Program Overview

Community Planning Graduate Certificate

The Community Planning Graduate Certificate prepares students for careers in local government urban planning departments, as well as in private sector development companies who interact closely with those departments. Students gain background and experiences in urban planning, community analysis, community development, city budgeting, geospatial technologies, land use law, and current issues in urban planning.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of the Community Planning Graduate Certificate is to provide students with the skills to analyze and assess community needs, and to create and execute policies and plans to address those needs through positions in city and county planning and development departments, in private sector development corporations, and in non-profit organizations that support community development.

Student Learning Outcomes

• Place and Community Development: Elucidate the major theories, techniques, and trends associated with place and/or community development. Apply these concepts to analyze issues and create solutions as related to their Masters level project.
• Critical Analysis: Identify, explain, and evaluate the major research methods and modes of inquiry within geographic thought and practice. Generate critical questions based on geographical theory, applying systematic research processes consistent with disciplinary norms, and present findings.
• Geospatial technologies: Efficiently use applications related to geospatial technology to obtain, organize, visualize, and/or analyze geographic data. Successfully apply geospatial technology to reach qualitative and/or quantitative solutions for geographic inquiry or community development. Effectively communicate about geospatial data and technology using oral and visual methods.
• Professional Development: Conduct oneself and create work in a way that demonstrates the level competency, skill, and ethical behavior required of professional employment. Present and defend a project with the purpose of generating new knowledge, or solving a problem or challenge within their profession or area of interest. Present your work to general and professional audiences, articulating sustained, coherent explanations summarizing your project. Effectively communicate complex ideas and analysis.

Requirements

• Graduate certificate programs require a minimum of 12 credit hours. Many graduate certificate programs require more than 12 credit hours.
• No more than one 400-level NAU course (3 - 4 units) may be used on a graduate certificate program.
• No more than twenty-five percent of the units required for the certificate program may be transferred from another university.
• A 400-level course (undergraduate course) completed at another university is not eligible for transfer credit.
• A minimum grade point average of 3.0 must be achieved to obtain a graduate certificate. No more than three units of coursework with a Grade of "C" may be used in a certificate program.
• A graduate student may pursue a graduate certificate concurrently with a graduate degree. Each graduate degree program must decide which, if any, certificate courses can be counted toward the graduate degree.
• Students who are admitted to a graduate certificate program will be eligible for the official posting of the graduate certificate to their transcripts when all applicable coursework has been successfully completed and approved by the academic unit and the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies.

Certificate Requirements

• Complete individual plan requirements.
• Minimum Units for Completion: 15
• Additional Admission Requirements: Individual program admission requirements over and above admission to NAU are required.
• Fieldwork Experience/Internship: Fieldwork Experience/Internship may be required by chosen emphasis or offered as an option.
• Some online/blended coursework: Required
• Take the following 15 units:
  • GSP 501, GSP 521, GSP 532, GSP 543 (12 units)
  • Select from the following (3 units):
    • GSP 401, GSP 514, GSP 545
    • GSP 608 (only for students with limited professional-planning experience) (1 - 3 units)
    • PRM 323
    • Approved elective

Admission Information

• The NAU graduate online application is required for all programs. Admission to many graduate programs is on a competitive basis, and programs may have higher standards than those established by the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies.
• Admission requirements include:
  • Transcripts.
  • Undergraduate degree from a regionally accredited institution with a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale ("A" = 4.0), or the equivalent.
• Individual program admission requirements over and above admission to NAU are required.
• Additional admission requirements may include:
  • Essay/Letter of Intent/Personal Statement
  • Recommendation(s)/Reference(s)

Availability

• Flagstaff
• Online (Note: Beginning fall 2026, this plan will no longer be offered online; it will be offered in-person at the Flagstaff campus.)