Electives, Internships and Capstone Projects

Electives

The communities of the Bay Area are home to a startling number of environmental organizations, insitutions, and non-profits that offer world-renowned educational opportunities. Dominican has formed professional partnerships with a wide-variety of these local organizations, including Environmental Forum of Marin, Farallones Institute, Lawrence Hall of Science, UC Berkeley, the Bay Institute, Save the Bay, PG&E Energy Center, and Bioneers, among many others.

It is part of the innovative-quality of this program that Certificate participants complete their electives units through workshops, training courses, and seminars offered by these partnering organizations. By taking part in a number of skill-building programs, participants enhance their practical knowledge and expertise in their chosen area of focus. These skills can range from LEED inspection to landscape design, from green business development to creating sustainability-influenced curriculum.

The specialized Electives component represents the bulk of our particpants' course work, allowing them to spend this valuable time developing the skills important to them. For a complete list of partnering organizations or more information about fulfilling electives requirements, please contact our office.

Internship or Capstone Project

After completing the tailored electives described above, each student will work with Dominican University to plan an internship work experience or a capstone project. The purpose of this component is to use the knowledge and skills gained in the student’s previous experiences to put them to use, effecting real change in both their own lives and the surrounding community before even graduating from the program.

Internship

In close collaboration with Strategic Energy Innovations (SEI), Dominican University has built a large network of partnering environmental organizations with which students can intern. We make sure that students opting to complete an internship are able to do so with an organization engaged in the important work specific to their interests. This final program component will offer students the chance to gain real-world work experience in their field. After completion of the internship, the participant is ready to graduate our program!

Capstone

Those opting to do a capstone project will design their project with the help of Dominican and SEI staff. This project can be devoted to a professional endeavor already underway, or can be designed from scratch with the help of Dominican and support from community partners. Depending on the scope of the project, participants can work on it alone or partner with fellow students and community partners. Examples of capstone projects are: working on greening the energy consumption of your business, implementing environmental curriculum into your classroom, and working with a neighborhood committee to enhance the use and maintenance of your local park.