Public Affairs Communications Program
Applications for the next PAC cohort are now open.
Please visit the PAC application and apply by March 17, 2023.
About PAC
Public Affairs Communications (PAC) is at the forefront of politics, policymaking, and issue advocacy. Grady College is home to the first program in the nation to provide undergraduate students with practical training in this emerging field.
The PAC program provides students with specialized communications skills aimed at educating, shaping or changing public opinion on public policy, legislation, political candidates or issues.
Grady College and the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) jointly offer their students the opportunity to obtain a Public Affairs Professional Certificate. The PAC program and certificate are designed to prepare students for careers in public affairs.
The PAC program is preparing the next generation of public affairs communicators by offering them unparalleled access to leading practitioners in the field and equipping them with the real-world skills they will need to be successful.
Carolyn Caudell Tieger
A Washington, D.C., communications veteran based now in Naples, Fla., Tieger is one of the top public affairs strategists in the country, especially on tough legislative issues and reputation management. Her career spans the U.S. Congress, the White House, two international PR firms and her own company.
Tieger chaired PR giant Burson-Marsteller’s worldwide environmental practice and she was managing partner of Porter Novelli’s Washington, D.C., office where she led the company’s global public affairs practice.
Currently, Tieger is president of her own public affairs consulting business, entrePReneur Communications, LLC.
Tieger, a member of the Grady Fellowship, also serves on the Grady Board of Trust and the Cox International Center Board at Grady College. An active and involved participant in the program, she serves as a valuable resource for the Tieger Professor, Joseph Watson, Jr.
It was due to Tieger’s generous gift and pledge in 2013 that Grady College was able to establish the Carolyn Caudell Tieger Professorship in Public Affairs Communications and the Carolyn Caudell Tieger Fellowship in Public Affairs Communications.
Professor Joseph Watson, Jr.
Joseph Watson, Jr. is the inaugural Carolyn Caudell Tieger Professor of Public Affairs Communications. He directs the University of Georgia’s Public Affairs Communications Program, the first program in the nation to provide undergraduate students with practical training in the strategy and practice of public affairs communications focused on government, public policy, and politics.
Professor Watson has over 20 years of experience in public affairs campaigns and communications. Watson, a Harvard Law School graduate, served as an appointee in the Administration of President George W. Bush where he led a domestic policy office at the U.S. Department of Commerce. Watson also worked on Capitol Hill, serving as a senior aide to former U.S. Senator Peter G. Fitzgerald (R-IL).
Prior to joining the faculty of the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, Watson established and led the public affairs communications group for a Fortune 100 company. There, he managed award-winning public advocacy campaigns that successfully raised public and policymaker awareness of the value of nuclear energy, culminating in the enactment of unprecedented new legislation and rules promoting nuclear energy.
Click on the links below to view or print information on the PAC Program