Part of the Everything-PR Guide to PR Schools · Full profiles: Hofstra University — Herbert School · Chapman University — Dodge College
Two universities. Two media markets. Both built around the same premise — that proximity to the industry is the education.
Hofstra University sits 25 miles from Midtown Manhattan. Chapman University sits 40 miles from Hollywood. Neither school is in the top tier of national research universities. Both have built communications programs that have placed graduates across media, PR, advertising, and entertainment for decades.
This is what each program actually offers.
Hofstra University — Lawrence Herbert School of Communication
Hofstra's communications school was established in 1995 and renamed in 2013 to honor Lawrence Herbert, the inventor of the Pantone color-matching system and a longtime Hofstra benefactor. Dean Mark Lukasiewicz — a former NBC News executive — leads the school. It holds accreditation from the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC), granted in 2002.
The Herbert School offers eleven degree programs: journalism, public relations, film and television production, radio production, sports media, and digital media. Graduate programs include an M.A. in Communication with tracks in journalism, public relations, and strategic communication.
The PR curriculum covers media relations, strategic communications, crisis communications, campaign planning, and digital communication. Students work through the school's live media properties — including WRHU, Hofstra's FM radio station — and student-run television and journalism productions that function as working newsrooms.
The school's defining advantage is location. New York City's media infrastructure — broadcast networks, PR agencies, publishing houses, advertising holding companies, financial communications firms — sits within commuting distance. More than 80% of Herbert School students complete at least one internship during their time at Hofstra. The school also runs a study-away program in Los Angeles, housed at Emerson College's Hollywood campus, for students pursuing entertainment-side careers.
Herbert School alumni work at Fox News, ABC News, CNN, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and across the New York PR agency market. The school's industry connections are built around New York — which for communications graduates is one of the most direct pipelines available. Read the full Hofstra profile.
Chapman University — Dodge College of Film and Media Arts
Chapman University is a private research university in Orange, California. Its Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts — Dodge College — is consistently ranked in the top 10 U.S. film schools by The Hollywood Reporter and The Wrap. Public relations and advertising sit inside that framework, which gives Chapman's communications students a specific angle: entertainment-industry PR and media-adjacent communications.
Dodge College was established in 1996 and named after a $20 million gift from Lawrence and Kristina Dodge. Dean Stephen Galloway, a longtime Hollywood Reporter editor, leads the school. Approximately 1,465 students are enrolled across undergraduate and graduate programs, with 44 full-time and 86 adjunct faculty.
The Public Relations and Advertising program covers PR strategy, media relations, campaign development, and brand communications. Students compete in the PRSSA Bateman Competition and the American Advertising Federation's NSAC competition — Chapman's team has won multiple ADDY awards. The student-run firm Chapman ImPRessions gives students client work before graduation.
Chapman operates out of Marion Knott Studios — a purpose-built production facility with studios, post-production suites, and screening rooms. That infrastructure gives communications students direct exposure to the production environment in which entertainment PR operates. It's a meaningful difference from programs that teach entertainment communications without a working studio on campus.
Chapman is classified R2 — High Research Activity — by the Carnegie Classification. The university has produced a Rhodes Scholar and is a consistent Fulbright producer. Alumni from Dodge College's communications programs have placed at Warner Bros., NBCUniversal, and communications firms across the Los Angeles market. Read the full Chapman profile.
How They Compare
Market access: Hofstra gives you New York. Chapman gives you Los Angeles. Both schools have built their programs around leveraging that proximity. Neither is a substitute for the other — they're built for different career paths inside the same industry.
Program structure: Hofstra's Herbert School is a standalone communications school with ACEJMC accreditation and a broad program range. Chapman's Dodge College is a film and media arts school where PR and advertising sit inside a larger entertainment-media framework. Students who want a pure PR program find it more cleanly at Hofstra. Students who want PR inside an entertainment context find it more naturally at Chapman.
Internship pipeline: Hofstra's pipeline runs into New York's agency, broadcast, and financial PR markets. Chapman's runs into the studio system, talent agencies, entertainment marketing, and LA-based communications firms. Both schools claim strong placement rates; both are credible given their geography.
What is the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication at Hofstra?
The Lawrence Herbert School of Communication is Hofstra University's communications school in Hempstead, New York, 25 miles from Manhattan. Established in 1995, it offers eleven degree programs in journalism, public relations, film, television, and sports media. ACEJMC-accredited since 2002, led by Dean Mark Lukasiewicz.
What is Dodge College at Chapman University?
The Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts is Chapman University's film and media school in Orange, California, 40 miles from Los Angeles. Established 1996. Approximately 1,465 students. Top-10 U.S. film school per The Hollywood Reporter. PR and Advertising is one of its core programs.
Which school is better for a PR career — Hofstra or Chapman?
Depends on the market. Hofstra is built for New York — agency PR, broadcast, financial communications. Chapman is built for Los Angeles — entertainment PR, studio communications, media-adjacent advertising. Both have strong internship pipelines into their respective markets.
Does Hofstra have an accredited communications program?
Yes. The Lawrence Herbert School of Communication has held ACEJMC accreditation since 2002.
This comparison is part of the Everything-PR Guide to PR Schools. The hub indexes the full set of school profiles.
