Graduate Certificate in Great Plains Studies

Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers a graduate certificate in Great Plains Studies,
an interdisciplinary program for professional or personal enrichment. This certificate is for students interested in taking a concentration of courses from a number of disciplines focusing on a common topic, the Great Plains.

Requirements

Graduate students must meet requirements for admission to the WSU Graduate School in a degree program or nondegree category A status. They must have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.000 for all courses comprising the graduate certificate program with no grade below C. The Graduate School does not accept transfer credit for certificate programs.

By the end of the student鈥檚 final semester, the student should submit to the coordinator at least 3 works that demonstrate the application of the concepts, issues, and topics of Great Plains Studies. Examples of these works may be a thesis, a conference paper or poster, a novel, a play, a work of non-fiction, a historic tour, historic performance, museum exhibit, policy paper, fieldwork notes, or collaborative event with a community or scholarly organization.

Students complete 15 hours of coursework with at least two courses from the following areas:

Physical

  • GEOL 560 Geomorphology (3)
  • GEOL 562 Regional Geology of the United States (3)
  • GEOL 640 Field Geology (6).
  • BIOL 503 Taxonomy and Geography of Flowering Plants
  • BIOL 532 Entomology (3)
  • BIOL 560 & 561, Plant Ecology (3)
  • BIOL 575 Field Ecology (3)
  • BIOL 610 Ecosystem Management & Restoration (3)

Biology course rotation is as follows

 

 

Course

Semester Taught

Biol 499-Undergraduate Research

Every semester, need faculty mentor

Biol 503-Field Botany

Every summer (first 4 weeks of term)

Biol 532-Entomology

Fall of odd years

Biol 560-Plant Ecology (we combined the lecture 560 & lab 561 into 1 course)

Fall of odd years

Biol 575-Field Ecology

No longer offered

Biol 610-Topics in Botany

This course is used as needed.  Biol 610 will always have a letter following the number.  If we teach a Topics in Botany course it will be in our course rotation.

 

Cultural

  • ENGL 576: Advanced Studies in the Graphic Novel (3)
  • ANTH 612 Indians of the Great Plains (3)
  • ANTH 613 Archaeology of the Great Plains (3)
  • HIST 528 History of Wichita (3)
  • HIST 535 History of Kansas (3)
  • HIST 519 Introduction to Local and Community History (3)

Courses whose content may emphasize the Great Plains, depending on instructor and semester, may be counted toward the Certificate provided they meet the proposed distribution requirements.

Any substitution of the listed course must be approved by the coordinator and must meet the subject domain distribution requirement.

Courses that do not meet the learning outcomes of the Certificate will be taken off the approved course list.