Global Leadership

Washington State University’s online undergraduate Certificate in Global Leadership prepares you to join the next generation of global leaders and thinkers. It focuses on three crucial competencies: intercultural understanding, civic engagement, and leadership in a global context. The broad range of course options lets you create the learning plan that best advances your goals.

The 15-credit certificate requires three one-credit core courses: leadership development, experiential learning, and a capstone project. The remaining 12 credits can be selected from a wide array of globally related coursework.

All courses are online, and you can earn the certificate without being admitted to a WSU degree program.

Program of Study—15 semester credits

All courses are available online
The 15-credit certificate requires three core courses and four electives from related areas

Required Courses

3 semester credits; each course is 1 credit. Courses must be taken in this order:

  1. UNIV 497 – Peer Leadership
  2. UNIV 490 – Global Leadership Experience
  3. UNIV 491 – Global Leadership Integrative Capstone

Elective courses

12 semester credits; choose four courses from the following

At least six credits must be upper-division 300/400-level. With approval of advisor, other applicable credits can be from education abroad, relevant coursework, and up to four credits of foreign language at or above 200-level.

  • ACCTG 420 Accounting and Culture
  • ANIM_SCI 205 [BSCI] Companion Animal Nutrition
  • ANTH/WGSS 316 [DIVR] – Gender in Cross Cultural Perspective
  • ANTH 203 [DIVR] Global Cultural Diversity
  • ANTH 260 [BSCI] Introduction to Biological Anthropology
  • ANTH 350 [DIVR] – Speech, Thought, and Culture
  • ANTH 404 [CAPS] – The Self in Culture
  • ANTH 405 Medical Anthropology
  • ANTH 418 – Human Issues in International Development
  • BIOLOGY 307 [DIVR] Biology of Women
  • BIOLOGY 330 – Principles of Conservation
  • BIOLOGY 372 [M] – General Ecology
  • BIOLOGY 401 [CAPS] Plants and People
  • CES 209 [HUM] Hip Hop Around the Globe
  • COM 105 [HUM] Communication in Global Contexts
  • CRIM_J 205 [DIVR] – Realizing Justice in a Multicultural Society
  • CROP_SCI 360 – World Agricultural Systems
  • DTC/ENGLISH 475 [DIVR] – Digital Diversity
  • ECONS 101 [SSCI] – Fundamentals of Microeconomics
  • ECONS 102 [SSCI] – Fundamentals of Macroeconomics
  • ECONS 326 Aspects of Sustainable Development
  • ECONS 327 International Trade and Finance
  • ECONS 426 Transportation Economics and Supply Chain Analysis
  • ECONS 428 [DIVR] Global Capitalism Today: Perspectives and Issues
  • FOR_LANG 101 [HUM] – Introduction to the World of Languages
  • FOR_LANG 110 [DIVR] – Introduction to Global Film
  • FOR_LANG 120 [HUM] – Introduction to Foreign Cultures
  • HBM 235 [SSCI] Travel, Society, and Business
  • H_D 350 [DIVR] – Family Diversity
  • H_D 403 [CAPS] – Families in Poverty
  • HISTORY 495 [CAPS] Space, Place, and Power in History: Historical Geography in Global Perspective
  • HUMANITIY 350 – Sacred Texts and Cultures of World Religions
  • I_BUS 380 – International Business
  • I_BUS 453 [M] – International Management
  • I_BUS 470 – International Trade and Finance
  • I_BUS 482 [M] – International Marketing
  • MBIOS 320 [BSCI] DNA and Society
  • MIS 441 – Global E-Commerce
  • MUS 262 [ARTS] Rock Music: History and Social Analysis
  • POL_S 102 [SSCI] – Introduction to Comparative Politics
  • POL_S 103 [SSCI] – International Politics
  • POL_S 418 – Human Issues in International Development
  • SOC 102 [SSCI] – Social Problems
  • SOC 332 [SSCI] Sustainability and Society
  • SOC 418 Human Issues in International Development
  • SOE 110 [BSCI] – The Environment, Human Life, and Sustainability
  • SOE 285 – The Science and Policy of Climate Change
  • SOE 312 [DIVR] Natural Resources, Society, and the Environment
  • SOE 315 Water and the Earth
  • SOE 390 Living on the Edge: Global Climate Change and Earth History
  • SOE 404 [CAPS] [M] The Ecosystem
  • SOIL_SCI 360 World Agricultural Systems
  • WGSS 316 [DIVR] Gender in Cross Cultural Perspective

Awarding of the Certificate

At the beginning of the student’s final semester of coursework, the student should apply for the certificate through myWSU. This will notify the Registrar’s Office to confer the certificate. Here’s how: From the myWSU Student Homepage, select Academic Advising, then Apply to Graduate. The certificate should display as an option to select to Apply for Graduation. Certificates require a separate graduation application and are mailed separately from diplomas.