. Only with this as a foundation will they be able to build their knowledge on Public Relations, as seen in corporate, service and governmental sectors, and apply the various tools and techniques to the various processes in society. This orientation also offered the students internship and research in the final year, where the students found placements in organizations as eminent as MFL, MRL, ONGC, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Air India, Indian Airlines, Madras Port Trust, Shipping Corporation of India and so on. Taken together, this comprehensive program imparted holistic education, even adding the finishing touches - to shape a fully qualified and capable PR professional.

Even in B.A the PR students were encouraged to extend the frontiers of their knowledge in different disciplines and across different countries. Mr Gyan Haksar through the Institute of Public Relations (I.P.R.M) arranged a variety of lectures, seminars and workshops on a variety of subjects from environment and population to changing business and economic trends. From Ashish Bose to Prof Chandrasekaran to Sam Black and Peter Drucker  students had the opportunity to listen and interact with thinkers and leaders in different spheres of specialization.

The classroom moved out into the community through the National Service Scheme (N.S.S) which was compulsory to all under-graduate students. Adopting voluntary blood donation as their cause, the students used interpersonal persuasive skills to campaign door-to-door in different parts of Madras. In the first year (1975-’76) three hundred bottles of blood were collected. in the second year (1976-’77) three hundred bottles were collected monthly due to the different media strategy used by the students. The Principal, Sr Juliet Irene allowed the students to campaign in the mornings twice a week and then attend class in the afternoon. Through the concerted efforts of Ms. Shanthi Ranganathan, founder of Madras Voluntary Blood Bank (M.V.B.B) and the units from the blood banks of different government hospitals, voluntary blood donation came to stay in Madras. In recognition for their pioneering services to the cause of blood donation the Department of Public Relations was given an award by Ms. Saraswathi, Minister for Social Welfare at the annual day of MVBB at Music Academy in March 1977.

 Public Relations in the present- M.A from 2006
Come the new millennium, the clarion calls were heard worldwide for a new generation of trained professionals, with new skills and capabilities. Stella Maris spotted the opportunities at once, and revived their vision of 1975 – to educate young women to fulfill key roles in business and society. And thus the PR Department began once more on August 7, 2006.

Over four semesters, students of this course specialize in four core areas of PR - Community Relations, Customer Relations, Employee Relations and Government Relations, which are based on hard-core theory papers on: PR for and in the Corporate, Service and Government sectors along with a study of concepts and practices of PR in Asia, Europe, U.K and U.S.A. Apart from these core papers, the other support papers offered cover: Advertising, Marketing, Research, and Human Resources Management. Electives in Computer Basic and Advanced courses provide the technical skills.

More papers have been introduced, to develop and enhance students’ skill sets - Communication Skills – ranging from interpersonal, group to organizational and mass communication. All the courses are complemented by a suitable schedule of guest lectures by experts in the field, workshops and seminars. Internships are offered in non-governmental, corporate, service and government organizations in all the four semesters, for which written reports and viva voce examinations form the evaluation process.

In today’s world, from advertising to genetic engineering, from corporate communications to bio- informatics, all the burgeoning fields of study today have risen from a realization of their highly specialized natures and the contribution they can make as a distinctly new discipline. Although many of these fields have their roots in a multidisciplinary ethos, they have evolved to assume an individual and autonomous status as subjects of study and fields of research. In this scenario Public Relations has emerged as a field with tremendous potential for study and research, as well as application and skills training. The department today stands poised to lead the students and thereafter their alma mater to newer realms and newer frontiers