Professional Writing and Communications
Program Overview
Humber’s Professional Writing and Communications graduate certificate program supports you as you learn and practise the craft of writing in the digital age while building a professional portfolio. This unique program provides the core transferrable skills you need to build a successful career in a variety of communications roles. Building on foundational skills such as storytelling, drafting, editing, pitching, interviewing and research, you will build proficiency in areas such as media writing, social media management, project management and design.
With a focus on writing for different audiences and purposes, including editing writing by Indigenous writers and about Indigenous issues, as well as using current technologies to maximize the impact of your message, you will be well-positioned to enter the workplace with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed as a professional writer/communications specialist across a variety of sectors. You will also learn how to think strategically in preparation for taking on leadership positions within communications departments or starting your own freelance writing business.
The program allows you to find a community of writers and supports collaboration, networking, professional development and publication.
Upon successful completion of the program, a graduate will:
Analyze the elements of storytelling in texts and choose appropriate narrative techniques and forms for a variety of writing projects.
Create documents suitable for a diversity of audiences and purposes using advanced linguistic and rhetorical skills.
Create documents that adhere to standards of structure/formatting for standard print and electronic forms such as informational articles, reports, blog posts, and web site copy, and strategically repurpose content across these forms.
Integrate new communications technologies into an existing media toolkit.
Manage a multifaceted editorial project or communications campaign from the planning stages through completion, using a team-oriented, collaborative leadership style.
Adapt a consistent, unique writing voice to different platforms and genres.
Assess the needs of complex communications campaigns and then select and deploy appropriate strategies to meet those needs, using knowledge of communications theory and audience analysis.
Produce and/or edit error-free publications for both print and on-line environments, through the use of grammar and mechanical rules, correct and relevant editorial terminology, and copy-writing and style guides.
Analyze the structure and mechanics of a variety of document forms, both electronic and print, and apply substantive, line-level, and copyediting revisions as appropriate.
Analyze the media landscape and the range of communications fields to plan ways to navigate the industry and market oneself.
Create an online portfolio and social media profile to market writing skills to potential employers and freelance clients.
Select suitable and credible research sources for strategic applications to a range of advanced communication challenges.
Work Placement
Students complete a twelve-week placement allowing them to gain valuable practical and professional experience.
Is Our Program Right For You?
Do you love storytelling? Reading? Listening to podcasts? When you’re walking down the street, do you spot the typos and errors on signs and in storefronts? Do you sometimes find yourself quietly correcting the copy on the websites you visit?
If this sounds like you, come join our dynamic community of creative-minded writing professionals.
Our program provides a supportive environment where you can learn from experts who will show you how to take your writing to the next level. By practicing and experimenting with different styles and forms of writing, you’ll build the skills, discipline and confidence you need to excel in the communications market.
Added bonus? You’ll form lifelong friendships with members of your writing cohort.
Watch the "Power Up Your Credential!" Info Session to learn more about the Professional Writing and Communications program.
Joining the World of Professional Writing
In today's increasingly virtual and text-based world, writing is everywhere. Yet not everyone can create documents with both accuracy and readability. Your job as a writer is to become very good at language skills such as grammar, style and mechanics. Communications directors and hiring managers are always looking for writers who understand the foundations of writing and editing and who can quickly learn the subject matter of their businesses.
Advisors
The Professional Writing and Communications program is delighted to have the following professionals on its advisory committee.
Career Overview
Graduates of this program may find employment as
- Communications specialists or coordinators
- Freelance writers
- Web copywriters
- Editors
- Social media managers
- Social media marketing specialists
- Report writers
- Proposal writers
- Grant writers
- Project Managers
- Journalists
Note: This is a post-graduate certificate. You must already have a bachelor's degree or the equivalent from a university or college.
Awards
Professional Writing and Communications Specialist Entrance Scholarship
One entrance scholarship is available. For more information about how to apply, please visit the website.
Scholarship Value: $1000
Academic Excellence Award in Professional Writing and Communications
This annual award is presented to the graduate of the Professional Writing and Communications Postgraduate Program who has achieved the highest overall GPA.
Award Value: $500
Excellence in Professional Writing
This annual award is presented to a graduate of the Professional Writing and Communications Postgraduate Program who has demonstrated both academic excellence and leadership in the program.
Award Value: $500
Expert Faculty
Meaghan Strimas
Meaghan Strimas is an award-winning educator, writer and editor who joined Humber as a faculty member in 2012. Before accepting her exciting role in the Bachelor of Creative and Professional Writing program, she served as the program co-ordinator for the college’s graduate certificate in Professional Writing & Communications.
Meaghan worked at Quill & Quire magazine for several years as a marketing manager and at the University of Guelph as the program administrator for its Creative Writing MFA. In addition to her work as a professor and co-ordinator, Meaghan works as a freelance proofreader, copy editor and project manager, and is interviews editor at the Humber Literary Review, a magazine she co-founded in 2014. She is co-lead of the HLR Spotlight project, an experiential learning opportunity that is funded by Humber’s Office of Research & Innovation.
Meaghan is the author of three collections of poetry and the editor of The Selected Gwendolyn MacEwen. Her most recent collection, Yes or Nope, was the winner of the Trillium Book Award for Poetry. In the fall of 2018, she released the Another Dysfunctional Cancer Poem Anthology, which she co-edited with the late Priscila Uppal. Meaghan is at work on a novel and a new collection of poetry, and she has an essay forthcoming in the anthology Good Mom on Paper (edited by Jen Sookfong Lee and Stacey May Fowles).
Meaghan holds a MA in Creative Writing. She believes that writing programs are essential because they cultivate confidence, teach technique and craft, offer mentorship and, perhaps most importantly, provide a space for artistic collaboration and community.
Your Career
Communication remains an essential skill sought by employers, regardless of discipline or field of study. According to the Conference Board of Canada, the ability to communicate tops the list of essential employability skills that employers require. The ability to read carefully, write effectively and think critically provides the foundation to get, keep and progress on a job.
Graduates are able to find employment in a variety of service industries such as finance, hospitality and health services, as well as in government, not-for-profit organizations, corporate communications, and publishing and digital media.
Humber Students Benefit from Five Centres of Innovation (COIs)
The Humber Centres of Innovation Network demonstrates our strong commitment to providing an experiential learning environment for students. Students and faculty work with industry partners on real-world challenges to prepare them to become the innovative and strategic problem-solvers of tomorrow. Come to Humber and experience interdisciplinary learning across five COIs.
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