Advanced Graduate Certificate Program

This course will provide students opportunities to learn and to utilize technology for pursuit of information, providing transformational instruction, communicating effectively with all stakeholders, and fostering an organizational culture that embraces technology toward ongoing improvement. The course covers a wide spectrum of available technological resources to help leaders better understand student achievement as well as contextual factors (ex. school climate, parent satisfaction, teacher satisfaction) in schools. Specific emphasis will be given to exploration of potential applications of technological resources in a current organizational setting for becoming an integral component of leadership and school culture, performance monitoring, and enhancing learning options for students and staff members.

This course will provide students with the knowledge and skills to effectively manage human resources in a sustainable way that supports learning for all students, fosters a professional work environment, upholds contractual agreements, and develops employee capacity fairly and ethically. Specific emphasis will be focused upon promoting a learning organization through effective and collaborative performance reviews, legal compliance, and strategic placement of resources to maximize organizational effectiveness toward student learning.

This course provides students with an overview of successful fiscal leadership in schools by surveying the dynamic landscape of school funding from federal, state, and local levels. This course will provide students with abilities to effectively lead safe, efficient, and effective organizations through meaningful and compliant fiscal management of organizational components, operations, and resources. Specific emphasis will be given to the study of the major responsibilities of a fiscal leader and the utilization of resources in effective and transformative ways.

This course focuses on innovation and change in organizations in response to environmental and technological induced disruptions they bring to organizations or systems. Organizational change theories and models, futurist literature, and major world trends in innovation that impact sustainable change efforts in education, health care, social enterprises, for- profit and not-for-profit organizations, and related disciplines are examined. Topics include models and strategies in anticipating, creating, and managing change; collaboration; overcoming resistance to change; and creativity and innovations. Students will investigate applications and practices of organizational change relevant to their academic and professional interests.

New venture creation, theory, strategy, and practice for organizational leaders are explored. Students will conduct a comprehensive study of the process of shepherding an entrepreneurial idea from formulation to fruition by forming new ventures in for-profit, not-for-profit, and philanthropic organizations.

Students apply their knowledge, skills, and values to a real-world problem. Students will work with an external company as their client and identify a project-based issue, concern, or problem; identify a set of strategies to meet the projected goals; seek the assistance of a mentor in achieving the goals; and begin to implement strategies to achieve a solution to the issue or problem. The consultancy course spans one semester and includes plan preparation and approval, implementation of the plan, presentation of results to clients, and an evaluation of the projects.