The WRD Department, partnered with the School of Public Service (SPS), recently announced the creation of the new graduate Certificate in Strategic Writing and Advancement for Nonprofits, or the SWAN Certificate. Open to all graduate students, the Certificate offers MAWRD students a particularly exciting opportunity to add value to their degree without taking any additional courses. This in-depth overview explains the logistics and course requirements of the SWAN Certificate so you can learn how earning this credential can benefit you.
About the SWAN Certificate
The SWAN Certificate—jointly offered by SPS and WRD—consists of four courses designed to provide experience and knowledge in grant writing, resource development, and nonprofits. Students can earn the Certificate along with their master’s degree or pursue it as a stand-alone credential. According to the course catalog, the Certificate is “designed for those who wish to enter into or advance their careers in nonprofit marketing, communication, and development.”
WRD Professor Lisa Dush, the newly appointed SWAN Certificate Coordinator, shared more about what inspired the creation of this new credential.
“Several WRD faculty teach nonprofit-engaged courses in the Professional and Digital Writing concentration of the MA in WRD, including myself, Professor Elliott, and Professor Ceraso. We realized that students who take several of these courses accrue substantial experience writing in nonprofit settings, and imagined the certificate as a way to extend and formalize that experience.”
“The expertise brought by the School of Public Service (SPS) was also a major motivation for partnering with them to design and deliver the certificate,” she said. “They teach courses that are out of WRD’s range of disciplinary expertise, like nonprofit management, nonprofit boards, and strategic planning. Writers should know something about these topics if they want to work in nonprofit settings.”
SWAN Certificate Course Requirements
The SWAN Certificate consists of four courses (16 credit hours) across two required courses and two elective courses offered by WRD and SPS (designated below by the MPS prefix). According to the course catalog, “many SWAN courses are characterized by community-engaged, project-based learning, in which students complete substantial course projects with and for Chicago-area nonprofit partner organizations. Students can expect to gain both resumé experience and professional writing samples through their Certificate work.”
The two required courses are WRD 526: Grant and Proposal Writing and MPS 519: Resource Development. These courses provide a robust foundation in grant writing and resource development. Through two additional elective courses, students can pursue specific professional areas such as content strategy, digital storytelling, and nonprofit marketing and board development. Students select one SPS course and one WRD course, except when advised otherwise, from the following range of elective courses.
Importantly, MAWRD students, and students pursuing an MA in Nonprofit Management or an MS in Public Service Management, can earn the Certificate without adding additional courses to their degree. The Certificate offers a valuable time- and money-saving measure to add more experience to any MA degree and expand expertise in nonprofit work.
Benefits of the SWAN Certificate
The SWAN Certificate offers a way for MAWRD students to add value to their degrees and graduate with an additional certification of their expertise and abilities to help nonprofit organizations succeed.
“I hope that WRD students who are curious about working in nonprofits will pursue this Certificate,” said Professor Dush. “The courses and the work they complete will enable them to develop both theoretical and practical knowledge about nonprofit organizations and the writing done in them; it will also allow them to graduate with both a credential that they can reference in interviews and cover letters, and a portfolio of writing and digital media samples that they have developed in course projects with nonprofit partners.”
Through the Certificate, students will have expansive opportunities to work closely with local nonprofit partners. This type of community partner work can add practical resume-building experience to students’ repertoires.
“This is also a certificate that is well aligned with DePaul’s Vincentian mission and commitment to community engagement,” said Professor Dush. “I’m excited about the possibility that the Certificate brings for working in deeper and more sustained ways with nonprofit organizations. Our students will be more prepared to hop in and really be of assistance in class projects, and nonprofit organizations will have the chance to partner with multiple WRD and SPS courses. When those relationships extend beyond one quarter, all sort of interesting possibilities can emerge, including research projects, internship possibilities, and other collaborations.”
Admission Requirements
Students can begin the program any time. Current graduate students in WRD or any other DePaul master’s degree program should contact Swan Certificate Coordinator, Professor Lisa Dush, to enroll. Current graduate students in SPS should contact the SPS staff advisor. Non-degree seeking students must follow separate admission guidelines outlined in the course catalog.