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Improve your personal creativity. Initiate and lead change in your industry. Advance your career as you learn theories, strategies, and methods that relate to the entire innovation process. You'll research, develop, problem solve, prototype, test, and more.
As a student in this online graduate certificate program, you will engage in creative collaboration centered around principles of inclusivity and diversity. You'll develop 21st century skills involving interdisciplinary communication and emerging technologies, co-design with users and stakeholders, create innovative products or experiences, and become a change leader.
After successfully completing this program, you will:
The field of design thinking refers to both the theoretical concepts and applied processes used to develop new products, tools, strategies, and frameworks. An iterative process by nature, human-centered design thinking seeks to understand how human beings can create increasingly better solutions to complex problems.
“Design thinking relies on our ability to be intuitive, to recognize patterns, to construct ideas that have emotional meaning as well as functionality, to express ourselves in media other than words or symbols. Nobody wants to run a business based on feeling, intuition, and inspiration, but an overreliance on the rational and the analytical can be just as dangerous.”Tim Brown, CEO of the innovation and design firm IDEO
Some of the leading companies in the design thinking market include:
No longer strictly associated with the design world, human-centered design thinking skills are now utilized across numerous industries and at all levels of organizations. According to Entrepreneur.com, design thinking is the most in-demand skill in the job market.
Between 2016 and 2018, recruiters seeking professionals with design thinking skills increased 200%, according to Rutgers. Companies actively implementing design thinking also outperformed the S&P Index by 219% over a 10-year period, as noted by the Design Management Institute.
Start gaining the advanced knowledge to grow in your current position or start down the path to pursue exciting new opportunities in career roles such as:
Complete your coursework at times that are convenient for you with CSU’s flexible online learning format. Study at your pace to gain career-building skills that put you ahead of the competition.
Learn in a highly interdisciplinary program from instructors in a wide range of different fields, including engineering, architecture, interior design, digital art, education, cognitive science, occupational therapy, communications, journalism, computer science, merchandising, and business. Instructors are leaders in immersive technology, forging a path toward understanding the potential for virtual reality to support the land grant mission of teaching, research, and community engagement.
This program is unique in that it is offered by the interdisciplinary Nancy Richardson Design Center within the College of Health and Human Sciences. Discover the power of collaboration and alternative ways of problem-solving when students from a variety of fields work together providing multiple perspectives that result in better, user-centered outcomes.
| Spring semester | November 15 |
Start your application online and upload materials directly into the online system. You can save your progress and return any time.
Apply NowThis is a cohort-based program. Cohorts typically begin on a yearly basis, but please contact the department representative to get details on the next start date before applying.
This graduate certificate program requires that students have a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited, four-year institution.
Complete the online graduate application and pay the nonrefundable application processing fee (payable online). As soon as you have completed the required information, please submit your application. Your application will not be reviewed until it is complete and all required materials have been received.
Request one official transcript from the institution where you earned your bachelor’s degree. Transcripts must be received directly from the originating institution to be considered official. Transcripts from Colorado State University are not required.
Electronic (preferred): Digital Transcripts must be submitted by the originating institution using a secure service such as parchment, eScrip-Safe, the National Student Clearinghouse, or e-Quals. Transcripts received via emails are considered unofficial. Use institution code 4075 for Colorado State University or gradadmissions@colostate.edu if the secure service requires an email address.
Mail (if necessary): Graduate Admissions Colorado State University – Office of Admissions 1062 Campus Delivery Fort Collins, CO 80523-1062
View your application status at any time to ensure your application checklist is complete or to check on updates.
Once your complete application, including supporting materials, is received, the department admission committee will review your application and notify you of their decision.
Proof of English language proficiency is required for applicants from countries or United States territories where there are official languages other than (or in addition to) English. This includes the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico.
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