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Graduate Certificate in Professional Ethics

A Four Course Graduate Certificate

The Program:

The graduate certificate in professional ethics will help you engage more fully with ethical issues in your professional life. This 12-hour certificate program will enhance your abilities to analyze arguments, your capacities to reason and express yourself clearly, your leadership skills, and your awareness of the ethical dimensions of work and public life. The certificate is available online or face-to-face and is open to all interested persons who hold a bachelor’s degree with a 3.0 minimum GPA.     

The certificate, offered through the Department of Philosophy at Texas State University, is a response to a wide and growing interest in the ethical dimensions of professional and public life. Participants strengthen their understanding of ethics and enhance their ability to recognize and respond to ethical issues in a wide variety of settings. The program emphasizes advanced critical thinking and writing skills, in-depth knowledge of the history, theory, principles and concepts of ethics, the ability to recognize and resolve ethical dilemmas, and the knowledge and skills necessary for ethical leadership.    

Students may complete the certificate fully on-line, fully face-to-face, or through a mix of on-line and face-to-face courses.

Course Requirements

The graduate certificate in Professional Ethics requires 12 semester credit hours – six hours of required course work (two courses), three hours of directed PHIL elective and three hours of elective course work. The required courses are PHIL 5322: Professional Ethics and PHIL 5301: Applied Philosophy.

The directed elective must be chosen from:

PHIL 5303: Philosophy of Technology

PHIL 5320: History of Ethics

PHIL 5323: Environmental Ethics

PHIL 5327 Medical Ethics and Bioethics

PHIL 5329: Food Ethics

PHIL 5360A: Ethics and Dementia

PHIL 5360B. Moral Psychology

PHIL 5360C. Philosophy, Nonviolence, Sustainability, and Social Change

PHIL 5395. Internship in Applied Philosophy

The elective course may be selected from any of the graduate courses in PHIL or REL.