Health Communication Undergraduate Certificate
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 should declare interest in completing the Undergraduate Certificate in Health Communication by emailing Dr. Tamara Powell at tamara.powell@ucdenver.edu.
- Before the end of their final semester, students must send a completed certificate application to Dr. Tamara Powell at tamara.powell@ucdenver.edu.
- The approved certificate will be mailed to the student, and recorded on their transcript, after final grades are posted for the semester.
- Students who are not already enrolled at CU Denver must also complete an online Application for Non-Degree Admission prior to registering for courses.
- Additional information about the undergraduate certificate in Health Communication may be obtained from Dr. Tamara Powell, Student Commons Building 3311, 303-315-0310, or 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
- Students must complete a minimum of 15 credit hours from approved courses.
- Students must complete a minimum of 12 upper division (3000-level and above) credit hours from approved courses.
- 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.
- Students must complete all credit hours for the certificate with CU Denver faculty.
| 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 | |
| Introduction to Health Communication | ||
| Health Communication | ||
| 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 | 3 | |
| Medical Anthropology | ||
| Environmental Communication | ||
| Health Communication and Community | ||
| Rhetorics of Medicine & Health | ||
| Digital Health Narratives | ||
| You Are What You Eat: Food as Communication | ||
| Rhetoric of Global Food Policy | ||
| Health Risk Communication | ||
| Rhetoric and the Body | ||
| Humanistic Writing About Medicine and Biology | ||
| Ethnicity, Health and Social Justice | ||
| Geography of Health | ||
| Health Policy | ||
| Health, Culture and Society | ||
| Perspectives in Global Health | ||
| Social Determinants of Health | ||
| Medicine, Health Care, and Justice: Bioethics | ||
| U.S. Health Policy | ||
| Health Psychology | ||
| Medical Sociology | ||
| Death & Dying: Social & Medical Perspectives | ||
| Health Disparities | ||
| Sociology of Health Care | ||
| Population Change and Analysis | ||
| Social Meanings of Reproduction | ||
| CHC-seeking students will complete their certificate by undertaking a semester-long capstone using experiential learning or high impact practices. Complete one of the following capstone courses: 2 | 3 | |
| Social Media for Social Change | ||
| Internship | ||
| Advanced Strategic Communication | ||
| Health Communication and Community | ||
| Rhetorics of Medicine & Health | ||
| Digital Health Narratives | ||
| Health Risk Communication | ||
| Capstone Experience in Public Health | ||
| Total Hours | 15 | |
- 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.