Africana Studies
Cognitive Science
The Department of Psychology offers distinctive research-intensive M.S. and Ph.D. programs with a focus on human cognition and development. Training is provided by a core curriculum and specialization in one of three intersecting clusters: cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and social psychology.
Documentary Film
Designed to augment social science and humanities graduate students' education and training for employment inside and outside of the academy, this certificate program covers 1) the historical development and distinctive attributes of documentary film, including the genre's impressive capacity for drawing large viewerships and, with that, communicating research-based knowledge to general publics; and 2) the production of documentary text--from conceiving of a topic and "storyboarding" a narrative; to taking interviews; to composing and filming a variety of shots; and to editing visual and audio material into final digital form. The program broadly defines documentary film to facilitate understanding and production of texts from YouTube-like social media to feature-length theatrically-released films.
Environmental Health
The Environmental Health certificate program gives students an in-depth, interdisciplinary overview of the ways the environment – both the built environment and the natural environment – affect individuals’ physical and mental health and well-being. Access to fresh air, fresh food, clean water, and places to exercise all support healthy lifestyles and healthier lives; the lack of access to those resources as well as the proximity to problematic housing conditions or concentrations of crime can significantly undercut adults’ and children’s physical and mental health. Through Environmental Health core courses and electives, students will critically analyze this link between health and place, and evaluate policies and programs designed to address both environmental quality and its effect on residents.
Environmental Justice
Environmental Justice gives students an intensive, interdisciplinary look at the ways the environment – both the built environment and the natural environment – interacts with, reinforces, or might ease economic and racial inequalities. Access to environmental amenities (open space, recreational and leisure opportunities, natural resources, food sources, etc.), environmental threats (hazardous waste facilities, polluting waste disposal sites, contaminated industrial sites, etc.), and opportunity-rich environments (neighborhoods with jobs or linked to employment centers, with high-quality educational facilities, with high quality of life, etc.) typically varies substantially for individuals in different socioeconomic classes and of different racial or ethnic backgrounds. In this way, these groups face disparate environmental impacts, good and bad. Environmental policymakers are increasingly tasked with addressing both an environmental issue and its uneven, indirect consequences. This concentration is designed to prepare students for both of these responsibilities.
Environmental Law and Policy
This graduate certificate offers a credential in environmental law and policy for individuals with a background in various science, engineering, social science, and humanities fields who wish to understand the theory and practice of environmental and natural resource law at the national, comparative or international level. It is especially valuable for those in various environmental fields who come in contact with the law in the course of their work, to policy makers at all levels of government who routinely handle legal affairs, to lawyers without specific training in environmental law, and to business people who want to know what the law says about the legality of their business’ impact on the natural environment. The certificate also can be preparation for further studies in law, policy, or politics or for professional positions in the private or public sector. This program leads to a certificate rather than a degree. However, certificate courses can be counted toward the MA in Environmental Policy Design, as appropriate.
Sustainable Development
The certificate program in Sustainable Development considers the feasibility of and best practices for everything from rationalizing urbanization, to ensuring people’s economic well-being, to addressing environmental quality and reliance on non-renewable resources, to encouraging social inclusion and equitable growth. Students taking ES 401 Philosophical-Policy and Environmental Legal Design OR ES 404 Socio-cultural Foundations of Environmental Policy and three additional approved courses on globalization and development, economic development, or social entrepreneurship, are eligible to receive an Certificate in Sustainable Development.
Urban Environmental Policy and Planning
This certificate looks at the way the built and natural environments, and the policies and programs that shape and affect them, impact particular places, and the way, too, those places impact the people who live, work, and visit them. Students taking ES 404 Socio-cultural Foundations of Environmental Policy and three additional approved courses on urban policy, urban agriculture, city planning, or environmental justice, are eligible to receive an Certificate in Urban Environmental Policy and Planning.
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
The Graduate Certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies is designed as a complement to a disciplinary graduate program or as a stand-alone post-baccalaureate course of study. The Certificate is a small, flexible program that provides students with breadth and the challenge of working outside their home discipline in concentrated interdisciplinary study of women and gender. In recognition of contemporary educational and employment contexts that are increasingly diverse and international, the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program offers the Graduate Certificate as a means to enrich academic, personal, and employment horizons. A Certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies will be especially beneficial to those who wish to incorporate a broader perspective into their teaching (either in secondary or higher education), and qualifies them for positions that require such expertise. Additionally, individuals interested in fields such as social policy, human resources, and business will also gain from understanding how gender operates at individual, organizational, and institutional levels. Students will work closely with outstanding faculty from diverse disciplinary backgrounds.
