Graduate Certificates

There are three different graduate certificates offered by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences: Program Design and Evaluation, Community Based Participatory and Action Research, and Evaluation Research. Each certificate program is designed for currently employed professionals and students.

Students will explore approaches to evaluation research, program design and evaluation or community based participatory and action research in communities with focus on problems of social significance. The certificates are designed to provide students with transferable skills applicable across industry sectors, populations, and challenges or problems. Students will gain cross-cultural competencies, community engagement skills, and applied research experience.

These certificates are currently offered online through the University of Arizona MAIN CAMPUS. They will soon be available through University of Arizona ONLINE CAMPUS.

How to Apply

Due to the University of Arizona's current financial situation, admissions to the MA in Program Design & Evaluation are currently on pause. This means you will not be able to apply to the program until this pause is lifted. If you are interested in enrolling in the program, please reach out to the Director of Graduate Studies Keith Bentele at dgssirow@arizona.edu for more information.

Certificate in Program Design and Evaluation

The Program Design and Evaluation Certificate is an 18-credit, fully online, asynchronous certificate comprised of 7.5 week courses preparing students with an analytic foundation to identify and characterize complex social challenges, identify potential solutions to these challenges, create evidence-based approaches and the evaluation of them and their scale up, and tools to disseminate and translate evaluation evidence for program, policy, and funding consideration. 

Many problems and challenges faced in communities are multilevel, long term and complicated. Often, information defining the problem and used for evidence to respond to the problem are incomplete or distrusted by key partners engaged in the problem. This course provides a chance to understand complex problems, what we will call wicked problems. We will learn how to define them (know them when we see them), identify the key partners engaged, understand the framing of the problem and the evidence used to inform problem definition as well as solution identification. We will talk about key wicked problems of our time and we will interrogate applied research approaches to these issues.

This course will focus on models of decision science and solution identification in applied settings. It is a foundational course of the MA in Program Design & Evaluation provides online graduate-level education for students and community partners across sectors who seek to advance and study solutions related to the 'grand challenges' of our time through interdisciplinary, community-focused and evidence-based approaches to problem solving and solution identification, monitoring, and evaluation. The fully online program is a community focused problem solving and evaluation research degree equipping students with knowledge and skills to design and implement community-focused and research-based solutions to problems situated in social systems, and to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of those solutions.

This course will focus on various approaches to planning, scale up and measurement of projects or interventions. These topics and skills address important questions in the intervention or program context by answering questions such as: How do I plan a program and its implementation? What if I want to make my program bigger and serve a wider audience (scale)? This course will address these questions and provide opportunities to apply frameworks and methods of planning, implementation science and project scale up to improve programs and their outcomes.

This course will focus on the methods and tools of monitoring and evaluation used to address identified challenges or problems.

This course will focus on theories and practice of culturally responsive engagement with focus on instructor-selected diverse populations who have historically faced group-based social inequities (historically referred to as vulnerable such as Indigenous populations, women in prison, people who misuse drugs, transgender populations, refugee, and immigrant populations. Students will discuss approaches and issues related to engaging diverse populations in research, program evaluation, coalitions, and translation of evaluation findings.

This course will focus on models and methods of disseminating research findings to inform movement to address a challenge or problem. Students will learn about audience, audience- and goal-specific messaging framing, data analytics, and findings presentation. Stakeholder audiences such as funders, consumers, community-based organizations, government officials, and community members will be considered. Students will develop and apply skills to disseminate research through program and policy briefs using multimedia platforms.

Certificate in Community Based Participatory and Action Research

The Community Based Participatory and Action Research Certificate is a 12-credit, fully online, asynchronous certificate comprised of 7.5 week courses preparing students with a theoretical foundation to orient evaluation research along the continuum of community based participatory research and community based action research. 

This course will focus on models of decision science and solution identification in applied settings. It is a foundational course of the MA in Program Design & Evaluation provides online graduate-level education for students and community partners across sectors who seek to advance and study solutions related to the 'grand challenges' of our time through interdisciplinary, community-focused and evidence-based approaches to problem solving and solution identification, monitoring, and evaluation. The fully online program is a community focused problem solving and evaluation research degree equipping students with knowledge and skills to design and implement community-focused and research-based solutions to problems situated in social systems, and to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of those solutions.

This course will introduce students to the history and practice of community-based participatory and action research (CBP-AR). Students will explore the range of options for power sharing, translating research into action, and elements of community partner support and development while considering research within the CBP-AR framework.

This course will focus on theories and practice of culturally responsive engagement with focus on instructor-selected diverse populations who have historically faced group-based social inequities (historically referred to as vulnerable such as Indigenous populations, women in prison, people who misuse drugs, transgender populations, refugee, and immigrant populations. Students will discuss approaches and issues related to engaging diverse populations in research, program evaluation, coalitions, and translation of evaluation findings.

Building and sustaining partnerships and coalitions is a key dimension of enacting positive social change. This course will introduce students to the basic concepts, theories, and strategies surrounding partnership and coalition development, maintenance, and evaluation. Students will utilize an applied learning and case study approach to assess the way in which underlying concepts, theories, and strategies are put into practice by community-based organizations engaging in social change efforts. In doing so, students will actively work to understand how to develop coalitions and partnerships and successfully navigate the inevitable challenges that arise when working in collaboration and community. Throughout the course we will pay particular attention to the role evaluators play as members of partnerships and coalitions.

Certificate in Evaluation Research

The Evaluation Research Certificate is a 12-credit fully online, asynchronous certificate comprised of 7.5 week courses preparing students with a theoretical foundation and appreciation of evaluation research approaches used to create evidence about the effectiveness and implementation of social justice programs or interventions. 

This course will focus on the methods and tools of monitoring and evaluation used to address identified challenges or problems.

This elective course will expose students to the suite of approaches and tools used to plan and conduct applied research in community settings. Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed method approaches will be discussed.

This course will introduce students to the history and practice of community-based participatory and action research (CBP-AR). Students will explore the range of options for power sharing, translating research into action, and elements of community partner support and development while considering research within the CBP-AR framework.

This course will focus on models and methods of disseminating research findings to inform movement to address a challenge or problem. Students will learn about audience, audience- and goal-specific messaging framing, data analytics, and findings presentation. Stakeholder audiences such as funders, consumers, community-based organizations, government officials, and community members will be considered. Students will develop and apply skills to disseminate research through program and policy briefs using multimedia platforms.

Program Instruction

Faculty with expertise and decades of experience in community-focused, translational research from the Southwest Institute for Research on Women (SIROW) will provide online instruction and guidance. External experts will enhance course learning by sharing experiences and discussing focal issues of importance.

SIROW faculty have deep relationships with community organizations. They will facilitate the development of applied learning relationships for students. These faculty work in several areas such as economic disenfranchisement, immigration, social inclusion and equity, health-related disparities, LGBTQ civil liberties, harm reduction, homelessness, sexual health and HIV, gender equity, employment, and education equity, and criminal and juvenile justice.

SIROW is a regional resource and research institute renowned for collaborative and translational research focused on leveraging health and social equity through evidence.

Questions?

For more information about these graduate certificates, contact SIROW’s Director of Graduate Studies at dgssirow@arizona.edu.