To earn one of the non-credit certificates in sustainability management, enrollees are required to complete three core seminars and the specialty seminar that corresponds with their chosen focus (Business or Community). You can also choose to complete both specialty seminars and earn both non-credit certificates.

The sustainability courses are designed to focus on sustainability as a whole, providing unique, expert insight into how you can go about creating, developing, and implementing sustainability initiatives – whether at work or in your community. They are designed to be completed sequentially, building on each other to help you develop what you’ve learned into a practical, complete base of knowledge. Seminars may be taken out of sequence, but we highly recommend taking the seminars sequentially. 

The seminars have minimal instructor interaction, allowing you to set your own pace for study.  The program also provides useful templates and tools that you can use in the field.

Core Seminars

The course objective is to develop a foundational understanding of organizing principles and analytical frameworks that can be used to develop, execute, and monitor sustainability initiatives, as well as the skills, values and abilities required of the “generic” Sustainability Professional. We will review the history of sustainability, cover core frameworks and principles, and consider climate change from both a mitigation and adaptation lens. An overview of resource conservation such as energy, water and waste, as it applies to sustainability for organizations will also be covered. Examples of topics we will cover include definitions of sustainability, population and climate change, systems approaches to resource management, the energy pyramid and demand side management, zero waste and recycling, and sustainable transportation issues.

The objective of this Seminar is to prepare students for successful leadership in sustainability by addressing the role of sustainability professionals as change agents in any organization. Students will learn about the process of promoting a culture of sustainability, encompassing change at the human, departmental, and organizational levels. Topics covered include: leadership qualities and skills for sustainability professionals, adaptive vs. transformative change, laying the foundation for change, relationship building, sustainable characteristics of organizations, recognizing disincentives, community-based social marketing, community partnerships, dealing with resistance and creating buy-in. Communication strategies covered in this seminar include how to design successful strategic communications among employees, clients, and the public. We will tap into the latest research from policymakers, think tanks, researchers and organizations who are on the forefront of messaging about sustainability, and we’ll examine what is working, what has not, and why. Students will gain an understanding of how to frame sustainability, how to create effective messaging, and how to shape messaging to match the values of audiences. In the course, students will also learn strategies for creating a shared narrative around sustainability that enables their organizations to convey a values-informed identity and purpose.

The objective of this course is to prepare students for further leadership in sustainability within organizations by providing training in sustainability assessment, planning and implementation. This seminar will bring together many of the foundational concepts and skills learned in the previous two seminars and provide guided practical experience into the application of sustainability within organizations. Students will gain experience in applying and implementing sustainability tools such as assessments, setting goals, ranking and determining initiatives, measuring and reporting tools and employee engagement tools for organizations. In order to successfully lead sustainability initiatives, participants will also learn the basics of life cycle cost accounting, carbon and GHG planning and accounting, and making the case for initiatives including return on investment, as well as hands on experience in integrating sustainability into existing strategic plans.