ENLP courses are open to all students in the College of Engineering and Applied Science. All ENLP courses count for humanities and social sciences credit. Students who wish to sample the program's offerings may take any ENLP course. They may also take multiple courses in pursuit of the program's certificate, which appears on student transcripts upon completion.

Most courses are discussion-based seminars focused on primary source readings spanning a wide variety of scientific, humanistic, and social scientific disciplines. ENLP courses also offer opportunities to attend guest lectures, travel abroad, network with CU alumni, and meet leaders from the public and private sectors.

The Engineering Leadership Certificate is designed for students who are deeply curious about leadership and its manifold relationship with science, humanity, and political society. The certificate requires 12 credit hours of ENLP coursework to be completed prior to graduation.

To receive the certificate, students may take any 4 ENLP courses, or any 3 ENLP courses and 1 approved elective. All courses must be taken for a letter grade, students must achieve a minimum grade of C+ in each course, and courses may not be taken Pass/Fail. You may enroll in the certificate and add it to your degree audit using the Enrollment Form below.

Enroll in Certificate

Graduating students who have completed their certificate requirements must fill out the Certificate Completion Form below to receive certificate status on their transcripts. A paper certificate is mailed approximately eight weeks after the end of the semester that you graduate. If you did not establish a separate diploma address when you applied to graduate, your certificate will be mailed to your home address.

Certificate Completion Form

Program Elements

  • ENLP 2000: Leadership, Fame, and Failure - Examines the ambition, moral character, prudence, and grit required for effective leadership. Common causes of leadership failure are also considered. A wide variety of ancient and modern leaders are studied in the disciplines of science and technology, politics, business, and military affairs using primary source readings in history, philosophy, and literature. Also explores whether leadership is a teachable art.
  • ENLP 3000: Intelligent Leadership - Investigates what it means to be "smart.”  In small, discussion-based classes, explores science fiction texts that generate fundamental questions about the dimensions, manifestations, and value of intelligence.  Emphasizes relevance to leadership, with students researching how course themes are reflected in present-day, “real life” technologies, policies, and cultural phenomena. 
  • ENLP 3100: Complex Leadership Challenges - Approaches leadership as a process of inquiry, empathy, and action, cultivating skills leaders need to understand, communicate about, and generate innovative approaches to complex issues. Each student conducts extensive, principled research about a complex social issue of their choice, investigating its multidimensionality by applying different analytic lenses.
  • ENLP 3150: Global Intensive in Uganda (1 Credit) - Augments ENLP 3100: Complex Leadership Challenges, extending this semester-long course to include a ten day immersion experience in Uganda and Rwanda. With an interdisciplinary lens on international development, engages students in individualized learning experiences that expose them to varieties of perspectives from diverse stakeholders working in areas of health, education, economic development, and public management. 
  • ENLP 4000: The Empire of Modern Science - Examines science and technology's rise to the status of political, cultural, and economic leader of the modern world. Also considers the ambitions and limits of the modern scientific enterprise, and investigates whether scientists are adequately equipped to lead humanity's political, spiritual, and evolutionary future. Readings are drawn from primary sources in history, economics, politics, philosophy, and literature.

The Engineering Leadership Certificate is designed for students who seek a deeper understanding of the relationship between leadership, applied science, and the cultural and political challenges that face modern technological society. Certificate students take a wide variety of ENLP courses, develop close relationships with faculty, host ENLP events, and lead the student-centered components of the program. All certificate students are encouraged to begin their studies in ENLP by enrolling in ENLP 2000.

The certificate requires 12 credit hours (4 classes) of ENLP coursework, or 3 ENLP courses and 1 approved elective. A list of approved electives appears below.

Graduating students who have completed their certificate requirements must fill out the Certificate Completion Form to receive certificate status on their transcripts.

In addition to the courses listed below, students may petition the ENLP Director for approval of certificate electives. Please submit a syllabus and course description with your petition.

  • ASEN 3046: Introduction to Humans in Aviation
  • ASIA 4500: Urban Asia – Tradition, Modernity, Challenges
  • ASTR 4800: Space Science – Practice and Policy
  • ATLS 2000: Meaning of Information Technology
  • EHON: 1151: Critical Encounters
  • EMEN 4030: Project Management Systems
  • EMEN 4100: Engineering Economics
  • EMEN 4050: Leadership and Professional Skills
  • ENVS 3140: Environmental Ethics
  • ENVS 3621: Energy Policy and Society
  • ENES 1850: Engineering in History: The Social Impact of Technology
  • ENES2100: The History of Science & Technology from Ancient Times to Newton
  • ENES 2120: The History of Modern Science, from Newton to Einstein
  • ENES 2130: The History of Modern Technology, from Steam to Atomic Power
  • ENES 2210: Engineering, Science, and Society
  • ENES 2020: The Meaning of Information Technology
  • ENES 3100: Advanced Humanities for Engineers
  • ENES 3350: Gods, Heroes, and Engineers
  • ENES 3843: The Limits of Reason
  • MILR 4072: Adaptive Leadership
  • MILR 4082: Global Issues in Leadership
  • NAVR 4020: Leadership and Ethics
  • PHIL 1400: Philosophy and the Sciences
  • PHIL 3160: Bioethics
  • PHIL 3200: Social and Political Philosophy
  • PHYS 3000: Science and Public Policy
  • PRLC 1810: Leadership Foundations and Applications I
  • PRLC3800: Global Issues in Leadership
  • PSCI 1101: American Political System
  • PSCI 2004: Survey – Western Political Thought
  • PSCI 2106: Intro to Public Policy Analysis
  • PSCI 2116: Environmental Policy and Policy Analysis
  • PSCI 3011: American Presidency
  • PSCI 3054: American Political Thought