Diversity, Equity & Inclusivity Graduate Certificate
The Diversity, Equity & Inclusivity (DEI) Graduate Certificate Program prepares educators who keep social justice, equity and democratic education at the center of their practice.
Finish in 9 to 12 months. This program is offered fully online.
Upcoming Application Deadlines
- Spring Semester: January 1, 2025
- Summer Semester: May 1, 2025
- Fall Semester: August 1, 2025
15-credit Graduate Certificate in DEI
The Diversity, Equity & Inclusivity (DEI) Graduate Certificate Program is designed to foster the skills educators need to respond to the realities, demands and challenges of educational spaces while keeping a focus on equity, social justice, diversity and accessibility.
This program includes late afternoon, evening and weekend online course options and is ideal for working professionals. Pursuing a 15-credit graduate certificate may qualify Massachusetts educators for a salary lane change (master's+15 credits).
Why Stonehill?
- Certificate program courses offered fully online
- DEI program based on award-winning faculty research
- Faculty with well-established expertise in the field
- Specialized student support framework guides students through program requirements and career preparation
- Social justice mission reflected throughout student experience
Be a Change Agent
Stonehill's graduate study in diversity, equity and inclusivity includes impactful courses that help educators recognize and disrupt inequity and injustice in educational settings. Our curriculum keeps inclusivity central to how we prepare educators, using equity as a critical lens for their work.
The 15-to-18-credit Diversity, Equity & Inclusivity Graduate Certificate features a selection of courses designed to prepare educators to create classroom environments that encompass a range of student needs and are rich with differences.
This course introduces students to the reality of schools as diverse spaces encompassing a range of student needs and examines efforts to ensure equity in education. Issues of race, class, culture, language, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, and ability will be discussed & examined, especially how they intersect to reproduce inequality. Students will reflect on individual beliefs in relation to social justice education and democratic education and examine unintended consequences of policy/practice that create or perpetuate inequitable environments and opportunities in schools. Strategies for promoting educational equity and inclusivity will be discussed.
This course will examine intersectionality and the complex racial, gendered, and class-based dimensions that perpetuate inequitable environments and opportunities in schools. We will explore critical race theory (CRT) and its theoretical relevance as a framework to examine and challenge disparate educational opportunities for students of color. The course will offer an examination of the policies, procedures, and structures that perpetuate disproportionality and overrepresentation. This course will analyze assumptions about race, gender, and class, as well as how these dynamics play out in U.S. public schooling and history through political, sociological, theoretical, and pedagogical lenses.
This course will disability through the lens of democratic education. The concepts of equity, ableism, and “othering” will be examined through philosophical educational theories to unpack pervasive disagreement about the best methods for improving outcomes for students with disabilities. The course will explore repositioning schools as democratic spaces where diversity and individuality can be enhanced and better understood. Theories of democracy and democratic education will be explored as a means of a more socially just orientation of disability.
This course will examine the complexities of gender, identity, expression, and sexual orientation in schools, as well as how their interrelated dynamics and complexities unfold in the history of U.S. schools to present day. The course will explore the concepts of identity development and school structures that disenfranchise non-binary and LGBTQA+ students and examine constructions of gender identity, sexuality, and equality and binary/nonbinary conceptions. The course will examine inclusivity and exclusion through an examination of gender models, perpetuation of stereotypes, and implicit biases. The course analyzes key conceptual and methodological frameworks of gender, class, sexuality, power, and intersectionality.
This course focuses on race, religion, culture, and language through the lens of social justice education. This course will unpack bias and explore the diverse ways in which power and traditional structures intersect with different cultural, social, and religious practices. We will examine strategies for designing and creating safety in classrooms, schools, educational spaces, and communities which honor students’ cultural backgrounds and lived experiences. The course will explicitly examine privilege, equity, and cultural responsiveness in educational spaces.
Internship experience (optional).
Studying Inclusive Education at Stonehill
Stonehill College's graduate teacher education programs prepare educators to lead inclusive learning environments. The College offers master's degree, teacher licensure, community education, and graduate certificate program options, and our focus on educational equity and diversity helps prepare educators for the modern classroom. Our program tenets include anti-oppressive education, social justice education and democratic education, and we work to reflect these principles in all aspects of our work.
Graduate Teacher Education at Stonehill
Stonehill College's graduate teacher education programs aim to prepare knowledgeable, reflective, caring and flexible educators who embrace learning, scholarship, community and advocacy in their work. Social justice and democratic education are at the center of our work and underpins all programs, courses and experiences. We believe education can disrupt systems and processes that perpetuate injustice and inequity and embrace diversity and individuality as strengths.
We advance our mission by modeling the creation of democratic spaces in the graduate classroom that reflect equitable, accessible and inclusive learning environments where students' voices and perspectives help to shape the construction and the provision of their learning.
Three tenets guide our program philosophy:
- Social justice education
- Democratic education
- Anti-oppressive education
Graduate Teacher Education Program Outcomes
Our graduates
- Foster care, connection and community with students, colleagues and families
- Promote inclusivity, diversity and equity in educational spaces
- Work to disrupt systems that perpetuate oppression and inequity
- Embrace teaching practices that foster social justice and democracy
- Lead by making education accessible for all learners
- Elevate student voices and perspectives in education
- Act purposefully to continue to learn and contribute to the profession
Rigorous Academics and the Support to Succeed
Stonehill’s graduate teacher education programs recognize the challenges graduate students face in prioritizing work, family, personal and graduate school commitments. Our Graduate Student Support, Access and Success (SSAS) Framework is designed to support students’ success from program start to finish.
Specifically, this approach provides:
- A proactive vs. reactive framework for supporting graduate students’ variable needs within their program
- Clear benchmarks for assessment of candidate readiness
From the admission process to graduation, students have a clear understanding of both expectations and the support available to help them achieve their goals.
Contact Information
Graduate & Professional Studies Admission assists students as they explore graduate and professional opportunities offered at Stonehill College.