Courses
Twelve credit hours are required for this certificate. Students must achieve a grade of B- or better (with a cumulative 3.0 GPA) to earn academic credit toward the certificate. No transfer credits or course substitutions will be accepted for this program. The courses must be completed within four years of starting the certificate program to be applied toward the certificate requirements. This program can be completed entirely online or as a mix of online and in-person classes including a study abroad class.
Core Required Courses (Poole College)
MBA 510 - Critical Thinking for Managers
Units: 1
Structure for critically analyzing and evaluating an issue, claim, text, or speech from a management perspective. Systematic analysis and evaluation of information, concepts, and ideas in order to identify underlying assumptions, purposes, and questions. Synthesis of this knowledge to logically form conclusions and recognize implications. Communication of arguments and beliefs and recognition of common language barriers in the written and spoken word. For online sections, must be enrolled in MBA program.
Offered in Fall and Spring
MBA 512 - Ethical Thinking for Managers
Units: 1
This course provides students a foundation for thinking through business issues from an ethical perspective. Students will advance their skills for recognizing and reasoning through ethical dilemmas in management, with an aim toward developing essential ethical traits including integrity, empathy, courage, fairmindedness,autonomy. perseverance, humility, and confidence in reason. Students will apply a structured, reasoned process for resolving ethical dilemmas, and will engage in personal reflection to continue to develop their intellectual traits.
Offered in Fall and Spring
MBA 582 - B Corp Clinic Sustainability Practicum
Units: 3
Explore the current sustainability trends. Learn how business are integrating sustainability into their strategies. Gain an understanding of the tools businesses are using to operate businesses in a sustainability manner. Experience current and evolving sustainability reporting practices. Explore future trends.
Offered in Fall and Spring
Elective Courses (Poole College)
Select 4-7 credit hours of coursework from the following courses:
MBA 547 - Sustainable Operations Management
Units: 1
In this course, students examine some of the difficult tradeoffs they may face as an operations manager when sustainability issues arise. The course places a strong emphasis on interactive, practice-based learning through case discussions, a simulation, breakout sessions, and industry speaker/s. Topics discussed include supply chain disruption, resource management, sustainable sourcing, compliance and standards, supply chain transparency, and business model innovation.
Offered in Spring Only
MBA 587 - Sustainability in Business
Units: 1
Sustainability in Business provides students with the knowledge and tools to become purpose-driven business leaders. The course explores different business models and strategies that companies can use to drive social and environmental change, and explains why purpose-driven businesses are particularly well positioned to tackle the world's biggest problems. Students will gain an understanding of how sustainable business strategies are used as drivers for innovation, collaboration, and transformation. They will also explore how to apply the concepts of business sustainability across functional areas including investment strategies, market insight, and operational excellence. The course structure will integrate a combination of tools including readings, videos, guest speakers, reflection assignments, discussion forums and a capstone project.
Offered in Fall and Spring
MBA 590 - Special Topics In Business Management
Units: 1 - 6
Presentation of material not normally available in regular courses offerings or offering of new courses on a trial basis.
- MBA 590 Sustainable Business in Emerging Markets (Study Abroad in Brazil) (3 credits)
- MBA 590 Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (1 credit)
- MBA 590 Business Sustainability in Emerging Markets (1 credit)
- MBA 590 Accounting for ESG (1 credit)
Elective Courses (College of Natural Resources)
Select up to 3 credit hours of coursework from the following courses:
EA 505 - Environmental Assessment Law & Policy
Units: 3
This course provides students with an appreciation for and understanding of the principles of environmental law and policy. Emphasis is on the US legal system and litigation process relevant to environmental law, covering topics such as: the National Environmental Policy Act [NEPA], the Pollution Prevention Act [PPA], the Clean Water Act, and the Clean Air Act. Throughout the course, a case study is integrated into the conceptual lecture material with the intent of providing practical examples to conceptual material.
Offered in Fall Only
FOR 519 - Forest Economics
Units: 3
Economic approaches for evaluating the production and costs of forest management, timber harvesting activities, and nontimber forest products. Estimating the financial returns of long-term investments in timber or other forest resources, including discounted cash flow analysis and capital budgeting techniques. Property taxes and income tax treatment of timber and their effects on investment returns. Demand estimation and timber supply analyses.
Offered in Fall Only
YEAR: Offered Alternate Years
NR 500 - Natural Resource Management
Units: 4
Theory and practice of integrated natural resource management. Quantitative optimization, economics of multiple-use, compounding and discounting, optimal rotations, linear programming. Public and private management case studies and team projects.
Offered in Spring Only
NR 560 - Renewable Natural Resource Management and Policy
Units: 3
The interaction of legal principles and governmental institutions in the development and implementation of natural resource policy and management. Legal principles, constitutional provisions and the location and organization of governmental programs. Examples from both historic and current case studies.
GEP: Social Sciences
Offered in Fall Only
NR 595 - Special Topics in Natural Resources
Units: 1 - 6
Individual students or groups of students, under direction of a faculty member, may explore natural resources related topics of special interest not covered by existing courses. Format may consist of lecture, lab, readings and independent study, problems, or research not related to thesis. Also used to develop and test new 500-level courses. This course can be taken as a stand-alone course or in conjunction with the same topic of NR 596.
Offered in Fall and Spring
PRT 550 - Human Behavior and the Environment
Units: 3
This course helps students understand the variety of cognitive, social, affective, and environmental factors that influence human behavior in natural resource contexts, with an emphasis on nature-based recreation experiences and conservation behaviors. Students will explore behavioral models from different disciplines, examine pathways to promote behavior change, and assess implications for park management, environmental stewardship, and natural resource conservation.
Offered in Fall Only
PSE 476 - Environmental Life Cycle Analysis
Units: 3
Overview of the various aspects of conducting and interpreting an environmental life cycle analysis on a product or service. Students will learn how to construct a life cycle analysis goal and scope, inventory, assessment and interpretation. Skills in the critique and communication of a life cycle analysis will be developed. Includes an overview of the following life cycle stages: raw materials, energy, transportation, production, use, and end of life. Emphasis on systems thinking. Targeted for students in any science or engineering program. Credit not allowed for both PSE 476 and WPS 576.
GEP: Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Offered in Fall Only