Professional Performance: Academic Information

Program format

In person on the Lawrence campus
 

The professional performance degree is distinctive in that it provides flexibility to create a personalized degree plan. The 21-credit-hour core curriculum includes courses on starting and managing your career, professional communication, ethics in professional performance, personal branding and self-promotion, content creation and building influence, and ways to generate revenue with your personal and professional brand.

The program requires nine credit hours of electives in professional performance and professional studies, which include courses on AI in the workplace, building audiences, managing social media, and special topics such as podcasting, newsletters, and promotion of content. Students get to select an additional nine credit hours from courses across the university that cater to their career goals, and they must also select a minor to complete their degree.

The final course in the 60-credit-hour program is a capstone that allows students to apply what they have learned in individualized projects. 

For program requirements and course descriptions, visit the catalog.

Minor in professional performance

Students interested in the 18-credit-hour professional performance minor will complete four required courses in the professional performance sequence — branding, marketing, content creation, and monetization methods — and six additional credit hours in topics such as audience building, personal finance and career management, and managing project success.

The minor in professional performance focuses on preparing students with professional and workforce-ready skills to ensure employment immediately following completion of the program. The program allows students the opportunity to explore the technical and strategic aspects of self-promotion, entrepreneurship, and creating a personal or professional brand.

The minor will also provide a pathway for students across the university to explore the reality of turning their athletic, artistic, or other strengths, knowledge, and expertise into a side business as an influencer or a career as a full-time content entrepreneur.

The minor can appeal to students in any degree program. Courses are delivered on the Lawrence campus and online. To declare a minor in professional performance, a student must have a minimum 2.0 cumulative KU GPA and be pursuing a degree.