As a health and wellness management professional, you know the importance of meeting people where they are in their health journey. Along with mental, physical, financial, and social aspects of health, our immediate environments and communities have a meaningful impact on our well-being.
For example, consider how the performance of employees located in a well ventilated office with plenty of natural light might compare to employees working in a cluttered space, at poorly configured desks, under fluorescent lighting. While that may be a simple example, the implications are real. This is how sustainability initiatives, such as a better understanding of the built environment and community design, contribute to health and wellness management goals.
Educators and industry leaders have recognized that these two disciplines intersect. By filtering your wellness expertise through the lens of sustainability, you can become a stronger asset to the current and future health of colleagues and community members.
A graduate-level certificate, like the 100% online UW Sustainability and Well-being Certificate program, is your leg up in progressing sustainability-minded health and wellness initiatives. Here are six reasons to pursue the certificate:
#1 Gain Sustainability Skills
The UW Sustainability and Well-being Certificate is a joint offering from the UW Master’s in Health and Wellness Management and the UW Master’s in Sustainable Management. You’ll take a total of four courses—two from each program—to complete the certificate. This unique partnership allows you to get two programs bundled in one.
Courses are offered 100% online with no required in-person lecture times. Chosen to provide an education in both sustainability and health and wellness management, you will complete the following courses:
- HWM 700: Contemporary Health and Wellness Perspectives
- HWM 770 Behavior and Development of Organizations
- SMGT 750: The Built Environment
- SMGT 780: Corporate Social Responsibility
#2 The Certificate Is Less of a Time Commitment
Finding the time (and motivation) to go back to school doesn’t come easy. Right now might not make sense for you to commit to a master’s program that may take two years or more to complete. The UW Sustainability and Well-being Certificate can be completed in one year (two courses per semester). In fact, the pace of the certificate is completely up to you. There is at least one course offered every Fall, Spring, and Summer semester.
#3 Coursework Applies Toward Master’s Degree
The UW Sustainability and Well-being Certificate courses are part of the UW Master’s in Health and Wellness Management and UW Master’s in Sustainable Management curriculum. This means once admitted to either program, you will have already completed two courses. You will also be familiar with the pacing and structure of the online courses, because you’ll have experience learning from UW faculty and working within Canvas, our learning management system. Earning a master’s degree and an additional credential can boost your appeal to hiring managers.
#4 Learn From Expert UW Faculty and Industry Leaders
Through the unique partnership between UW Health and Wellness Management and UW Sustainable Management, the UW Sustainability and Well-being Certificate relies on the expertise of faculty and instructors across the UW System. This way, you earn a certificate that has received input from health and wellness management and sustainability leaders from across the UW System.
Assignments, readings, discussions, and projects, are deliberately created for you to engage in real-world applications concerning sustainable community design, organizational behavior, methods for positive change, Corporate Social Responsibility metrics, and more.
For example, the SMGT 750: The Built Environment course includes a project where you stroll through a part of your hometown or current location and observe the general layout of the area, ease of access, pedestrian egress, public transportation, and more. Then, you assess the overall sustainability of the area in a research paper, supported by photos, charts, and any known community sustainability plans.
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#5 Connect with Peers and Form Professional Networks
Your learning doesn’t stop after turning in an assignment. As a certificate student, you will be enrolled in courses with other certificate peers, as well as master’s students in the UW Health and Wellness Management and UW Sustainable Management programs. You’ll have many opportunities to engage with those in your current field of interest, as well as with sustainability professionals who are eager to learn about how health and wellness management impacts their work. During and after your time in the certificate program, these professional peer networks can open doors to new jobs, ideas, and collaborations.
#6 The Certificate Can Take You Farther
Some sustainability-focused health and wellness management roles are not considered within a traditional organization structure. Make a case for it! The four courses within the UW Sustainability and Well-being Certificate provide the foundational knowledge needed to make such initiatives a reality—like how a master’s graduate helped transform UW-Stevens Point into a breastfeeding friendly campus.
Earning this certificate may be the push for management to understand that you are not only serious about advancement, but also fully capable of taking on the responsibilities.
Interested in being a more effective leader within the space of sustainability and health and wellness management? Learn more about the UW Sustainability and Well-being Certificate admission requirements, or talk with one of our enrollment advisers. To get started, call 608-800-6762, email learn@uwex.edu, or schedule an advising call via Calendly.