Professional Writing Post-Baccalaureate Certificate

The 12-credit Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Professional Writing is designed to help professionals and business people in the region build their skills and credentials in professional writing. Students may select courses in any area of technical writing, business writing, public relations, journalism, grant writing, and electronic publishing to enhance their current knowledge and prepare for promotion, career change, specialty change within current organizations, or new opportunities in free-lance work, editing, and consulting. The program’s goals include providing rapid transition to new skills with special emphasis on practical course work tailored to the student’s own work setting, situation, and community. Another goal is to encourage regional industries, nonprofit institutions, businesses, and governments to send employees here to learn new skills and knowledge. Our hope is to foster greater contact and cooperation between our program and area institutions, leading to mutual enrichment.

Specific goals include:

• developing and expanding writing skills demanded in professional settings and the larger publishing world
• providing hands-on instruction in new technologies such as Web development and desktop publishing
• building awareness of audience, markets, and current standards of publishing professionalism
• developing practical strategies for purposeful, effective communications that fit specific circumstances and client needs
• writing for publication and distribution in real professional contexts