Working professionals will no longer have to quit their jobs to participate in Medill’s popular Integrated Marketing Communications program under a recently approved plan.

Beginning in September the Medill School of Journalism will offer a Professional Master’s Program, which offers classes at night to people working toward master’s degrees in IMC.

Associate Dean Richard Roth said the program was developed to accommodate the demand from downtown professionals who want to enroll in the program but are not willing to quit their jobs.

“We have had a lot of demand over the years from people in downtown agencies,” Roth said. “Part of our mission is to serve the profession.”

The classes will be held at Medill’s Chicago campus on Clark and Adams streets.

Roth said he expects 25 to 35 people to sign up for the program this fall. Students will take classes in public relations, advertising, and direct database and e-commerce marketing.

Students will meet once a week for a three-hour class, which will be taught by the same faculty members who instruct at Medill’s Evanston campus.

Roth said the program has been in the works for the past six months. The faculty approved the curriculum in January.

The program can be completed in two years, but under the new plan students will be allowed as many as five years to finish the coursework.

Medill developed the IMC master’s program 10 years ago to incorporate advertising, public relations and direct marketing into a single program.

“This IMC program is 10 years old and it is starting to be copied at other schools,” Roth said. “I think it is the wave of the future.”

Informational meetings about the new program will be held April 4 and 19 at 210 S. Clark St. in Chicago.