What is the Technical and Professional Writing Certificate?
The certificate in Technical and Professional Writing (TPW) offers students the opportunity to focus and sharpen their expertise in workplace and technical communication.
As technical writers, students will analyze audiences, visualize data, manage content, write reports, design user interfaces, compose web pages, and communicate science to the public. The TPW certificate prepares students to become innovative, collaborative, and technically proficient writers who can work across a range of fields, including business, health, nonprofits, technology, science, publishing, environment, and law.
The TPW certificate can be completed through online, in-person, or hybrid courses.
TPW Certificate at a Glance
What will certificate students learn?
Students who complete the certificate will be able to:
What are the requirements to complete the certificate?
How do I enroll?
CU Denver students in any discipline can enroll in the program at any point in their undergraduate studies.
Interested students can download the application form here and email it to Kari Campeau at kari.campeau@ucdenver.edu/
What are the course requirements?
Students should select one (1) 3-credit course from each of the following course clusters:
Cluster: Technical & Scientific Writing
These foundational courses introduce students to technical or scientific writing. Students can expect to gain an academic grounding as well as hands-on experience in technical or scientific writing.
Potential courses: ENGL 3154: Technical Writing, ENGL 4175: Writing in the Sciences
Cluster: Professional Writing
These courses offer students an opportunity to develop their TPW skills in a specific field or industry. Courses focus on the unique TPW skills and situations called for when writing for business, nonprofit, community, journalistic, or grant-writing contexts.
Potential courses: ENGL 3170: Business Writing, ENGL 4280: Proposal and Grant Writing, ENGL 4701: Multimedia in the Community
Cluster: Rhetorical Approaches
These courses ground students’ TPW skills in rhetorical approaches to writing. Rhetorical approaches are anchored to audience, context, purpose and are attuned to the social and cultural contexts of communication.
Potential courses: ENGL 2060: Intro to Writing & Digital Studies, ENGL 2070: Grammar, Rhetoric, and Style, ENGL 4190: Advanced Topics in Writing & Digital Studies (in approved topics)
Cluster: Interdisciplinary Learning
Technical and professional communicators often collaborate with experts and contributors from a range of fields and backgrounds. This outside course requirement situates students to gain subject-matter expertise in a related field or internship.
Recommended and potential courses: Any upper-division course or internship deemed to be central to the student's writing goals in consultation with the certificate Director. Biology 3763: Biostatistics, Comm 4282: Environmental Communication, Comm 3660: Social Media for Social Change, English 3939: Internship, InWorks 3620: Mobile App Development, InWorks 3200: Data Science for Innovators, Public Health 3030: Health Policy
Who can I contact for more information?
If you want to learn more about the Undergraduate Certificate in Technical & Professional Writing, please reach out to the program director, Dr. Kari Campeau at kari.campeau@ucdenver.edu.
This gallery features recent work completed by students in TPW courses.