A Certificate in Labor Leadership will develop your academic and professional skills to support worker-oriented public, non-profit or academic research or policy development, a career with a labor union or worker-focused organizations, or to build skills for workplace organizers. For those planning a career in public or private sector management, the program will build a stronger foundation for labor-management collaboration in organized workplaces. 

The Labor Leadership certificate is administered by the Center for New Directions in Politics and Policy, within the Department of Political Science. Some courses will be delivered through the New Directions weekend intensive format, taught by practitioners over the course of three weekends spaced several weeks apart. Others are offered by Political Science faculty through standard weekly courses offered in-person or remotely over the course of a full term. All courses provide students with political context and address intersections with other social issues and movements, such as race, immigration and gender equity. 

Students must have an undergraduate degree in any field to pursue the Graduate level Labor Certificate (an Undergraduate Certificate is available for students without bachelor’s degrees). It can be earned as a stand-alone university certificate or pursued while earning a graduate degree in Political Science, the applied degree through New Directions or another CU Denver program (check with your home program advisor). A certificate is an excellent way to explore whether you'd like to pursue a full master's degree. For students who enroll as non-degree seeking, up to all 12 of your non-degree certificate credits could be transferred into a full Political Science or applied Political Science New Directions Master's Degree program, upon departmental approval and acceptance into the graduate program. 

These program requirements are subject to periodic revision by the academic department, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences reserves the right to make exceptions and substitutions as judged necessary in individual cases. Therefore, the College strongly urges students to consult regularly with the New Directions director at NewDirections@ucdenver.edu, and/or their Certificate advisor.