The Public Relations Department was founded in about 1959 with John W. Thompson in the position of director. After about 10 years, Patricia Rees Cummings joined the Art Center Staff as Director of Public Relations on November 15, 1971. At the time of her appointment her main responsibility was for the implementation of a selective public relations program. The program promoted unique aspects of the college and campus development plans to both local and national media. In the fall of 1980 Ms. Cummings was appointed Vice President of Public Relations and Associate Director of Development. In the spring of 1984 she was appointed Administrative Director of Art Center Europe with the responsibility of organizing the public relations program and the development and recruitment effort for Art Center's European campus.

In 2003, Art Center established a Marketing and Communications Department, and the Office of Public Relations was moved into that division. In addition, the functions of public relations were split into internal and external responsibilities with separate directors.

Public Relations Directors are:

John W. Thompson 1959-1971?
Patricia Cummings 1971-1981?
Douglas Brendan Jones 1980?-1983
Anna Ganahl 1983?-1989?
Diane L. Reed 1989-1991
Ann Salisbury 1991?-1994
Jean Keefe Parry 1995
Rae Jones Kitchen 1995?
Jan Kingaard 1996-2004
Christine Hanson 2005 - present (Director of External Communications and Media Relations)
Jered Gold 2003 - present (Director of Internal and Community Relations)