The Humanitarian Action Certificate equips students with the knowledge and skills to serve the world’s most vulnerable people and the global church–by preparing them to meet today’s and tomorrow’s humanitarian and disaster-related challenges. The multi-disciplinary approach helps undergraduates discern their vocational calling and explore how a diverse range of majors and career paths can make a difference in critical issues such as refugee support, anti-human trafficking efforts, poverty alleviation, and disaster response. Through research, real-world engagement, and studying best practices, students learn to help others effectively, which includes taking rigorous faithful approaches and growing as humble leaders.
For undergraduates aspiring to delve deeper into humanitarian and disaster leadership, HDI also offers an accelerated M.A. in Humanitarian & Disaster Leadership (HDL) degree. This master’s degree is a launchpad into careers such as international humanitarian aid, domestic disaster relief, emergency management, anti-human trafficking, justice advocacy, refugee care, and missions.
Students who declare for the HACT and are also interested in the M.A. in Humanitarian & Disaster Leadership (HDL) degree will need to be accepted into the accelerated M.A. HDL program and take cross-listed HDL graduate level courses that will fulfill both their undergraduate Humanitarian Action Certificate requirements and can also apply toward their accelerated master’s degree.
Director, Kent Annan
Requirements for the Humanitarian Action Certificate are 20 credit hours1 as follows:
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Requirements 1 | ||
| Section A (Foundational with SPHERE Requirement (Select 1-2 courses, ranging from 0-6 credits) 2 | 0-6 | |
| Foundations of Humanitarian and Disaster Leadership | ||
| Organizing Emergency Humanitarian Assistance | ||
| Principles and Practices of Humanitarian Response | ||
| Section B - Concentration (Select 10-16 credits) 1 | 10-16 | |
| Transformational Development | ||
| Refugee and Forced Migration Issues | ||
| Disaster Management | ||
| NGO Leadership | ||
| Anti-Human Trafficking and Gender-Based Violence | ||
| Monitoring, Evaluation, and Program Design | ||
| Section C - Electives (Select 4-8 credits from any of the following) 1 | 4-8 | |
| Culture and Difference | ||
| The HNGR Certificate selection of electives (this includes courses in various departments i.e. SPAN, IR, ECON, BIO, etc.). Note: Students can select from these options even if not part of the HNGR Certificate, because this course list is also applicable to humanitarian action. | ||
| Global Health | ||
| Marginal Voices in Old Testament Studies | ||
| AIS: Nature, Environment, and Society | ||
| AIS: Gender and Global Health | ||
| Development Economics | ||
| Nature, Environment & Society | ||
| Topics in History (Indigenous Histories in the Majority World) | ||
| Politics of Global Development | ||
| Social Change in Latin America | ||
| Latin American Colonial Literature (1492-1800) | ||
| Modern Latin American Literature | ||
| Other 300- or 400-level courses related to humanitarian action from any department. Approval required by the Certificate in Humanitarian Action Program Director. The request for approval should include a description of how the course topic relates to the field of humanitarian action, as well as how the course relates to the student’s own potential integration of humanitarian action in their vocation. | ||
| Total Credits | 20 | |
- 1
The minimum and maximum number of credits for the certificate is 20.
- 2
HDI 401 should only be selected if neither HDI 404 nor 443 are selected.
Additional Options
In addition to a student taking the Humanitarian Action Certificate, here are two ways the certificate can pair with another certificate and/or a master’s program.
1. For HNGR students who want to pursue a Humanitarian Action Certificate
Students enrolled in the HNGR Certificate can also earn a Humanitarian Action Certificate by fulfilling the following requirements. (Note that the Human Needs and Global Resources (HNGR) Certificate has a separate process for application and admission.)
- Choose 12 credits from the Humanitarian Action core courses above
- Complete all course requirements for the HNGR Certificate
2. For students wanting to pursue a Humanitarian Action Certificate and the Accelerated MA in Humanitarian and Disaster Leadership
Students can both declare the (undergraduate) Humanitarian Action Certificate and apply for the Accelerated MA program. This requires an additional (simple) application through the Graduate Admissions Office. Accelerated MA students can take a maximum of eight credit hours of graduate courses per semester (and a maximum of 16 credits total) and can apply cross-listed HDI graduate level courses to the Humanitarian Action Certificate.
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