Sustainable Management Certificates-Curriculum

We offer two undergraduate certificates, Environmental Sustainability and Sustainable Enterprise, and one graduate certificate, Sustainability and Well-being (for information about this certificate, email: HWM@uwex.edu).

Courses are completed entirely online. You can watch lectures, participate in online forums with your classmates, and do homework whenever it’s convenient for you—all course content is accessible online from any device. Learn more about our online learning format.

Course Descriptions

Course availability varies each fall, spring, and summer.

>VIEW UPCOMING UW SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT COURSE SCHEDULES

 

Undergraduate Certificate Programs

Each certificate consists of four courses (3 credits each) from the Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Management. Coursework completed in the certificate applies toward the bachelor’s degree should you choose to enroll as a degree-seeking student.

Environmental Sustainability Certificate Course List

You are required to take all four courses to complete the certificate.

SMGT 305: Climate Change and Sustainability

This course will emphasize not only the economics of carbon budgeting and increasing efficiency but also the human role in creating and solving climate change and the discrepancies in who, where, and what will be impacted by both climate change and the necessary solutions.

SMGT 310: Ecology for Sustainable Management

This course covers interrelationships of organisms with each other and their environments, as well as investigation into composition and dynamics of populations, communities, ecosystems, landscapes, and the biosphere, with emphasis on sustainability.

SMGT 320: Energy for Sustainable Management

Basic engineering principles and applications for existing and emerging energy technologies. You will learn about energy production, consumption, and environmental impact, and explore the ways in which these principles relate to sustainable management. Topics cover a wide range of energy systems, including nuclear, fossil fuels, wind, solar, biofuels, and biomass.

SMGT 325: Natural Resource Management

This course examines the interdependence between natural resources associated with land, air, and water. You will explore significant environmental issues regarding the policies and problems in the use and management of natural resources related to soils, vegetation, and landscape within the context of social needs and sustainability.

Sustainable Enterprise Certificate Course List

You are required to take all four courses to complete the certificate.

SMGT 230: Triple Bottom Line Accounting for Managers

An introduction to the discipline of financial and managerial accounting. You will gain a basic knowledge of the preparation of financial statements and their analytical use. Further, you will explore how this accounting information is applied by managers in the decision-making process to help organizations meet the triple bottom line (strong profits, healthy environment, and vital communities).

SMGT 235: Economics in Society and Sustainability

This introductory course highlights economic, social, and environmental issues facing society. In addition to covering traditional issues such as markets and prices (microeconomics), government economic management (macroeconomics), and international trade, this course introduces economic content into the analysis of selected topics such as poverty and discrimination, the environment, and the provision of government services. Critiques of conventional economic thought, within the context of systems thinking and ecological economics, are integrated throughout the course.

SMGT 335: Management and Environmental Information Systems

This course explores how technology can be applied to managing sustainable development in an organization. You will learn about the use of data processing systems, information systems and decision support tools, information systems planning and development, overview of computer hardware and software, database management, networking and Web technologies, green data centers, energy-efficiency trends in information technology, and data and information usage in green businesses.

SMGT 340 Organizational Behavior and Sustainability

An investigation of management principles and theories underlying human behavior in organizations. This course examines how personality, motivation, communication, decision making, leadership, teamwork, ethics, power, diversity, and work stress can create both constraints and opportunities within an “eco-friendly” organization.

Graduate Certificate Program

The certificate consists of two courses (3 credits each) from the Master of Science in Sustainable Management and two courses (3 credits each) from the Master of Science in Health and Wellness Management. Coursework completed in the certificate applies toward the master’s degree should you choose to enroll as a degree-seeking student in either program.

Sustainability and Well-being Certificate Course List

You are required to take all four courses to complete the certificate.

SMGT 750: The Built Environment

This course explores how the built environment came to be, and how it intersects with human needs such as water, air, food, waste, transportation, healthcare, and education. You will evaluate community design and what a sustainable community looks like, and study related technologies while evaluating alternatives and discussing unintended consequences. This course will include case studies.

SMGT 780: Corporate Social Responsibility

This course will enable students to understand the rationale behind CSR and sustainability. It takes students through an evaluation of risks and potential impacts in decision making, uncovering the links between the success of an organization and the well-being of a community/society. Additionally, methods and standards of integrating CSR throughout an organization, creating metrics and communicating CSR policies internally and externally will be discussed, analyzed, and applied. Students will develop an understanding of best practices of CSR in its entire breadth within an organization as well as delve into economic structures designed to foster more responsibility and accountability.

HWM 700: Contemporary Health and Wellness Perspectives

In this course, students will examine health and wellness concepts and probe foundational thinking associated with the contemporary health and wellness field. Expectations and development of the wellness professional will be explored.

HWM 770: Behavior and Development of Organizations

In this course, students will study organizations, their members, and analyze why people and groups behave as they do. Processes and methods that improve behavior, effectiveness, and efficiency in organizational settings will be examined. The course will also cover various methods for assessing organizational behavior and change.

*HWM 700 and HWM 770 are courses in the Master of Science in Health and Wellness Management program. SMGT 750 and SMGT 780 are courses in the Master of Science in Sustainable Management program. If you are a degree-seeking student in either program earning the certificate as an additional credential, you will be required to complete the two certificate courses outside of your degree in addition to your master’s program curriculum to earn the certificate.

Have questions about UW Sustainable Management online programs? Talk to an enrollment adviser.