Leadership in Environmental Sustainability Certificate
The Leadership in Environmental Sustainability professional development certificate program that is set to launch in Fall 2023. This online certificate program will equip individuals with knowledge about environmental sustainability and advanced competencies required to become future change agents.
About the Program
The Leadership in Environmental Sustainability Certificate is a certificate course offered by the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC) at Brock as a part of its professional and continuing education offerings. Sustainability is an established imperative in businesses, government agencies, and other organizations. Now, more than ever, society needs individuals who have the capacity to navigate the contemporary circumstances of rapid change, uncertainty and conflicts. The Leadership in Environmental Sustainability Certificate is designed to equip individuals with knowledge about environmental sustainability and advanced skills required to become future change agents. Each course explores the linkages of major sustainability-based concepts and their relation to the environment. To support the needs of both current and aspiring leaders, this program can be tailored to ensure that you gain the skills and knowledge necessary to meet your professional development goals.
Key Features
- Receive a formal Certificate of Completion from Brock University
- Online delivery (with synchronous components)
- Flexible timeline for course completion
- Multiple pathways to earning the certificate
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this certificate participants will be able to:
- Understand and explain fundamental sustainability concepts using appropriate vocabulary.
- Comprehend emerging issues and approaches in environmental sustainability.
- Make connections between environmental issues and other broader issues related to society, economics, and politics.
- Develop a comprehensive set of practical skills and tools to affect change towards sustainability within your organization.
- Critically analyze situations relating to environmental sustainability (problems and opportunities) and design strategies on how to address them.
- Effectively mobilize knowledge to enhance awareness, communicate information, and motivate action.
- Appreciate the need for collaboration and devise innovative ways of engaging with others.
- Identify different perspectives relating to environmental sustainability and demonstrate the capacity to bridge conventional barriers.
Program Requirements
The Environmental Sustainability Leadership certificate consists of required and elective courses. Participants are required to complete a total of 4 courses to receive the certificate. This includes 2 intensive required courses as well as 2 electives courses. Each course is made up of a series of linked modules related to the course topic. This program is offered in English and can be completed in 1 year or less. Successful participants will receive a certificate upon completion from the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC) to signify their proficiency in environmental sustainability leadership.
Required Courses:
- Current State of the Environment (October 16 to December 8, 2023)
- Enacting Sustainable Environmental Change (January 15 to March 8, 2024)
Elective Course Topics to include:
Note: Elective course offerings will begin in spring/summer 2023/24.
- Effective Science Communication and Knowledge Mobilization
- Intersectional Environmentalism
- Acting on Climate Change
- Initiating Sustainability Transformations
Course Offerings
Aim of the Course
This course provides students with an overview of sustainability by exploring contemporary issues and the current state of the environment. Students will learn terminology, theories, and concepts to build the foundation to effectively communicate on, and critically engage in, a variety of topics in sustainability.
By the end of this course, learners will be able to:
- Understand and explain fundamental sustainability concepts.
- Compare different ways of understanding the environment and sustainability.
- Demonstrate awareness of systems thinking, specifically the interactions between natural and social systems.
- Describe the current state of the environment.
- Identify and analyze the implications of a ‘change perspective’ in concept and application.
- Diagnose considerations and strategize advancements of sustainability.
This is an online course offering that allows learners the opportunity to connect with the instructor and their peers on three separate occassions (see dates below). Not to worry if you are unable to join the synchoronous online meet ups listed below as each will be recorded and shared with all learners.
This online course will run from October 16, 2023 to December 8, 2023 (8 weeks) with the opportunity to connect with your course instructor and peers on:
- Tuesday, November 7 from 7 to 8pm EST
- Tuesday, November 21 from 7 to 8pm EST
- Tuesday, December 5 from 7 to 8pm EST
NOTE: Registration begins on Friday, September 15, 2023.
Aim of the Course:
This course prepares students and professionals to become a new kind of leader who understands the complexities of social-environmental challenges and knows how to navigate uncertain contexts, collaborate across disciplines, and generate innovative solutions to current issues.
With this course we want to inspire and empower you to make a difference in your world, to become an agent of change. We do this by building a foundational understanding of sustainability. Along with this, you will gain the skills and knowledge that will help you make a difference in the environmental, social and economic issues that we face every day. To inspire you, we will also show you examples of what other agents of change are doing now to contribute to a more sustainable world.
By the end of this course, learners will be able to:
- Describe what being a change agent for sustainability mean
- Identify important characteristics, roles, and responsibilities of effective change agents for sustainability
- Comprehend the importance of communication, and utilize communication tools for effectively inspiring and enacting change
- Differentiate between problem-solving and decision-making, and explain what is involved in each
- Understand why collaboration is important for reaching sustainability goals in the workplace
- Understand the importance of monitoring and evaluating environmental sustainability initiatives, and how it can be accomplished
- Demonstrate practical application of aspects related to being an effective change agent to operationalize change in the workplace
This is an online course offering that allows learners the opportunity to connect with the instructor and their peers on three separate occassions (see dates below). Not to worry if you are unable to join the synchoronous online meet ups listed below as each will be recorded and shared with all learners.
This online course will run from January 15, 2024 to March 3, 2024 with the opportunity to connect with your course instructor and the following dates:
- Tuesday, February 6 from 7 to 8pm EST
- Tuesday, February 20 from 7 to 8pm EST
- Tuesday, March 5 from 7 to 8pm EST
NOTE: Registration begins on Friday, September 15, 2023 and closes on Friday, December 15, 2023.
Elective course offerings will begin in spring/summer 2024 and course topics include:
- Effective Science Communication and Knowledge Mobilization
- Intersectional Environmentalism
- Acting on Climate Change
- Initiating Sustainability Transformations
