Designed to be a transformative experience for graduate students and professionals, this program covers the practice and theory of leading groups through collaborative decision-making. Through a series of four courses, students will learn:

• approaches to participatory planning and collaborative decision-making that are supported by sound scholarship
• communication and leadership skills for designing and leading productive meetings
• dialogic practices for developing and maintaining constructive working relationships and managing conflict
• proven frameworks selecting or designing engagement processes for organizations, stakeholders, or whole communities
• a wide range of tools and techniques for engaging small and large groups to address conflicts, explore alternatives and inform policy
• principles and practices that move groups toward sustainable action that changes lives

Courses are presented in a hybrid format, with some offered online and others face-to-face. Students will interact regularly with each other and leaders in the field. 

This certificate may connect with one or more master degree programs. At the recommendation of the academic program, students may apply credits earned through this graduate certificate completion towards a graduate program at Kansas State University, provided that all Graduate School policies are fulfilled.