Become the kind of leader that organizations, communities, and governments need now: inclusive, strategic, and collaborative.
- Designed for working professionals, government and nonprofit leaders, and PSU grad students.
- 5 courses total: 16 graduate credits, complete in just over a year.
- 3 core courses offered fully online — flexible and interactive for busy schedules.
- 2 elective courses — options vary by term and may be offered online or in-person.
- Courses available to start any academic term.
- Not sure? You can take individual courses without committing to the full certificate!
The most pressing public challenges—climate change, homelessness, health equity, economic resilience—require diverse stakeholders to work together. Leaders across sectors say collaboration skills are critical but often lacking. This program gives you the tools to lead change in your organization and community through inclusive, results-driven partnerships.
Core courses are offered in an innovative and highly interactive online format. Most students complete the program in five terms (just over one year), even while working full-time. Courses are taught by faculty affiliated with the National Policy Consensus Center, home to Oregon Consensus, Oregon Solutions, and Oregon's Kitchen Table. These programs are known across the United States for their real-world collaborative governance and community engagement. You'll be part of a learning community shaped by experience, practice, and deep commitment to collaborative problem-solving.
Benefits you will get:
- Practical, graduate-level instruction from collaborative governance experts.
- Highly-interactive online classes with live discussion and group work.
- Opportunities to apply what you learn in real-world collaborative governance projects or a problem in your own workplace or community.
- A professional network of peers and practitioners.
Key Skills You'll Develop:
- Build effective partnerships across sectors, organizations, and departments.
- Assess and identify appropriate interventions for multi-party public issue conflicts.
- Design multi-party processes for policy agreement or collective action implementation.
- Conduct interest-based negotiations and manage conflict in multi-party settings.
- Identify and learn how to work with power dynamics to drive meaningful engagement and joint problem solving.
- Facilitate joint learning that brings together cultural, lived, and technical knowledge to help groups build understanding.
- Support groups to align and secure broad-based resources and authorities to ensure effective implementation.