Muck Rack Launches Free Program for University Professors and Students

Muck Rack for Educators provides complimentary access to PR software, on-demand courses taught by industry experts and access to exclusive research and materials

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Muck Rack, the leading public relations management (PRM) platform, today announced Muck Rack for Educators, a program that provides university professors and students with free access to industry-recognized certifications, research, and professional tools used by thousands of journalists and PR professionals around the world.

"With many universities going fully remote this semester, professors must figure out a syllabus that works for remote-learning in short order,” says Muck Rack co-founder and CEO Greg Galant. “We want to help educators and students with the transition by providing high-quality content and hands-on media and communications skills that employers are looking for today.”

Over 50 professors from institutions such as New York University, Brigham Young University, Penn State, Howard University, Belmont University and James Madison University have joined Muck Rack’s pilot phase of the program.

“Muck Rack allows my students to do more than complete a class homework assignment,” said Debra Johnson, a professor in the Journalism and Public Relations school at California State University, Chico. “They’re able to build industry standard tools like media lists, briefing sheets and coverage reports that they can use in their portfolios and in interviews for internships and entry-level jobs. And, its ease of use means my students are researching and building media lists during our first class.”

Muck Rack for Educators has three main components:

1. Complimentary access to advanced software: The program includes access to Muck Rack’s Public Relations Management (PRM) platform, which unites media database, media monitoring, distribution and reporting tools to enable students to easily analyze news and the people making it.

2. Professional certifications: Students have the opportunity to access Muck Rack Academy, which contains on demand video courses taught by industry experts. Over 2000 students and professionals have already completed Muck Rack’s first two certification courses, Fundamentals of Media Relations, which is taught by PR coach Michael Smart, and Fundamentals of Social Media, which is taught by journalism professor and social media expert Sree Sreenivasan.

3. Exclusive research, surveys, stories, and best practice materials: Students can access content from across a variety of formats, including articles, videos, case studies, eBooks and newsletters. Topics range from evergreen subjects like pitching best practices and how to optimize your online presence to more timely issues like COVID-19’s impact on journalists’ reporting habits and Diversity Equity and Inclusion for Media Relations.

College and University professors interested in bringing Muck Rack into their classrooms can learn more and apply for access here.

About Muck Rack:

Muck Rack’s Public Relations Management (PRM) platform enables PR teams to work together to find the right journalists for their stories, send customized pitches, build meaningful relationships with the media, monitor news and quantify their impact. Thousands of organizations, including Taco Bell, Pfizer, Golin, International Committee of the Red Cross, Knight Foundation, Kauffman Foundation, and Penguin Random House, use Muck Rack to take their communications to the next level.