MA and PhD students in any program at the UW can earn a Graduate Certificate in Textual and Digital Studies.
The certificate is based on completion of 16 total credits. These include:
- Two courses chosen from the list of core electives for 2025-2026 (Note that courses taken in a cross-listed section at the 400 or 500 level can also count towards the TDS
Graduate Certificate):
- Autumn 2025
- TXTDS 503 — Archives, Data, and Databases: Introduction to Data Science. Applications in Library Science and Humanities Research. Offered with LIS 572
- TXTDS 504 — Texts, Publics and Publication. (Offered with ENGL 504)
- LIS 539 — Metadata Design
- LIS 598 — Archival Arrangement, Description, and Metadata
- Winter 2026
- Spring 2026
- Autumn 2025
- One open elective, to be chosen in consultation with the student’s TDS advisor. This course will ideally integrate the student’s TDS interests with work in his/her home department.
- Capstone (1 credit). The capstone culminates with a 15-minute presentation that builds on and unifies the work done in TDS courses and demonstrates a connection with the student’s primary program and graduate work. This presentation takes place in spring quarter in a capstone colloquium that meets once or twice in May/June, depending on the numbers of students.

American Antiquarian Society
Important note: As of July 2022, there is no longer a limit to overlapping credits between the graduate certificate and MA degree. For more information, see the Graduate School Memo 43: Graduate Certificates.
Admission: Interested students should apply here (UW ID required). The prerequisite for admission to the TDS Graduate Certificate is good academic standing in a master’s or doctoral program at UW. Please contact either Jeffrey Todd Knight (jtknight@uw.edu) or Geoffrey Turnovsky (gt2@uw.edu) with any questions about your eligibility or other aspects of the program. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Students are encouraged to apply for admission before beginning their coursework.