Certificate Programs

The International Public Service Project, which is supported by a stipend, is an individual, 8-10 week experience in the summer term. Students can tap into the Clinton School’s extensive network of overseas partnerships—students have served in 93 countries, as well as stateside with organizations that have a global mission.

This course focuses on evaluating the potential capacity of social enterprises to affect social change, as well as social enterprises’ potential pitfalls. Students will learn the history and context in which social enterprises were first created, distinctive characteristics of social enterprises as instruments for effecting social change, including sustainability, scale, and the pursuit of multiple goals, the legal implications, and the necessary finance tools.

The Capstone is the culminating field course designed to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their expertise. The Capstone employs an independent study format primarily overseen by a Clinton School faculty advisor. Through the Capstone, students: (1) apply the knowledge, skills, and values from the Clinton School program in a sophisticated way to a real-world problem or challenge; (2) understand, engage, and seek to transform complex systems; and (3) produce a deliverable that meets an identified community need and exemplifies, in its product, the knowledge, skills, and values of the Clinton School curriculum. Students have three (3) semesters to complete Capstone once they enroll in the course.

Being an effective public service professional requires the knowledge and skills to act in positive and productive ways that allow for authentic participation by those affected by policies, processes, and actions. This course focuses on the constitutive nature of communication to create and maintain equitable social worlds. Students will explore various theories of democracy, civic participation, and public issue and policy research and formation, analyze case studies to understand the complexities of creating and maintaining equitable social worlds, and engage in exercises to develop practical facilitation skills.

Being an effective public service professional requires the knowledge and skills to act in positive and productive ways that allow for authentic participation by those affected by policies, processes, and actions. This course focuses on the constitutive nature of communication to create and maintain equitable social worlds. Students will explore various theories of democracy, civic participation, and public issue and policy research and formation, analyze case studies to understand the complexities of creating and maintaining equitable social worlds, and engage in exercises to develop practical facilitation skills.

This course examines the role of public discourse in constituting (molding, shaping, and even distorting) publics, public decisions, and, ultimately, public life. Specifically, it considers persuasion and advocacy and their influence on democratic processes and public policy.

The Capstone is the culminating field course designed to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their expertise. The Capstone employs an independent study format primarily overseen by a Clinton School faculty advisor. Through the Capstone, students: (1) apply the knowledge, skills, and values from the Clinton School program in a sophisticated way to a real-world problem or challenge; (2) understand, engage, and seek to transform complex systems; and (3) produce a deliverable that meets an identified community need and exemplifies, in its product, the knowledge, skills, and values of the Clinton School curriculum. Students have three (3) semesters to complete Capstone once they enroll in the course.

This course provides students with the analytical tools to enhance their skills and competencies to diagnose problems effectively and formulate solutions within organizations and communities. Emphasis is placed on models, theories, methods, and processes used to systematically plan public service interventions that contribute to the well-being of communities and organizations. Topics covered include identifying and assessing needs and assets, setting goals and objectives, researching best practices, developing a feasible and sustainable plan for change, and evaluating how well the project is likely to affect the change envisioned. Underlying values of social justice and collaborative problem-solving provide a benchmark for discussions on these topics. Prerequisite: CSPS 7335 – Field Research in Public Service.

This course builds on the skills students gain in Program Planning and Development and Field Research in Public Service. The primary objective is for students to learn and apply tools frequently used to determine whether local, national, and international public policies and programs are achieving their intended goals. In addition, in this course, students learn how to use appropriate research methods to evaluate public and not-for-profit programs and entities (e.g., nonprofit organizations, foundations, NGOs), develop strategies for assessing, and manage evaluation projects. Prerequisites: CSPS 7333: Program Planning and Development and CSPS 7334: Field Research in Public Service.

This course provides an overview of statistical methods and hands-on application of statistical tools to managerial decision-making in public service. Understanding statistical analysis and working with qualitative data are essential competencies of professionalism in public service. Course topics include research design, data collection and measurement, descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, processes for selecting statistical tests and assessment of statistical assumptions, measures of association and other bivariate statistics, index variable construction, regression analysis, and an overview of other selected statistical and quantitative methods applied to social problems in public service. In addition, students get hands-on experience using statistical analysis software. Throughout the course, the emphasis will be on understanding the reasoning behind the methods and tests, the assumptions under which they are valid, and the correct interpretation of results.

The Capstone is the culminating field course designed to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their expertise. The Capstone employs an independent study format primarily overseen by a Clinton School faculty advisor. Through the Capstone, students: (1) apply the knowledge, skills, and values from the Clinton School program in a sophisticated way to a real-world problem or challenge; (2) understand, engage, and seek to transform complex systems; and (3) produce a deliverable that meets an identified community need and exemplifies, in its product, the knowledge, skills, and values of the Clinton School curriculum. Students have three (3) semesters to complete Capstone once they enroll in the course.