The certificate in social innovation prepares students for working in fields whose primary mission is to improve the lives of society's most vulnerable and disadvantaged people. The program will teach students how to design and execute evidence-based strategies for advancing human welfare.
The program's curriculum will provide students with:
- A substantive understanding of social problems;
- A methodology for conceiving solutions to such complex problems;
- A broad set of skills needed to implement solutions in new or existing organizations; and
- The tools for critically evaluating the effectiveness and sustainability of solutions.
Requirements
Admission Requirements
Degree seeking and non-degree seeking CU Boulder undergraduate students in good standing from any discipline will be eligible to participate in the social innovation certificate program. There will not be a grade point average requirement to enroll in the program; however, students will be required to achieve a C- or better in all coursework that applies toward the certificate.
Required Courses and Credits
The certificate requires the completion a minimum of 18 credits, of which 9 credits must be at the upper-division level. A maximum of 6 semester credit hours from other institutions will be accepted.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | ||
| SOCY 4160 | Designing Social Innovations | 3 |
| SOCY 4161 | Executing Social Innovations 1 | 3 |
| Electives | 12 | |
| Students will complete four of the following courses (only one of which can be from SOCY and no more than three of which may be from the any one other department) and, depending on their career goals, can choose all from the same area or from multiple areas. | ||
| Care, Health and Resilience | ||
| Introduction to Global Public Health | ||
| Introduction to Epidemiology | ||
| Bioethics | ||
| Social Psychology | ||
| Disabilities in Contemporary American Society | ||
| Economy | ||
| Explorations in Anthropology | ||
| Global Africa: Environment, Development, and Culture | ||
| Who Runs the World? Sex, Power, and Gender in Geography | ||
| Urban Economics: The Economics of Cities | ||
| Economics of Entrepreneurship | ||
| Social Inequalities and Social Change | ||
| Environment/Population | ||
| Creating a Sustainable Future | ||
| Natural Resource Economics | ||
| Environmental Economics | ||
| Economic Development and Policy | ||
| Topics in Environmental Social Sciences | ||
| Environmental Psychology | ||
| Environment, Media and Society | ||
| Geographies of Global Change | ||
| Environment and Society | ||
| Population and Society | ||
| Global Human Ecology | ||
| Social Entrepreneurship & Sustainability | ||
| Government | ||
| Public Economics: the Economics of the Government Sector | ||
| Introduction to Public Policy Analysis | ||
| Political Parties and Interest Groups | ||
| Capitalism and its Critics | ||
| Liberalism and Its Critics | ||
| International Affairs | ||
| Cross-Cultural Aspects of Socioeconomic Development | ||
| International Development: Economics, Power, and Place | ||
| Global Issues and International Affairs | ||
| Philosophy and the International Order | ||
| Current Affairs in International Relations | ||
| Global Development | ||
| Society | ||
| America: An Anthropological Perspective | ||
| Cross-Cultural Aspects of Socioeconomic Development | ||
ARSC 3001 | ||
| Foundations of Comparative Ethnic Studies: Race, Gender and Culture(s) | ||
| Critical Issues in Native North America | ||
| African American History | ||
| Survey of Chicana/o History and Culture | ||
| Social Justice, Leadership and Community Engagement Internships | ||
| Place, Power, and Contemporary Culture | ||
| Special Topics in International Affairs (Humanitarianism) | ||
| Facilitating Peaceful Community Change | ||
| Introduction to Peace, Conflict and Security Studies | ||
| Communication and Conflict Management | ||
| Introduction to Communication Disorders | ||
| Contemporary Social Issues and Human Values | ||
| Social Problems | ||
| Crime and Society | ||
| Social Movements and the Politics of Protest | ||
| Sociology of Education | ||
| Introduction to US Gender, Race and Sexuality Studies | ||
| Global Gender Issues | ||
| Technology | ||
| Advanced Special Topics (Design for Change) | ||
| Engineering and Entrepreneurship for the Developing World | ||
| New Venture Creation | ||
| Engineering in History: The Social Impact of Technology | ||
| History of Modern Technology from 1750 to the Atomic Bomb | ||
| Modern Science and Technological Society | ||
| Mechanical Engineering Design Project 1 | ||
| Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Project 2 | ||
| Special Topics in Mechanical Engineering (Cookstove Assessment; Project-based Learning in Rural Schools) | ||
| Total Credit Hours | 18 | |
| 1 | Students may substitute SOCY 4935, subject to director approval. |