CGS - College of General Studies - University of Pittsburgh

Certificates

You can pursue a certificate to gain credentials and skills in a specific area of study. You can enroll solely in a certificate program or pursue a certificate along with a degree program. You can often apply credits you earn for the certificate toward a degree program.

Undergraduate Certificates

Undergraduate certificates typically involve taking six to 10 courses of three credits each. The College of General Studies offers 12 undergraduate certificate programs:
• Accounting
• Communication
• Community Health Assessment
• Corporate/Community Relations
• Digital Media
• Information System Design
• Managing Health Services Programs and Projects
• National Preparedness and Homeland Security 
• Nonprofit Management
• Women’s Studies
• Writing
• Writing for the Professions

Graduate Certificates

Postbaccalaureate or graduate certificates require you to have a bachelor’s degree. The College of General Studies promotes two graduate certificates; students apply directly to the graduate program.
• Engineering and Technology Management
• Gerontology

Pre-requisites, curriculum, and admission requirements vary for each certificate program. Click on the certificate title for details.

Accounting  

(postbaccalaureate, 24 credits)
Acquire both a practical and theoretical foundation in the field of accounting. Develop a career in accounting or another business field in which substantial knowledge in accounting is an asset. A bachelor’s degree (in any field) is required to pursue this certificate.

Gainful Employment Information is available here.

Communication 

(undergraduate, 24 credits)
Refine and polish your communication skills in a variety of areas, including nonverbal communication, public speaking, organizational communication, and persuasion in political settings.

Community Health Assessment 

(undergraduate, 18 credits)
Learn to communicate and interact effectively with people from diverse backgrounds, identify behaviors that promote or compromise health, and learn how to apply administrative and data skills to nonprofit organizations. This multidisciplinary curriculum is for people currently in or wishing to enter the health services field.

Corporate/Community Relations 

(undergraduate, 18 credits)
Learn how both large and small organizations educate, inform, and persuade various internal and external audiences. Explore the dynamic nature of mass media, how to affect audience response, and how to develop the strategies and messages that will effectively achieve an organization’s goals.

Digital Media 

(undergraduate, 18 credits)
Produce engaging interactive programs as you explore the importance and power of visual images in corporate communications. Understand the history, evolution and techniques of using images to communicate with mass audiences. Learn how to incorporate exciting new technologies to inform, persuade, and entertain.

Engineering and Technology Management  

(graduate, 15 credits)
Improve your professional-level communication and management skills so that you may more effectively manage projects. This program prepares technically-trained professionals to lead multidisciplinary teams that bridge the gap between operations and management. The certificate offers a choice of three tracks: Quality Management, Engineering and Project Management, and Emerging Technology Management. Credits earned may be applied to the Masters of Science in Industrial Engineering (MSIE), if desired.

Gerontology 

(graduate, 15-16 credits)
Stay competitive in your field with specialized knowledge of aging and the aging process. Adapt your delivery of services, programs, or products with in-depth knowledge of the biological, psychological, and sociological aspects of an aging population as well as specialized knowledge in the discipline of your choice. Choose a specialization track in Dentistry, Law, Nursing, Occupational Therapy/Rehabilitation, Public Health, Social Work, or the multidisciplinary track. Print and submit the Admission Form (PDF).

Information System Design  

(undergraduate, 18 credits)
Expand your opportunities for educational growth, career advancement, or career change in the information systems field. Pursue as a stand-alone continuing education program or as preparation for a bachelor, master or doctorate degree.

Managing Health Services Programs and Projects  

(undergraduate, 18 credits)
Improve your administrative and business skills in the healthcare field with an emphasis on grant and research project management. The multidisciplinary curriculum is for people currently in or wishing to enter the health services field, and includes courses in statistics, health services, communications, and public administration/ service.

National Preparedness and Homeland Security 

(undergraduate, 18 credits)
This certificate focuses on the analytical and managerial aspects of preparedness, and will help train both future and current professionals to handle emergencies as leaders in business, government, and nonprofit agencies.  Created  through a partnership with the University's Center for National Preparedness, this certificate will help to create the experts needed to respond to any type of disaster, whether natural or man-made. 

View the certificate Web site, press release, and a promotional flyer for the program.

Gainful Employment Information is available here.  

Nonprofit Management 

(undergraduate, 18 credits)
Make a difference in society. Get a start or gain advanced standing in the non-profit arena with coursework that gives you insight into the field. Couple your marketing, advertising, program development, fund-raising, or public relations foundation with a certificate in Nonprofit Management. Upon completion of this certificate, participants will be able to organize, manage, or supervise a nonprofit organization, effectively raise revenue through fund raising, and understand the structural and financial issues unique to nonprofits.

Women’s Studies 

(undergraduate, 18 credits)
Both women and men can fulfill a personal and practical understanding of women'’s roles in society. Explore a feminist philosophy of the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.

Writing 

(undergraduate, 21 credits)
Polish and refine your writing skills. Electives may be taken in any combination of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction writing.

Writing for the Professions  

(undergraduate, 18 credits)
Prepare yourself to communicate with fellow specialists as well as non-experts in your chosen discipline. Develop professional writing skills that are critical to success in many positions, including those that are primarily technical in nature. Learn how to determine a specific goal and/or purpose of a document, then organize and develop clearly written prose in support of that purpose.