Undergraduate Certificate Guidelines

Certificates are intended to encourage students to use the elective course requirements in their degree program to form a coherent package of coursework in a specified area.

  1. Certificates will be granted only to students who, in addition to the certificate program requirements, have satisfied requirements for an undergraduate degree. The offering unit is responsible for verifying satisfaction of all certificate requirements, as well as completion of an undergraduate degree. Certificates are not recorded on the student's transcript or diploma. Arrangements must be made for awarding certificates within colleges or offering units. Certificates will not be awarded at the Institute level.
  2. All undergraduate certificate programs must be approved by the Institute Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and by the Academic Faculty Senate.
  3. Departments, schools, and colleges are eligible to offer undergraduate certificate programs in well-defined and coherent subject areas. Multi-disciplinary certificates, sponsored jointly by more than one academic unit, are also allowed.
  4. All proposals for a certificate must originate from the faculty of the academic unit offering the certificate or, in the case of a multi-disciplinary certificate, from the faculty of each participating academic unit. Proposals must be endorsed by the appropriate College dean(s) and by the Provost.
  5. In addition to the academic requirements for the certificate, the proposal must define the procedures for management of the program and for awarding certificates. The design and wording of certificates must be approved by the Provost and a draft must be submitted with the proposal.
  6. A certificate program must comprise at least twelve semester hours in a coherent program, of which at least nine semester hours are upper-division coursework (numbered 3000 or above).
  7. Each program will decide how many credits of special-topics classes or project-oriented classes (Special Problems, Undergraduate Research, VIP, etc.)  can be counted within the certificate program. In general, it is expected that a certificate program will only allow 6 or fewer credits of Special Topics courses in order to ensure the consistency and availability of elective classes within the certificate.
  8. A maximum of 3 credit hours can be shared with another certificate or minor.
  9. All courses counting toward the certificate must be taken on a letter-grade basis.
  10. All courses used to satisfy the course requirements for a certificate must be completed with a grade of C (2.00) or better.
  11. Certificates and the requirements to complete them will be listed in the Catalog.
  12. All certificate programs will be reviewed by the offering academic unit(s) on a regular basis (6 years is recommended) so that decisions can be made about the need for the certificate or the need for it to be revised to meet academic content ensuring relevance, current standards, and up-to-date knowledge.