Undergraduate Program
Certificate Offered
- Certificate in Community Safety and Human Security (CERT)
Introduction
The undergraduate certificate in Community Safety and Human Security (CSHS) may be earned by successful completion of a prescribed program of study as described below for students enrolled at UNM. Graduate students may get approval to substitute graduate-level courses for the elective courses below. The certificate is designed to provide specific knowledge and competencies to enhance the student's degree program, and to provide exposure to a range of topics in the interdisciplinary fields of community safety, human security, crisis management, and disaster preparedness and response. The requirement and course electives have been chosen to enhance student's skills in critical thinking; quantitative and qualitative research; social, political, and policy analysis; effective oral and written communication; and intercultural awareness. The experiential learning and capstone requirements will give students actual experience working in the community through a supervised practicum or internship or volunteer program with an approved public agency or civic organization.
Requirements
A degree-seeking student must earn at least 23 total credits as described below, including at least 12 upper-division hours from at least three different departments. Certificate-only students must earn at least 30 total hours including all requirements of degree-seeking students. Students’ programs of study must satisfy the following requirements and be approved by designated University College advisors. Students can dually count courses in the certificate and their major per UNM and department rules.
I. Core Required Courses (12 credits)
- CELR 430 Advanced Research Service-Learning Field School (3)
- CJ 314 Intercultural Communication (3) -OR- COMM 1155 Communication Across Cultures (3)
- LAIS 345 Elements of Community Safety and Human Security (3)
- MATH 1350 Introduction to Statistics -OR- any STAT course numbered 279 or higher (3)
II. Elective Approved Courses (9 credits)
One elective is chosen from each of the following three groups. Courses must be from at least three different subject areas (departments) across the groups. A list of courses that satisfy the requirements of Groups A, B, and C is available on the program website. Students are also encouraged to suggest additional courses to substitute.
- Group A: Race, Ethnicity and Prejudice
- Group B: Law, Justice and Crime
- Group C: Public Policy, Health, and Communities
III. Approved Experiential Learning (0-3 credits)
Students must complete a practicum, internship, or volunteer program with a government agency or community organization approved in advance by the certificate program advisor in University College. This experience should include approved paid or volunteer work in the community of at least 90-hours during one or two semesters. Students who want to earn additional academic credits for the work experience can do so by taking a UNM course such as:
- CELR 498 Independent Study in Research Service-Learning
- PSYC 405 Crisis Worker Practicum
- SOCI 347 Health and Social Inequalities
- SOCI 488 Field Observation and Experience
- SUST 344 Environmental Justice Practicum to Benefit the Campus and Community
- UNM Career Service Cooperative Education (Co-op) courses
IV. Capstone Project (2 credits)
Students must earn at least 2 credits of LAIS 409 or approved independent study course from another academic department, in which they write and submit either an analytic or policy research paper or a reflective essay describing their experiential learning project, written under the supervision of a faculty member.
Program total 23-26 credit hours.
Certificate-only students must complete additional electives to reach a total of 30 credit hours for this certificate. Additional electives must be approved by the Program Advisor.
Certificate Offered
- Certificate in National Security and Strategic Analysis (CERT)
Introduction
The undergraduate certificate in National Security and Strategic Analysis (NSSA) may be earned by successful completion of a prescribed program of study as described below for students earning an undergraduate degree. The certificate is designed to provide specific knowledge and competencies to enhance the student's undergraduate degree, and to provide exposure to a range of topics in the interdisciplinary field of national security and strategic analysis. The capstone is a demonstration of competency by the student through a coherent and critical analysis activity and an academic paper based on their individual educational path and diverse range of classes. A student’s program of studies must satisfy the following requirements and be pre-approved by the NSSA Faculty Coordinating Committee one year prior to graduation. An approval form is available at the NSSA certificate program Web site, or at the National Security Studies program office.
Requirements
To earn the undergraduate certificate in National Security and Strategic Analysis, the student must:
- Complete or have completed a baccalaureate degree.
- Complete a 3 credit hour course, Introduction to National Security and Strategic Analysis. This course describes federal agencies offering strategic and national security analysis to the government, and studies their analytic methods and resulting products. A discussion of multifaceted strategic analysis and the attending influences of a variety of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in national security is a key component of the course. This includes, but is not limited to, think tanks, business analysis groups, and NGOs created specifically to further policies advantageous to selected nations. Included is a study of representative analytic products and methods, including trend projections and forecasting employed by the organizations.
- Take 9 credit hours of classes in Group A (Political/Social Analysis), and Group B (Quantitative Analysis), with at least 3 credit hours from each group. See additional discussion below under Courses in Group A and B.
- Complete a field analysis or research analysis project related to national security, strategic analysis or intelligence analysis as at least a 2 credit hour independent study course. Complete either an analysis paper-based on work in an approved internship, or an analysis paper-based on an independent and faculty-directed research project as part of this requirement.
- Take at least 3 semesters of a foreign language or demonstrate equivalent competency in a foreign language; or three additional courses in group B.
Courses in Group A and B
Courses are not offered each year and some courses are topics or seminar courses. For topics and seminar courses, approval of specific topic is required by the NSSA Faculty Committee. Other courses can substitute for these courses upon approval of the student's program by the NSSA Faculty Committee. To encourage a multidisciplinary approach, at most 3 credit hours per department are allowed in each of Group A and B. Only one course can be taken at the 100- or 200-level. Many courses require one or more prerequisites which may or may not count towards the certificate, thus effectively increasing the credit hours needed to earn the certificate.
A list is available at the NSSA certificate program Web site of currently offered courses in various departments that satisfy the requirements in Groups A and B. Students are encouraged to suggest additional courses to substitute for those in Groups A and B. The decision to approve a substitution is made within two weeks by the NSSA Faculty Committee.
Shared Credit Hours between Undergraduate Certificates and Degrees
As long as courses taken for an undergraduate certificate fall within the prescribed time limits for an undergraduate degree, the University allows shared course work between undergraduate certificates and a baccalaureate degree. If the student completes the certificate in conjunction with an undergraduate degree program, the student may use 100% of the certificate course work toward an undergraduate degree as long as it is approved as part of the degree.