In addition to graduate degrees, Bowling Green State University offers graduate certificates. Students may enroll in only a certification program, or may complete a certificate in conjunction with a graduate degree at BGSU.

Ethnic Studies

The graduate certificate in Ethnic Studies is offered within an interdisciplinary/ multidisciplinary framework. The curriculum contributes to societal needs as it addresses issues of racial and ethnic diversity in the workplace, community, nation, and world during a period of profound demographic change. It is designed to provide professional study in an area of increasing importance to practitioners in social, health, and immigration service agencies; law; and K-12 and community college education, among other occupations. The certificate also offers a graduate credential to students pursuing advanced degrees and seeking to broaden their teaching and research competencies in order to enhance their career options and employment prospects.

Gerontology

The 15-semester hour graduate certificate in Gerontology was designed by the College of Health and Human Services to prepare students to help promote successful aging among the elderly. Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, the certificate curriculum acknowledges the role of biological, psychological, and social influences on older adults' well-being. The certificate program is appropriate for professionals who occupy positions in agencies and institutions that directly administer and deliver services to the elderly, but who have not received recent formal training in gerontology; for students pursuing academic and/or research careers that focus on the elderly; and for students who anticipate their chosen profession (e.g., business, health care) will bring them into contact with older adults. Regardless of a student's career goals, the Certificate Program provides knowledge of gerontology that is applicable to all business, professional, and personal situations involving older adults.

Women's Studies

The graduate certificate in Women's Studies brings together scholars and graduate students across the University actively engaged in interdisciplinary feminist scholarship. This graduate certificate is an official acknowledgement of training and expertise in the field of women's and gender studies. The certificate program provides students with knowledge of a unified approach to the study of fundamental issues in sex and gender studies. Students examine how sex and gender have been reflected in culture across time; how they shape institutions as well as personal experience; how they interact with issues such as race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class; and how new ways of thinking about gender challenge the processes by which knowledge about human beings and our behavior is acquired, interpreted, and transmitted.

The graduate certificate is intended to supplement professional training, whatever it may be. As a stand-alone credential, the certificate is designed for individuals working in fields related to women's health care and well being, as well as professionals in positions of advocacy for women, elementary, high school, and community college teachers, and returning, nontraditional students.

The certificate acknowledges formal training and expertise in issues of cultural diversity, gender equity, feminist theory, feminist methodology, and the infusion of gender into all psychological, social, and mediated relationship.

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