Environmental Management Certificate Program Requirements

Eligibility

All students enrolled in graduate and professional degree programs in any school of the University of Washington are eligible to apply for the Graduate Certificate in Environment Management.

The Program on the Environment does not offer graduate degree programs at this time and does not offer admission to graduate students. Prospective graduate students interested in applying for graduate study at the UW should see our page of Graduate Study Information.

Students interested in continuing education but who do not want to pursue a Master's or Doctorate may want to explore courses and certificates offered through UW Educational Outreach.

Admission Requirements

Prior to admission, students must have completed a one quarter upper-level or graduate-level course in each of the following:

  1. applied quantitative methods (e.g., microeconomics, numerical modeling, applied statistical methods) or pure quantitative methods (e.g., mathematics or statistics); and 
  2. social or natural science. 

Facility with written argument and communication is a prerequisite. This requirement is demonstrated in the letter of application.

Click here for information on application requirements and procedures.

Summary of Certificate Requirements

Requirements for The Graduate Certificate in Environmental Management consist of 20 or more credits of coursework and projects. These requirements include:

Note:  Award of the Certificate is contingent on completion of the student's graduate degree.

Course Requirements

Students must complete three core courses, one in each of three core elements of the Environmental Management curriculum: Policy, Business and the Environment, and Role of Scientific Application. A menu of environmental courses is selected to provide students a fundamental background in the environmental decision-making process from these three perspectives. The courses satisfying the requirements in the three core areas follow.

Core Courses

Environmental Policy

Business and the Environment

Science Application

*These courses are highly recommended for fulfilling the core requirement of each area.

To keep curriculum timely, and depending on availability of faculty, specific courses that fulfill each of the core requirements may change from year to year. Although students may complete the three core courses over one or more academic years, the specific courses to fulfill the requirement may change in subsequent years. Students must complete at least one core course prior to enrolling in the Keystone Project Course. All core courses must be complete prior to or concurrently with the Keystone project.

Keystone Project

Students must also complete a two-quarter long interdisciplinary team-based Keystone Project, which is conducted through the Keystone Project course sequence ENVIR 511, 512.

Electives

Students are required to take one 3-credit or greater elective course. The elective should be outside of the students home department and selected in consultation with the Graduate Program Coordinator. Electives are approved by submitting an Elective Approval form to the Graduate Program Coordinator.

Grading/Assessment/Minimum Standards

The program complies with Graduate School standards for performance and completion. Student performance will be assessed in accord with standards in primary academic units. To successfully complete the certificate, the student must earn a cumulative GPA of 3.0 in all courses taken to fulfill the requirements, and no grade in any of these courses can be lower than 2.7.

Graduate Certificate Information Sources

Additional information and Graduate School requirements for Graduate Certificate programs are available online at: Guidelines for Graduate Certificate Programs.