The purpose of the Graduate Certificate in Environmental Sustainability is a 15-hour certificate designed to meet the needs of prospective students interested in developing knowledge in environmental sustainability. The purpose of this certificate is to provide professionals who already have undergraduate degrees with graduate instruction in environmental sustainability as a means to maintaining and promoting their professional development. According to Daly (1990), environmental sustainability can be defined as

“the rates of renewable resource harvest, pollution creation, and non-renewable resource depletion that can be continued indefinitely.”

More simply, environmental sustainability can be defined as the ability to maintain factors and practices that are valued in the physical environment and that contribute to the quality of the environment on a long-term basis. The certificate program is designed to provide post-baccalaureates with course work in environmental sustainability outside of their undergraduate major. The certificate provides students with a post-baccalaureate educational opportunity that is narrower in scope and shorter in duration than its associated master’s graduate degree program in the Environmental Science Academic Programs.