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

100+

foreign consulates in L.A.L.A. has the second-highest number of Consulates in the world: 66 career Consulates General and 37 honorary Consulates.

L.A. has the second-highest number of Consulates in the world: 66 career Consulates General and 37 honorary Consulates.

100% %

of our Class of 2021 employed within 12 months of graduationOur recent graduates have gone on to distinguished careers with employers such as the U.S. Department of State, Brookings, The Walt Disney Company, The Korea Foundation, and Stanford University’s Global Digital Policy Incubator.

Our recent graduates have gone on to distinguished careers with employers such as the U.S. Department of State, Brookings, The Walt Disney Company, The Korea Foundation, and Stanford University’s Global Digital Policy Incubator.

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.

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. This Fall, he began the next chapter of his career as a master’s student in the public diplomacy program.

Photo of a group of people standing yellling

360-degree connections

Students explore the opportunities virtual reality and immersive storytelling technology present for the future of public diplomacy.

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.

Art depicting the fusion of skateboards with traditional Iranian art

Shredding perceptions

Leila Nazarian ’13 explores culture and identity through a fusion of skateboards with traditional Iranian art.

Power of propaganda

Professor Nick Cull answers 10 questions on the impacts of propaganda.

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.

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