College of the Liberal Arts

• Undergraduate
• Graduate
• Faculty and Staff
• Research
• Alumni

The Excellence in Communication Certificate recognizes students who demonstrate superior skill in various types of communication (oral, written, visual, and electronic). By their junior year, students formally apply to the program with the intent of completing an e-portfolio of showcase pieces by the spring semester of their senior year.

Throughout their undergraduate career, students can contribute essays, research papers, speeches, visual designs, electronic media, or creative writing that might be revised and perfected (as needed) in order to qualify for the various components of the e-portfolio. Students who earn the Excellence in Communication Certificate will emerge as versatile communicators who know how to engage a variety of audiences, write with precision and style, think with complexity and maturity, speak with passion and originality, employ fully the possibilities of electronic media, and conduct themselves as communicators with honesty and compassion.

The Certificate enriches the undergraduate experience by encouraging growth in the abilities associated with excellence in communication; in the process students pursuing the certificate also learn to think holistically about college as a process of becoming a reflective intellectual, a resourceful researcher, a technologically sophisticated student, and an ethical citizen. The certificate calls for a mastery of form, content, and eloquence in communication; in that way it contributes to a student’s continued success beyond college.

The e-portfolio will also function as part of an outstanding electronic resume. Regardless of whether or not an aspiring student earns the Certificate, the e-portfolio can provide an effective way of demonstrating the student’s abilities to graduate schools, professional schools, and prospective employers.

To achieve the Excellence in Communication Certificate, students compile, revise, and perfect work that they complete during their college career. Anything that students develop as a part of their college work can be submitted to the e-portfolio that is the basis of the certificate. Obviously if a project receives a superior grade in a course or special recognition (nomination for Penn Statements, award at a Civic Engagement Speaking Contest or Undergraduate Research Exhibition, publication, etc.), it might become a component of the portfolio. But students may be able to revise “good” or even “average” work, after obtaining feedback from the Writing Center, their instructors, or other evaluators, to create their showcase pieces. As they complete projects and receive approvals for them, students add more components to their portfolios until they have met all the criteria associated with “excellence in communication.” Anytime after the spring of their junior year, students may formally apply for certification (via website), in the process submitting their portfolios for final consideration. Those students whose work is not certified as excellent may continue to revise and resubmit—but only once.

Note that currently the Excellence in Communication Certificate and the processes associated with it are available only to students in the College of the Liberal Arts.