The Certificate in Leadership Studies is designed to provide a structure for involvement, introducing students to the concepts of leadership while giving them the necessary hands-on experiences to begin the life-long development of these leadership skills.

Online Curriculum

To earn the ONLINE Certificate in Leadership Studies, students must successfully complete 20-21 semester hours (s.h.) and maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA in all course work.

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Required Interdisciplinary Core Courses:

• LS:3004 Perspectives on Leadership (3 s.h.)
• LS:3012 Leadership Theory to Practice (3 s.h.)

Area Electives (12 s.h.) - must complete 3 s.h. from each of the four areas below:

Self and Group Leadership (3 s.h.)

• LS:2002 Career Leadership Academy Part I: Leadership in Practice (3 s.h.)
• LS:3002 Career Leadership Academy Part II: Leadership in Action (3 s.h.)
• COMM:1819 Organizational Leadership (3 s.h.)
• MGMT:2100 Introduction to Management (3 s.h.)
• MGMT:3200 Individuals, Teams and Organizations (3 s.h.)
• MGMT:3600/SSW:3600 Nonprofit Organizational Effectiveness II (3 s.h.) 
• PSY:2501 Introduction to Social Psychology (3 s.h.)
• SOC:4225 The Social Psychology of Leadership (3 s.h.)

Communication (3 s.h.)

• COMM:1818 Communication Skills for Leadership (3 s.h.)
• COMM:1819 Organizational Leadership (3 s.h.)
• WRIT:3005/CW:3005/INTD:3005 Professional and Creative Business Communication (3 s.h.)

Cultural Competence (3 s.h.)

• ANTH:2165/AMST:2165/NAIS:2165 Native Peoples of North America (3 s.h.)
• GHS:3050 Global Aging (3 s.h.)
• GWSS:3154 Sexuality in the United States 
• SOC:2810 Social Inequality (3 s.h.)

Ethics and Integrity (3 s.h.)

• CSED:4195 Ethics in Human Relations and Counseling (3 s.h.)
• MGMT:2000 Introduction to Law (3 s.h.)

Experiential Learning - complete one of the following:

• LS:3002 Career Leadership Academy Part 2: Leadership in Action (3 s.h.)
• LS:3011 Leadership Certificate Internship (0, 2 s.h.)

How to Declare the Certificate

Students may add a certificate program to their plan of study at any time.  Declaring a certificate will allow you to request a degree audit for the certificate requirements in MyUI.  There is no penalty to remove a certificate from a plan of study and one may be removed at any time.

Current BAS/BLS University of Iowa students may add the certificate to their plan of study by contacting their assigned BAS/BLS advisor. 

After the certificate has been declared, please log into MyUI to make an appointment with your Leadership Studies Certificate advisor.  Instructions are provided on the Career Center website.

How to remove the certificate from your program of study

Current BAS/BLS students can email their assigned academic advisor to ask to remove the certificate from their plan of study. There is no penalty to remove a certificate program from a plan of study and one may be removed at any time.