Program Overview

Community Development Certificate

The Community Development Certificate is an inter-disciplinary program that offers skills in organization planning, leadership development, and program evaluation. This program allows established and emerging professionals to broaden their perspective on urban development programs in an inter-disciplinary learning environment, including knowledge from psychology, public service, sociology, geography, and liberal studies.

Program Requirements

Students must successfully complete a minimum of 16-quarter hours of graduate credit. Each course carries four-quarter hours. No more than two courses earned toward the certificate shall come from one department.

Course Requirements

• MPS 571: Metropolitan Planning (4 quarter hours)
• Select three of the following courses (12 quarter hours):
  • GEO 430: Sustainable Urban Transportation
  • GEO 441: Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Community Development
  • GEO 442: Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for Sustainable Urban Development
  • MPS 526: Local Government Administration
  • MPS 572: Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy
  • MPS 573: Housing and Community Development
  • PSY 493: Advanced Community Psychology
  • PSY 680: Industrial and Organizational Psychology
  • SOC 420: Urban Sociology
  • SOC 426: Urban Development Policies
  • SUD 401: Sustainable Urban Development I: Planning, Policy & Community Development
  • SUD 402: Sustainable Urban Development II: Applied Analysis of Urban Environmental Policy
  • SUD 420: Sustainable Urban Food Systems
  • SUD 451: Sustainable Cities and Food Justice

Elective Courses

Students may also enroll in the following elective courses, with permission of the program director and often the approval of the instructor. Generally, participants will be limited to one of these courses (each course is 4 quarter hours):

• GEO 446: GIS Analysis of Environmental and Public Health
• MPS 529: Strategic Management and Planning
• MPS 575: Study Abroad Seminar
• MPS 578: Urban Resilience and Climate Adaptation Policy
• PSY 495: Grant Writing in Psychology
• PSY 520: Principles of Human Diversity
• PSY 567: Special Topics in Community Psychology
• PSY 569: Seminar in Program Evaluation
• SOC 423: Urban Ethnography

Catalog Update

Catalog Update: May 15, 2025

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