Online Graduate Certificate in Climate Change Awareness & Leadership

Climate change and global warming are real, and science has coalesced around the fact that mankind’s activities are causing or contributing to the rapid global warming that is currently in progress. Mankind’s input into the equation is the burning of carbon fuels, which releases unprecedented levels of carbon dioxide, a highly potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. The field of emergency management typically divides activities into four components: planning, mitigation, response, and recovery. It is now time to add a fifth component: adaptation. Mankind’s activities have programmed into the future climate somewhere between one and six degrees Celsius of warming, and a significant but as yet incalculable amount of sea level rise. We do not have the option of stopping or reversing these events, so we must adapt if our civilization is to survive. The student will begin by examining the science itself, courtesy of the Climate Reality Project. The student will examine how the US government has evaluated the situation in the National Climate Assessment. The student will look at both the pessimistic and optimistic possibilities that our future could hold. Students will select a book from a supplemental reading list and report on their topic of choice in the forums. To conclude, students will create a personal Climate Change Adaptation Plan for themselves, their families, and/or their organizations.

This course will serve as the final program requirement for the graduate certificate titled: Climate Change Awareness & Leadership. Students must complete all other certificate requirements prior to enrolling in this course. Students will conduct a major action research project that demonstrates their ability to implement leadership principles that will enable society to be aware of, prepare for, mitigate, and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The project must interface with a government agency chartered with the responsibility of protecting the public, or a public institution responsible for the education of children. Class deliverables may include: a municipal climate change awareness and adaptation plan; a community education awareness campaign; a public school awareness project; or similar as negotiated and jointly designed by the student and instructor. At the conclusion of the project, the student will submit a journal that describes the project design, implementation, and impacts in detail.

The study and consideration of global environmental and climate change are of increasing significance to society. In this course, students will examine the evidence for and causes of global environmental change and will analyze potential impacts on environmental policy and society. Emphasis will be on the implications of environmental change for environmental managers, including management decision-making, the adequacy of the current regulatory framework in addressing these problems, and the effect on future policy and legislation.

This course covers the elements of contemporary leadership and delineates the principles that are important in the development of a leader for the 21st century. Discussion of the role and function of leadership will include an in-depth analysis and study of needs impacting individuals, organizations and society. The course provides students with a set of leadership skills and competencies on which to build a unique model for effective leadership that can be tested over time.

This course examines the role of crisis action planning in emergency management and disaster response. This course begins by examining the art and science of future studies – that is, being able to accurately predict an outcome from a given set of inputs and understand the ramifications. Impacts of global warming are presented. Crisis leadership and management theories and methodologies are examined. Taking these three components into account, and adding in other threats that students envision in forum discussions, students then develop a crisis action plan for an organization of their choice, with the purpose being to provide a plan for organizational survival against the challenges depicted above. Students also select an optional topic from an approved bibliography to present and discuss, on such topics as future climate, weather, social justice, energy, economics, environment, resource depletion, and potential strategies for the survival of civilization. Students will achieve a new and more holistic appreciation of the disaster planning process. The crisis action plans that students develop for this course are consistently implemented in the real world, and are in place in organizations across the globe.

This course is an advanced study of environmental issues from a moral and philosophical approach. Issues raised in the course and through student research and writing will include: the moral obligation or lack thereof, to preserve and protect the environment; the ethical presumptions that underlie environmental policy; the traditional theories of moral philosophy applicable to contemporary environmental problems; and the potential for a new concept of the relationship between humanity and nature.

This course is an introduction to energy policy and decision making, primarily in the United States. Students will examine the nature and scope of environmental, energy, and resource problems, analyze the goals and strategies of the renewable energy movement, investigate ideological, political, and institutional forces that shape policymaking and implementation, and conduct in-depth analyses of the various approaches to U.S. energy needs. An exploration of renewable energy technology, feasibility, and implementation is incorporated through the analysis of case studies and current events.

This course examines the way government policies emerge from the political process and are implemented through participating institutions. In this class students will investigate how good analysis can contribute to informed policy-making and review the factors that go into developing effective implementation strategies. In addition, today’s need for enhanced public accountability and the challenging problems of measuring program performance are examined.

This course examines a range of management issues and strategies within the context of managing public organizations. The core focus is on an enhanced understanding of the theoretical and practical approaches to public management, an examination of enduring and day-to-day dilemmas faced by competent public managers, and the application of relevant theories to public management within the United States.

The study and analysis of a variety of environmental problems, issues, and exposures emphasizing the interrelationship between humans and the myriad environmental concerns.