MAPSS Optional Graduate Certificates

Applied Social Science in Industry

The Applied Social Science in Industry Graduate Certificate provides a structured opportunity through which students learn about ways that social science is utilized outside the academy and explore possible career paths in the non-profit, for-profit, and/or government sectors. The certificate is designed to complement students’ MA training, allowing them to obtain requisite skills for specific career paths, learn to communicate their academic training to non-academic audiences, and connect with MAPSS alumni in the non-profit, for-profit, and/or government sectors through Alumni Career Mentor workshops, employer information sessions, career conferences, and Fellows in Industry courses. 

Learn more about the Applied Social Science in Industry Graduate Certificate.

For questions about the Applied Social Science in Industry Certificate, please contact MAPSS Director Darcy Hughes Heuring (darcy@uchicago.edu).

Computational Social Science

The Computational Social Science Certificate—offered by the Masters in Computational Social Science program–provides an innovative, cutting-edge approach to computational skills valuable to students looking to deepen their research skills or develop a competitive portfolio for industry positions. The certificate is designed to complement the student’s training at the University of Chicago, allowing them to broaden their methodological expertise and apply this across a range of social scientific domains.

Learn more the Computational Social Science Certificate.

For more information on the Computational Social Science Certificate or the required September Boot Camps, please contact Associate Senior Instructional Professor in Computational Social Science Jon Clindaniel (jclindaniel@uchicago.edu).

If you’d like to see an example curriculum of a student who earned the Computational Social Science Certificate while pursuing the MAPSS-Psychology Pathway, please check out our Example Curricula.

Education and Society

The Education and Society Certificate—offered by the Committee on Education—builds on the broad expertise of Committee on Education faculty across the University whose work probes questions of fundamental significance to education. Students pursing this certificate complete courses in a range of social science fields that regard educational questions from diverse disciplinary perspectives.

At the heart of the Education and Society curriculum is a concern with how schools reconcile the tasks of child and youth cognitive development, identity formation, and socialization with the changing role of schooling in society and widespread concerns about social inequality and mobility. Completing a certificate in Education and Society will prepare students for PhD study in education or for professional positions at research institutions, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations.

Please note that MAPSS students who wish to earn the Education and Society Certificate must complete a thesis (not a capstone). Review the difference between a thesis and a capstone on MAPSS’s “General Curriculum” page.

Learn more about the Education and Society Certificate.

For questions regarding completing the Education and Society Certificate, please contact Lisa Rosen, Director of Instructional Programs, at rosen@uchicago.edu.

If you’d like to see an example curriculum of a student who earned the Education and Society Certificate while pursuing a history pathway, please check out our Example Curricula.

Environment, Geography and Urbanization

The Environment, Geography and Urbanization Certificate—offered by the Committee on Environment, Geography and Urbanization (CEGU)—provides students an opportunity to develop advanced training in environmental social science and environmental humanities, with a particular focus on the histories, geographies, and spatial dynamics of contemporary socio-environmental problems. The certificate coursework focuses on how socio-environmental transformations emerge through the interconnected dynamics of production and consumption; urbanization, agro-food systems, resource extraction, land use change, and associated conflicts; environmental governance and political contestation; systems of waste management; and the evolving knowledge practices through which environmental change is experienced, represented, and shaped. 

Learn more about the Environment, Geography and Urbanization Certificate.

Please contact Tess Conway, CEGU Student Affairs Administrator, at tconway@uchicago.edu with questions about the Environment, Geography and Urbanization Certificate.

Gender and Sexuality Studies

The Gender and Sexuality Studies Certificate--offered by the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality (CSGS)--allows students in a variety of programs to deepen their academic interest in gender and/or sexuality. The interdisciplinary nature of the subject can lead to academic exploration above and beyond the student’s specific course of study. Students can select relevant courses across departments and divisions to expand their knowledge of gender and sexuality.

Learn more about the Gender and Sexuality Studies Certificate and whom to contact with questions regarding the certificate.

Latin American and Caribbean Studies

UChicago is a premier institution for research, teaching, and graduate study in the histories, cultures, politics, economies, and languages of Latin America and the Caribbean. More than 50 faculty members throughout the graduate divisions and professional schools at UChicago focus their teaching and/or research on Latin America and the Caribbean, offering a wide range of disciplinary and regional coverage.

The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) offers a Latin American and Caribbean Studies Certificate (LACS), open to all graduate students at the University. MAPSS students completing the LACS certificate forge close ties with faculty, participate in the Center’s many conferences and events, and complete thesis or capstone research in Latin America or the Caribbean.

Learn more about the Latin American and Caribbean Studies certificate.

Questions about the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Certificate should be directed to LACS Program Adviser and Associate Instructional Professor Diana Schwartz Francisco (dischwartz@uchicago.edu).

Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity

The Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity Certificate—offered by the Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity (RDI)—provides UChicago graduate students an opportunity to receive training in the concepts and categories that orient the study of race, diaspora, and Indigeneity. These three foundational concepts have shaped the modern world and continue to reverberate in contemporary thought, action, culture, and policy. Given the interdisciplinary and transnational approaches needed to study race, diaspora, and Indigeneity rigorously, the certificate program allows students to examine these concepts above and beyond the specific course of study initially set out for UChicago’s graduate students.

Learn more about the Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity Certificate.

For questions about the Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity Certificate, please reach out to Senior Department & Student Affairs Administrator Jacqueline Gaines (jgaines@uchicago.edu).

If you’d like to see an example curriculum of a student who earned the Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity Certificate while pursuing an other / interdisciplinary pathway), please check out our Example Curricula.