Professional Certificate
SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATE from the UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
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The non-credit Professional Certificate in Sustainability Management offers students the skills, perspectives, and strategies that organizations need to define and reach their sustainability goals while improving the health of their bottom-line. Interdisciplinary non-credit courses in our program address the confluence of both economic and ecological health, as well as social equity and justice. Our program philosophy integrates the concerns of people, planet, and profit—the Triple Bottom Line embraced by The United Nations for sustainable development. Program courses are designed to immerse students in the latest trends and concepts in sustainability and provide practical, skills-based training for outstanding leadership, whether students are involved in consulting, or sustainability positions in public or private sector organizations.
Instructors
Sustainable Practices' non-credit courses are taught by sustainability experts from related academic disciplines, as well as proven “sustainability leaders” who have successfully implemented cutting-edge practices in their organizations. Our instructors are practitioners first and foremost, and bring a wealth of "boots on the ground" experience of successes and challenges to their teaching. Resources, case studies, hands-on experiences and networking are woven into the fabric of many of our courses by our outstanding faculty.
Our Students
Our students are either interested in or already practicing sustainability within a variety of organizations. Students come to the program from a wide array of backgrounds to advance their current career in sustainability, for professional development towards a new career in sustainability, or to gain new skills that they can apply immediately. Professionals in business, non-profits, local government agencies, educational institutions, hospitals, and other organizations will find the program useful.
A few examples of organizations whose employees have enrolled in courses include Avaya Communications, National Renewable Energy Lab, Boulder County, City of Roseville, CA, New Belgium Brewery, City of Fort Collins, CO, Iowa Coffee Company, US Environmental Protection Agency, Eco-Fit Sustainable Solutions, Virginia Tech University, Greeley Public School District, Centura Health Hospitals, RNM Design, Eldorado Springs Water Co and many more.
Certificate or Individual Courses:
Sustainable Practices' non-credit courses may be taken individually on an a la carte basis, or applied to the Professional Certificate program. Students earn the non-credit Professional Certificate by completing 100 contact hours of online or classroom coursework. We recommend that students begin to shape the direction of their studies early to maximize coursework in which they are most interested, or that rounds out possible deficits in their professional experience.
ENROLLING IN PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATE PROGRAM: Students may elect to register for the non-credit Professional Certificate at any time. It is not required that registration take place prior to the first course enrollment. However, in order to receive a Professional Certificate in Sustainability Management, the Certificate enrollment application must be received prior to a student's last course.
Newly enrolling students who are interested in a Professional Certificate are required to submit a Certificate Enrollment Application prior to the last course in their studies. The application cost is $50. To enrolling the Professional Certificate program, please select the Certificate Enrollment item at the top of the Current Courses Table. Please DO NOT FORGET to download the pdf application as part of your enrollment process, fill it out and send it in either via fax or email.
Students who began coursework prior to Fall semester 2011 are encouraged to officially enroll in the Certificate Program to help defray program costs, but will be grandfathered in.
CERTIFICATE COURSE REQUIREMENTS: Students are required to complete three (3) Core Courses. We strongly recommend that these core courses be completed as early as possible in a Professional Certificate course of study.
Required Professional Certificate Core Courses (for newly enrolling students as of August 1, 2011):
ECSP 200 - Organizational Change for Sustainability
ECSP 210 - Communication Strategies for Sustainability
ECSP 220 - Tools and Techniques for Sustainability
[Students who began coursework prior to Fall semester 2011 enrolled are encouraged to comply with this requirement, as the core courses provide an important foundation for sustainability practice, but will be grandfathered in.]
Students may take their courses either in a classroom at CU-Boulder, or online if available. Many classroom courses take advantage of in-person interaction to teach in a hands-on workshop-based environment. A maximum of 20 hours of coursework from self-paced (as opposed to term-based) on-line courses may be applied to the Professional Certificate.
Students have up to three (3) years from the date of their first course to complete the requirements of the Professional Certificate.
CAPSTONE: For additional experience, an optional 20 contact hour mentor-led Capstone Project can be added to a student's course of study. An example of a capstone project is a student-developed comprehensive sustainability plan for an organization where the student is interning. For more information on the optional Capstone, please contact the program directly.
For more information or to request individual advising, please contact the program at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 303-492-7438
