University of Pennsylvania. University Relations. News and Public Affairs.

The University of Pennsylvania appointed a publicity agent in 1919. In 1925, the institution was expanded into an office called the Bureau of Publicity and a manager was appointed. The Bureau was absorbed into the Department of Public Affairs in 1947 and renamed as News Bureau in 1950. In 1954, the Department of Public Relations expanded its work to include two new units, Motion Picture Services and the Office of Radio and Television. In 1978, all the units under the Department of Public Relations were combined with those of the Department of Publications to form the Department of Communications Services. Within two years, the Motion Picture Services and the Office of Radio-TV were phased out. In 1984, the Department of Communications Services was renamed as the Office of University Relations. The present Office of University Relations, after losing the Department of Publications in 1989, oversees the former News Bureau, which was renamed as News and Public Affairs in 1990, and the campus newspaper the Compass.