The Professional Event Management Certificate (PEMC ), offered by the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences (RPTS), has been developed to accustom students with the various components of planning, managing, implementing and evaluating meetings and special events.
General Requirements
Applicants must be enrolled in a degree program at Texas A&M and, if required, have permission from their departmental advisor to apply for the program. We will only accept applications for the Fall and Spring semesters.
- Application deadline for Fall is March 31st
- Application deadline for Spring is October 31st
All TAMU students my apply. A GPA of 2.0 or higher is required for acceptance into the PEMC program. Once accepted, students must earn a grade of “C” or better in each PEMC applicable course, must complete all requirements, must maintain a 3.0 GPA in the required courses. Participating departments reserve the right to limit the number of applicants to the program.
The PEMC requires a minimum of 15 credit hours in designated (core) courses. These core courses MUST be taken in order in separate semesters These include 9 credit hours in the following specified courses:
RPTS 311 (3) Recreation and Tourism Programs
RPTS 320 (3) Festivals, Fairs and Events I (fall only)
RPTS 321 (3) Festivals, Fairs and Events II (spring only)
Additionally, students must take ONE approved administration course that will depend upon their interests.
RPTS 304 (3) Administration of Recreation Resource Agencies (For students interested in governmental or not-for-profit agencies/organizations)
OR
RPTS 423 (3) Tourism and Resort Development (For students interested in tourism, resort, and commercial operations)
Students who are not RPTS majors but in cooperating department may have a course offering that will meet this administration course requirement above. Check with your academic advisor and with the PEMC Program Advisor to determine if a course qualifies.
Student must also take 3 credits of a specialized elective that relates to festivals, fairs or events. One class from the following
AGCJ 306 Theory and Practice of Agricultural Public Relations (3)
AGCJ 380 Event Facilitation (3)
HORT 203 Floral Design (3)
HORT 454 Special Event Design and Production (2)
RPTS 308 Principles of Community Assessment (3)
RPTS 331 Tourism Marketing (3)
A recommended elective for all PEMC program participants is an internship (paid or unpaid) with a company, organization, or agency involved in event management responsibilities. Suitable courses include RPTS 484 (3) or an internship class in the student’s major field.
Students are expected to complete the required courses in sequence (RPTS 311, RPTS 320, and RPTS 321), and enrollment preferences will be assigned to those in the proper sequence.
The PEMC program will require a minimum of twenty five (25) hours of service in the conduct of event planning and execution. Appropriate documentation guidelines are given by the PEMC Program Advisor. Service hour requirements form both RPTS 320 and RPTS 321 may apply. Prior approval and post documentation verification will be granted by the PEMC Program Advisor.
PEMC students will turn in a one page, double spaced written statement of why they chose the volunteer hours that they did and how those hours will help them in their future in the events industry.
These hours will be performed after the student is admitted to the PEMC program.
Specific certificate requirements and documents will be available in the Undergraduate Programs Office of the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences and that of cooperating units.
(New requirements are in approval process)
For the PEMC application, click here.
