A partnership between the Division of Professional & Continuing Studies (PCS) and the Department of English, this proposed noncredit and stackable certificate program in Technical & Professional Writing (TPW) will provide working professionals with the skills they need to meet the communication challenges of our complex world. Technical and professional communicators play key roles in making highly specialized knowledge more accessible and usable. They provide expertise in grant and proposal writing, project management, audience and rhetorical analyses, graphic design, plain language (required for federal government documents), layout and document design, data visualization, usability, user experience (UX) methodologies, research methods (user testing, field methods), website and interface design, digital accessibility, presentation design (slide decks and posters), and more.
This professional noncredit certificate in Technical & Professional Writing is intended for anyone who wishes to develop and hone crucial communication skills. It starts from the assumption that the most important baseline or “human” skills, regardless of degree program or industry, are written and oral communication skills: reading and writing emails, preparing client presentations, reporting information to team members, writing white papers, collaborating on grants and proposals, managing projects, and so on.
Our proposal is supported by market research, originally completed in 2021 and updated in 2024 by the Division of Continuing and Professional Studies. One key finding of market research is that there are “not many options available for technical writing programs within a 100-mile radius of University of Delaware.” We aim to fill that gap with a certificate program designed to be flexible and have broad appeal.
All required courses are developed and instructed by leading UD faculty experts in technical and professional writing, including Dr. Cathryn Molloy, Dr. Sean Zdenek, Dr. Meg McGuire, Dr. Keerthi Potluri and Dr. Jessica Edwards.
The certificate program consists of three stackable courses. Thus, students wishing to earn the certificate in Technical & Professional Writing will be required to complete a total of three individual courses, yet students might also take courses as standalone experiences if they wish. As they complete each individual course, they will earn a digital badge to recognize their course completion. Once all three courses are completed, the participant will “stack” all of the completed courses and earn a digital certificate of completion in Technical & Professional Writing.
The design of this certificate program offers participants the ultimate flexibility and accessibility to complete the program requirements based on their individual professional development needs. The program curriculum balances theory and practice, consisting of courses that can be taken individually in any order or stacked together into a certificate.
*This is a non-credit certificate.
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