Most communications training teaches you how to communicate. Ours teaches you why people change — and how to design campaigns, presentations, and strategies that actually move them.
The Center for Public Interest Communications has trained foundation staff, federal agency officials, university faculty, nonprofit communicators, and researchers across sectors. Every program is built on the same foundation: peer-reviewed behavioral and social science, translated into frameworks and skills that practitioners can use the day they leave the room.
What makes this training different:
The communications field has no shortage of workshops on storytelling, messaging, and media relations. What it lacks is training grounded in evidence about how people actually form opinions, make decisions, and change behavior.
Our training draws on psychology, sociology, neuroscience, political science, and communications research to answer the questions most workshops skip: Why do some messages move people and others don’t? What makes a story change behavior rather than just create awareness? How do you identify the right actors, the right messengers, and the right moment for your campaign to land?
The frameworks we teach — including the Six Spheres of Influence, the Science of Story Building, and the Four Questions strategy guide — were developed at the Center and are grounded in decades of applied work on issues ranging from public health and climate to economic justice and civic participation.
This is public interest communications in practice.
We offer four types of training
In-person, live and online, and self-paced.
In person, on campus
(UF & UF Health employees only)
Are you a UF or UF Health employee? Join hundreds of your fellow university leaders and scholars who have developed next-level communication skills to build communities, communicate persuasively, and drive positive change
- Starts April 17, 2025
Live and online
(Open to the public)
Are you looking to become a transformative changemaker? Such a goal requires virtuoso-level communication skills. Join us live and online for a series of lively and interactive workshops that will change how you think about strategic communication
Upcoming courses
Essentials of Public Interest Communications
- Fall session: August 12, 2025
- Summer session: May 27, 2025
Self-paced courses
(Open to the public)
Learn new skills on your own time. With self-paced courses, you can work around your schedule.
- Rolling registration begins January 03, 2025
Customized trainings
(Open to the public)
We also offer customized training programs. These tailored workshops are crafted to meet your organization’s needs.
Please contact us to discuss the development of a new module that would help you meet your goal.
Getting started
To help you understand your needs, check out our frameworks and a list of the available modules. Each module is tailored to fit your organization’s goals, and we’re constantly building new modules. We’re building new modules all the time.
Registration is open now for the following training programs:
Science Communications Course
Beyond raising awareness: How to create lasting change
Strategic Communications Academy for UF Leaders & Scholars
Our strategic communications training can help you:
Hone storytelling and communications skills to achieve a greater understanding of your organization’s mission and vision and how to build support from a range of constituencies
- Develop a strategic communications framework
- Learn to write with confidence and clarity, and speak with charisma
- Create memorable and compelling presentations worthy of the TED stage
- Facilitate high-stakes meetings with “influentials” such as high-level administrators, policymakers, and funders
- Interact with the news media to build credibility and call people to action
- How to think and respond quickly when facing challenging communication scenarios
- Leverage social media to develop a meaningful digital network
- Use design thinking and systems thinking to create meaningful calls to action
What People are Saying About Our Training:
“We turn to the Center for Public Interest Communications for critical content in our faculty and senior researcher development program. Participants learn useful tips and—because participants are academics—they really appreciate how the communication strategies are rooted in empirical research.”
Jessica J. Hellmann, director, Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota
“The skills I learned impact how I approach creating and sharing vision, and also my presentation style. I implemented the project developed through the class within a week of my final presentation.”
Dr. Melissa Armstrong, Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology
“I was looking for more strategic guidance when it comes to storytelling for social change. I really enjoyed the in-depth look at the science of what makes people care. It reaffirmed the importance of storytelling, using emotional language and meeting your actors where they are. These principles were really powerful and they were presented in a very succinct way.”
Chandler Cofield, Senior Communications Associate at Third Sector
Interactive training programs led by acclaimed instructors
This has been an incredible experience and one of the most valuable workshops I have attended. The instructors are excellent and have helped each of us identify and collect the ‘stories’ that are important for
~ Valrie Minson, Associate Dean, Academic Support Services for the Smathers Libraries
us to accomplish our goals and mission. I am excited to bring back to my library everything I have learned.