Master of Public Diplomacy

Follow your commitment to changing the world by developing the hands-on skills and analytical capabilities that will allow you to accelerate your career at the dynamic intersection of communication and global affairs.

It is more critical than ever to engage foreign and domestic publics in improving global communication and international security. Working with our faculty — with expertise across communication, journalism, foreign affairs, and public relations — you will learn to integrate the rich history of public diplomacy scholarship and long-standing practices of cultural programming and exchanges with multi-platform content creation and data insights to address complex challenges in contemporary global affairs.

Los Angeles, home to more than 100 foreign consulates, populations from all over the world, and creative industries with unprecedented international reach and influence, will be your canvas. Here, you will forge and pursue professional opportunities that can span government agencies in the national and supra-national foreign affairs system as well as non-state organizations with growing international consequence, including cities, companies and civil society.

By the numbers

foreign consulates in L.A.L.A. has the second-highest number of Consulates in the world: 62 career Consulates General and 33 honorary Consulates.

L.A. has the second-highest number of Consulates in the world: 62 career Consulates General and 33 honorary Consulates.

95% %

of our Class of 2023 employed within 12 months of graduationOur recent graduates have gone on to distinguished careers with employers such as The White House, JTA Pacific, the U.S. Department of State, Targeted Victory, and more.

Our recent graduates have gone on to distinguished careers with employers such as The White House, JTA Pacific, the U.S. Department of State, Targeted Victory, and more.

30+

countries are represented by our graduate student bodyOur master’s students hail from a diverse array of countries, including Argentina, Finland, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea.

Our master’s students hail from a diverse array of countries, including Argentina, Finland, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea.

1st st

graduate-level public diplomacy program in the worldIn 2005, USC created this first-of-its-kind program to teach the next generation of public diplomacy professionals.

In 2005, USC created this <a target="_blank" href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2008/apr/103121.htm">first-of-its-kind program</a> to teach the next generation of public diplomacy professionals.

Student, alumni and faculty work

Photo of two people embracing in a crowd

Providing a forum

Students write and produce the world’s only magazine dedicated to the study and practice of public diplomacy.

Discovering Turkey

Fifteen students study Turkish culture and public diplomacy in Ankara, Istanbul, and Cappadocia during Spring Break.

Hispanic women with red and gold graduation stole stands in front of USC Annenberg building

Try and try again

With language skills, a love of travel, a passion for making connections, and a Master of Public Diplomacy degree, Bella Chavez is poised to be a future U.S. diplomat.

Public diplomacy on the home front

Sumaya Hussaini studies the U.S. withdrawal from her home country of Afghanistan through the lens of academics and personal events.

Male navy pilot in helicopter cockpit wearing helmet and flight suit

Trading wings for academic pursuits and teaching opportunity

Lieutenant Jack Tribolet found his passion and purpose flying MH-60S Knighthawk helicopters for the U.S. Navy. At USC Annenberg, he began the next chapter of his career as a master’s student in the public diplomacy program.

Preparing to collaborate with, manage and lead diverse teams

Through the Managing Complexity in Diverse Organizations program, in which USC Annenberg master’s students learn to advance equity and representation across the communication and media landscape.

USC Center on Public Diplomacy

Now, more than ever, soft power and public diplomacy are critical to international relations, and USC’s Center on Public Diplomacy (CPD) is leading the way. CPD has long been recognized as the definitive go-to destination for research, analysis and professional education that furthers the study and practice of global public engagement and cultural relations. Public diplomacy students are an integral part of the center’s work and have opportunities to share their unique insights on the CPD Blog; to provide website, publicity and programming support; and to travel across the globe to conduct field research, just to name a few.

Learn more