Introduction

Please click here to see Communication Department information.

The Undergraduate Certificate in Health Communication (CHC) offers learners the opportunity to acquire and demonstrate expertise in health communication. The certificate program will provide students with a theoretically rich and practically relevant education in how health messages are generated, negotiated, assessed, and understood across a wide range of communication contexts, spanning intrapersonal communication to digital and mass media.

The Undergraduate Certificate in Health Communication serves as a gateway for internships and careers related to health, wellness, and medicine, and further the Communication Department's mission to guide students toward developing the skills, knowledge, and abilities necessary to use communication to create a more civil and humane world.

Program Delivery

This is an on-campus and online program.  

Declaring This Certificate 

Students interested in completing this certificate should complete this form: CLAS Undergraduate Certificate Intent to Declare Form, which requests that the certificate be added to your student record. Once added, you will be able to run a certificate degree audit. The certificate degree audit should be used in collaboration with the Certificate Advisor to ensure successful completion of the requirements.

Students should then work with Dr. Tamara Powell (tamara.powell@ucdenver.edu) – the certificate advisor, to ensure completion of all certificate requirements.

Completing This Certificate

Students must also complete the CLAS Undergraduate Certificate Completion Verification Form, before graduation, in order to confirm completion of their certificate. The certificate advisor will confirm that your certificate has been successfully completed, and will work with campus partners to apply the certificate to your transcript.

Students must fill out the Certificate Completion Form before the deadlines below, to ensure the certificate is applied to your transcript correctly. If you are a non-degree seeking student, please fill out this form in the term in which you intend to complete your certificate.

Spring semester – April 1
Summer semester – July 1
Fall semester – November 1

Once confirmed, no physical certificate will be mailed to you, but it will be noted on your final transcript.

Additional Information

Additional information about the Undergraduate Certificate in Health Communication may be obtained from Instructor Tamara Powell, Student Commons Building, 1201 Larimer Street, Suite 3311, tamara.powell@ucdenver.edu.

These program requirements are subject to periodic revision by the academic department, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences reserves the right to make exceptions and substitutions as judged necessary in individual cases. Therefore, the College strongly urges students to consult regularly with their Health Communication advisor to confirm the best plans of study before finalizing them. 

General Requirements

Students must satisfy all requirements as outlined below and by the department offering the certificate. 

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Certificate Requirements

1. Students must complete a minimum of 12 credit hours from approved courses.
2. Students must complete a minimum of 12 upper division (3000-level and above) credit hours from approved courses.
3. Students must earn a minimum grade of B (3.0) in all courses that apply to the certificate and must achieve a minimum cumulative certificate GPA of 3.0. Courses taken using P+/P/F or S/U grading cannot apply to certificate requirements.
4. Students must complete all credit hours for the certificate with CU Denver faculty.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
To build on a shared set of foundational theories, norms, and skills, all CHC-seeking students complete the following required courses:		9
COMM 3500	Introduction to Health Communication
COMM 4500	Health Communication
COMM 4575	Designing Health Messages
CHC-seeking students will then broaden their perspective on health communication by taking an interdisciplinary health elective. Students must complete at least one interdisciplinary health elective from the following courses: 1, 2		3
ANTH 4600	Medical Anthropology
COMM 3660	Social Media for Social Change
COMM 3939	Internship
COMM 4051	Advanced Strategic Communication
COMM 4240	Organizational Communication
COMM 4282	Environmental Communication
COMM 4525	Health Communication and Community
COMM 4550	Rhetorics of Medicine & Health
COMM 4558	Digital Health Narratives
COMM 4601	You Are What You Eat: Food as Communication
COMM/INTS 4611	Rhetoric of Global Food Policy
COMM/PBHL 4620	Health Risk Communication
ENGL 4290	Rhetoric and the Body
ENGL 4745	Humanistic Writing About Medicine and Biology
ETST/PBHL 3002	Ethnicity, Health and Social Justice
GEOG 3501	Geography of Health
PBHL 3030	Health Policy
PBHL 3041	Health, Culture and Society
PBHL 3070	Perspectives in Global Health
PBHL 4040	Social Determinants of Health
PBHL 4099	Capstone Experience in Public Health
PHIL 4242	Medicine, Health Care, and Justice: Bioethics
PSCI 4330	U.S. Health Policy
PSYC 3262	Health Psychology
SOCY/PBHL 3440	Medical Sociology
SOCY/HEHM 3570	Death & Dying: Social & Medical Perspectives
SOCY 4050	Health Disparities
SOCY 4110	Sociology of Health Care
SOCY 4220	Population Change and Analysis
SOCY/WGST 4270	Social Meanings of Reproduction
Total Hours		12

¹

Another elective with a health communication focus may be approved for the CHC in consultation with certificate advisor. 

²

Additional discipline-specific health methods courses may be approved by the certificate advisor. 

To learn more about the Student Learning Outcomes for this program, please visit our website.