Graduate Certificate in Digital Studies

Looking for skills to make your humanities degree more marketable and to engage with new digital approaches to your field? Digital tools and resources have transformed the humanities and the kinds of questions we ask. Students with graduate-level training in digital studies can build careers in many fields.

Program Features

• Flexible pacing options: This certificate can be completed in 1 year, with students having up to 6-years to complete the program. 

• Online course delivery with evening courses, designed for working professionals. Small seminar formats also available. 

• Internship opportunity: Students have the option to complete an internship in areas such as archival management, digital scholarly editing, and public history. 

Digital Ethnic Studies and Cultural Heritage Curation

The certificate offers graduate students the opportunity to apply digital methods and tools to Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian American studies and to further cultural heritage curation. Salem State serves as the organizational hub of the Digital Ethnic Futures Consortium (DEFCon), a Mellon Foundation-funded national consortium of digital ethnic studies practitioners that supports the development of digital ethnic studies curriculum for regional public universities that are Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs). 

Curriculum 

The graduate certificate in digital studies requires four courses: 2 required core courses and 2 approved electives in English, library media studies, and/or history. 

Core Courses* 

• ENG 713 - Digital Humanities 

• ENG 830 - Digital Writing 

*Subject to change, accurate for the 2025-2026 academic year.

Careers

The graduate certificate in digital studies equips students with skills necessary for 21st century literacies: critical thinking and problem solving; creativity and innovation; community and collaboration; and the transformation of traditional writing into digital genres.  

Digital studies and the digital humanities help to prepare students for careers in cultural institutions such as academic libraries and museums and equips educators with the tools to prepare their students for the demands of the 21st century.