Earn a certificate in Collegiate Athletics for Senior Leaders to support you in navigating the challenges and opportunities post-secondary leaders face in overseeing college athletics.

Collegiate athletics is at a crossroads. While athletic programs can provide countless benefits to students, the campus community, and the institution, athletic programs are also complex enterprises fraught with potential challenges. Senior campus administrators in colleges and universities must understand the athletics enterprise on their campus and be prepared to strategically respond to challenges and opportunities in ways that align with their institution’s goals and mission.

What Sets Us Apart

 Expert teaching faculty from Penn GSE
 Cohort model allows you to learn in community and expand your networks
 Deep, rich, and personal learning experiences made possible through live synchronous sessions

About the Program

Universities spend thousands of dollars on athletic consulting reports each year, hoping to gain insights into the challenges facing their athletic departments. In this time of economic uncertainty for many institutions, Penn GSE offers a different path. The Collegiate Athletics for Senior Leaders certificate program empowers you to learn what questions to ask (and what answers you need to know) to support a healthy, sustainable, and mission-aligned athletics department.

Program Start

September

Duration of Program

4 months 

Certificate offered

Penn GSE Certificate in Collegiate Athletics for Senior Leaders

Professional development

3 Continuing Education Units from Penn GSE

Programs for Working Professionals
Teacher Programs & Certifications
Overview

Senior campus administrators know the financial commitments made to provide a quality athletics experience on their campus are substantial. However, they often don’t understand why or how that commitment translates to other desirable campus outcomes. While athletic directors bring required expertise to their areas, they may lack the broader institutional mindfulness needed to support the athletics enterprise on their own. Ultimately, an institution’s senior campus administrators must understand the challenges, and opportunities, that an athletics program can offer an institution of higher education.

Each participant will leave the program with deeper insights into the athletics enterprise, allowing them to strategically contribute to the difficult, but necessary conversations beginning on college campuses surrounding the future of athletics.

To learn more details about this program, including information about the curriculum, please visit our application webpage.
 

Learn More & Apply

Virtual Institute I: The Student Athlete Experience

This institute lays the foundation for ethical supervision focused on the student-athlete experience. Learn what tools you have at your disposal, including best practices and approaches to support your athletics director. Is your institution sending clear messages to the campus community about what it values when it comes to athletics? Is your athletics director hiring the right people who align with those values? Are the student-athletes clear on the deliverables the coach (and, by extension, the institution) promised them as a recruit? Senior campus administrators are invited to enroll in this Virtual Institute either as a standalone program, or as a part of the Collegiate Athletics for Senior Leaders certificate program

Our Faculty

Karen Weaver

Adjunct Assistant Professor
Ed.D., University of Pennsylvania

Contact Us

For more information about the Collegiate Athletics for Senior Leaders certificate program, contact us at ProfessionalLearning@gse.upenn.edu