The University of Minnesota Board of Regents approved three new certificate programs for the fall 2025 semester at their Feb. 13 meeting. 

The College of Continuing and Professional Studies (CCAPS) will offer certificates in sexual health education and real estate, while the College of Design (CDES) will offer a certificate in design thinking. 

The programs still need to be approved by the Higher Learning Committee before the next academic year. 

Sexual Health Education

CCAPS will offer a post-bachelor certificate in sexual health education, similar to the existing human sexuality certificate already offered by the college. 

Ritu Saksena, the CCAPS senior associate dean, said they developed the new certificate program after students expressed an increased interest in sexual health education.

“Last year we had a host of listening sessions for our students in all of the graduate programs,” Saksena said. “It was me and my staff wanting to hear directly from students, what was it that we could do and improve and just to better the students’ experience overall.”

The certificate works in partnership with the medical school. The 12-credit graduate program will introduce a new course focusing on the different perspectives and practices of sexual health education, Saksena said. 

Students will receive a certification from the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists after completing the program.

Real Estate

Peter Hilger, a CCAPS instructor and director of the construction management curriculum, said CCAPS offers several courses in real estate that are very popular among students. The certificate will focus on property sales and management. 

Real estate has become an increasingly popular subject, and it made sense for the program to take place in CCAPS, Hilger said.

“The college has been the house for the U’s applied programs and specialties, like construction,” Hilger said. “That’s a very specific discipline, things like services management, IT infrastructure, these are all directly connected and endorsed by (this) industry.”

The college has offered courses on real estate, including a course about real estate finance, since 2015 and they have maintained nearly full enrollment, Hilger said. 

CCAPS is not the only home to real estate courses. The Humphrey School, the department of Urban Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and the Carlson School of Management all offer courses in real estate. 

Hilger said the program will focus on several skills outside the working environment. 

“In the classroom, we’re teaching time, cost and quality,” Hilger said. “That’s the fundamentals of project management.”

The 19-credit program includes no new courses, as it will be outlined by preexisting courses in the college.

Design Thinking

Design thinking is the newest program in CDES, according to Juanjuan Wu, the associate dean for academic programming in CDES. The undergraduate program is designed for students from all disciplines. 

“It’s intended to provide a foundation of graphic design to students without going through a four-year program,” Wu said. “So it’s supplemental and it’s meant to be. They take this graphic design program to enhance their credentials.”

The design thinking course contains two required, pre-existing courses — principles of design and foundations of graphic studio.

Electives include typography, storytelling and design, color and design, illustration and text, and image history of graphic design. 

Wu said the program was created to understand the needs of the changing design industry. 

“Think about what programs would be attractive to the next generation of students,” Wu said. “In terms of the direction and what modalities might appeal to them, might reach them, might have a broad impact.”

The certificate will be fully online, as the college has been exploring online classes since they are often more appealing to students, Wu said. 

“The future is really, really deep-rooted in the design discipline and people are thinking that it is going to be effective if we’re going to teach online,” Wu said.

They hope to appeal to students across the world with online options.