January 9, 2026
Carine Verschueren & Sam Lindgren
The Sustainable Futures Lab at the College of Education was created by Dr. Samantha Lindgren as a collaborative space to explore how education can respond to the intertwined challenges of climate change, environmental injustice, and social transformation. While our work began with research, it has increasingly expanded to include program development, teacher professional learning, and community engagement. The lab brings together faculty, doctoral and master’s students, educators, and community partners committed to sustainability and climate education in action.
As interest grows among teachers, school leaders, and education professionals seeking practical, justice-oriented and action-oriented approaches to sustainability and climate change education, we are excited to share the next step in this work. We are launching our new Graduate Certificate in Sustainability Education, designed to help aspiring and existing educators, school leaders, nonprofit professionals, policy advocates, and community changemakers integrate sustainability into their work. This certificate, along with some other sustainability education initiatives in the College of Education, was developed with support from the University of Illinois Provost’s Office through Investment for Growth funding.
This launch comes at a moment when educators across Illinois and beyond are being asked to engage more directly with climate change, sustainability, and environmental justice, often without sufficient preparation, time, or institutional support. Recent work within the Sustainable Futures Lab, including research with Illinois teachers and collaborations with graduate students and partners, highlights both the urgency of this moment and the need for sustained, accessible professional learning opportunities.
The Sustainability Education Graduate Certificate at the University of Illinois is a 12-credit, fully online program that can be completed in two or more semesters. The certificate combines a small set of core courses that ground students in sustainability education theory, systems thinking, and justice-oriented frameworks with a flexible set of electives that allow students to tailor the program to their professional interests. Core coursework introduces learners to the foundations and interdisciplinary perspectives on sustainability (including climate change), as well as its global and local challenges. The elective courses enable students to deepen their focus on areas such as teaching methods, indigenous perspectives and community engagement. Together, the curriculum balances conceptual foundations with applied learning, preparing participants to design, lead, and evaluate sustainability education initiatives in schools, higher education, nonprofits, and community settings.
The certificate can be standalone program, can stack into a future graduate degree in the department of Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, or as an add-on to current graduate students’ degree programs. Current faculty affiliated with the program include Dr. Jon Hale, Dr. Jennifer Johnson, Dr. Carine Verschueren, and Dr. Sam Lindgren.
Applications are now open, and courses begin Term B of this spring semester, in March 2026. To learn more about admission requirements, the curriculum, and the process for applying, visit: https://education.illinois.edu/epol/programs-degrees/sustainability/cert