Public Affairs Reporting

PAR is a one-year, professionally oriented master’s degree program that trains students to become journalists who produce intelligent news coverage that helps audiences understand government, politics and other public affairs. The program’s centerpiece is a six-month paid internship where students work for a professional news organization in the Illinois Statehouse press room to report on the spring session of the Illinois General Assembly.

UPDATE (April 2021): The application deadline for the PAR Class of 2021-2022 remains open now through July 15 or until all seats in the class have been filled. Contact program director Jason Piscia at jason.piscia@uis.edu or (217) 206-7494 for more information.

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Your gifts to the Public Affairs Reporting program help us provide vital scholarship funds to current students, recruit the next generation of journalists and more. Thank you for your continued support.

Faculty Focus

Jason R. Piscia is director of the Public Affairs Reporting program. He is a 1998 PAR graduate who returned to UIS following a 21-year career at The (Springfield) State Journal-Register.

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