O'Neill School Of Public and Environmental Affairs
Graduate
Certificate Programs
Environmental Policy and Sustainability
The Graduate Certificate in Environmental Policy and Sustainability is a 15 credit hour program of study. The certificate program is designed to increase awareness of environmental and sustainability issues from a public affairs/public policy perspective.
Protecting the environment has become a critical goal for numerous companies across all sectors of the economy. Graduates of this certificate program will be positioned to play a crucial role in advancing sustainability and social responsibility initiatives within their organizations.
Admission Eligibility
The student must have a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university to apply.
Application
An online application and information may be obtained here. Application deadlines for the certificate programs are May 15 for the fall semester, September 15 for the spring semester, and March 15 for summer sessions. Students must pay a nonrefundable application fee.
Program Restrictions
- Students admitted to a O'Neill graduate degree program are not eligible for admission nor awarding of a certificate in the same concentration of their graduate degree.
- Transfer credit, course substitutions, or course waivers are not accepted for fulfilling the certificate requirements.
- Students enrolled in a certificate program can only confer the certificate with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 (B) in all required coursework.
- A student may be dismissed if, after 9 credit hours of coursework, the GPA is below a 3.0.
- Admission to or successful completion of a certificate program does not guarantee subsequent admission to an O'Neill graduate degree program.
- Students enrolled in a certificate program who apply to an O'Neill graduate degree programs must meet all existing admission requirements, or may request a waiver if they complete at least three classes towards the certificate with a 3.5 GPA or higher.
Certificate Requirements (15 credit hours)
Required Courses (12 credit hours)
FOUR of the following courses:
- SPEA-V 502 Public Management
- SPEA-V 512 Public Policy Process
- SPEA-V 520 Environmental Policy Analysis
- SPEA-V 527 Urban Sustainability
- SPEA-V 560 Public Finance and Budgeting
- SPEA-E 529 Application of Geographic Information Systems
Elective (3 credit hours)
ONE additional O'Neill graduate public affairs course from the following list:
- SPEA-V 507 Data Analysis and Modeling for Public Affairs
- SPEA-V 511 Collaborative Governance
- SPEA-V 517 Public Management Economics
- SPEA-V 541 Benefit-Cost Analysis of Public and Environmental Affairs
- SPEA-V 547 Negotiation and Dispute Resolution for Public Affairs
Student Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this certificate program, students shall:
- demonstrate the ability to rigorously analyze public policies using a variety of tools, including microeconomics, institutional analysis, and other common public affairs models of policy analysis
- understand and define urban sustainability
- understand core factors explaining urban and community development
