The Certificate
The field of Ecological Economics was established to fill the growing need to integrate the study and management of “nature’s household” (ecology) and “humankind’s household” (economics). Ecological Economics is the name given to the effort to transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries in order to address the interrelationships between ecological and economic systems in a broad and comprehensive way. Ecological economics is not intended to replace either ecology or economics, but to draw on the best of both disciplines without being bound by them in order to create an effective and essential synthesis.
A Certificate in Ecological Economics is a flexible, innovative approach to promoting ecological economics specifically, and encouraging transdisciplinary interaction and cooperation in general. It is an attempt to improve and broaden existing natural and social science programs and build a new synthesis capable of addressing the public policy issues inherent in the achievement of economic development and ecological sustainability.
There are three core courses (Introduction to Ecological Economics, Introduction to Simulation Modeling, and a problem-based atelier course) required as part of the Ecological Economics Certificate program. These courses teach students to integrate material from their background areas with specific issues and problems. Every certificate student must also successfully complete a minimum level of graduate coursework within the general fields of Natural Science, Social Science, Management, and Quantitative Methods.
The certificate can be earned as a stand-alone certificate for continuing education students or professionals, who already have a Masters or Ph.D.
For more information about the certificate, see Gund Institute certificate website.
