University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
PAE-21: Sustainability in Continuing Education

Together Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and cartography provide indispensable tools for governance, society, commerce, and environmental management. The need for basic and applied research in these fields has never been greater and decision makers today rely on geospatial intelligence to manage natural and cultural resources, retail trade, coordinate emergency response, enforce laws, and conduct military operations. The GIS Center offers two, one year certificate programs. The Focal GIS Certificate is designed for students that desire to concentrate on GIS coursework suited to a particular professional field or application area, including 1)Forestry, 2)Urban & Regional Planning and 3)Environmental Management. The WI Center for Environmental Education offers an Energy Education certificate through UWSP. the certificate is available to practicing K-12 teachers. Other continuing education certificates include: •Entrepreneurship Training Program—24 hour certificate program around business planning; non-credit •We have a Project Management Certificate program that is entirely online. This is not directly related to sustainability, but has aspects that could pertain to economic, environmental or social sustainability, depending on the types of projects that are undertaken. This is a non-credit program that is online, but individualized for the participant depending on their particular project management needs. •Not certificate programs but both graduate programs below have the same Theme “Building Better Communities at UWSP"): *Nutritional Sciences (Courses include: Sustainable Food Systems, Research in Community Nutrition and Recent Advances in Community Nutrition) *Human and Community Resources (Focus is on non-profit leadership. Courses include: Collaborative Leadership in Community Development and Best Practices in Program Development)

UWSP Continuing Education promotes life-long learning by providing a variety of innovative, educational programs and activities that focus on professional development and personal enrichment for learners of all ages. 125 courses were offered at UWSP in 2011, of which 18 were related to sustainability. University of Wisconsin-Extension is a unique partnership of counties, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Wisconsin working together to help people put knowledge to work. It reflects the vision that has become known as The Wisconsin Idea. This partnership brings education to people where they live, through Extension offices, in each of Wisconsin's counties. It supports educational programs for farmers, businesses, communities, families and young people. UW-Extension uses education to help people understand and solve problems. Educational programs developed and conducted by county-based educators reflect local concerns. They apply knowledge from the University of Wisconsin, other universities and the United States Department of Agriculture. Extension specialists on campuses of the University of Wisconsin System teach, conduct applied research and interpret research of other scholars in response to local and state needs. These specialists provide statewide educational leadership in their disciplines and serve as resource people to extension offices, state agencies, the legislature, professional associations, business and industry and other state and national groups. The Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Technology offers courses ranging from papermaking processes, to introductions to sustainable energy, bioplastics, life cycle assessment, green chemistry, and business modeling.