Doctoral certificate programs are open to enrolled PhD students. These programs are designed to extend expertise into interdisciplinary areas and to certify training beyond the home Ph.D. discipline. They promise to advance student careers as well as promote intellectual exchange and community in these academic areas.  

To pursue a certificate program, a student must have the support of the department in which they are pursuing the doctoral degree and the program offering the certificate. Certificates typically require three to five courses and sometimes require a substantial piece of written work, internship, practicum, or other project. The programs are offered at no charge to eligible doctoral students.

Successful completion of the requirements of the certificate program will be recognized on the Brown University transcript with a notation indicating the field of this advanced study. Although approved programs may be informally described as “certificates,” no separate document will be awarded by the Registrar.

Approved Doctoral Certificate Programs

Africana Studies
Department/Unit: Department of Africana Studies
Director of Certificate Program:  Françoise Hamlin 

Collaborative Humanities  
Department/Unit: Cogut Center for the Humanities
Director of Certificate Program: Amanda Anderson

Data Science
Department/Unit: Data Science Initiative (Division of Applied Mathematics and the Departments
of Biostatistics, Computer Science, and Mathematics)
Directors of Certificate Program:  Jeff Brock (Director of the DSI), Carsten Binnig (Associate Director, Graduate
Program Director), Alice Lux Fawzi (Associate Director) 

Gender and Sexuality Studies
Department/Unit: Pembroke Center
Director of Certificate Program: Drew Walker

Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Department/Unit: Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs 
Director of Certificate Program: Jessaca Leinaweaver 

Public Humanities 
Department/Unit: John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage/ Department of American Studies
Directors of Certificate Program: Susan Smulyan, Director, Center for Public Humanities; Professor, American Studies, will advise on courses; Ronald Potvin, Assistant Director for Professional Programs, Center for Public Humanities, will supervise the practicums.

Science and Technology Studies
Department/Unit: Science and Technology Studies
Director of Certificate Program: Joan Richards 

Spatial Analysis  
Department/Unit: Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences (S4)
Director of Certificate Program: Rachel Franklin

Proposing a Program

Programs interested in proposing a certificate program are invited to read guidelines for doctoral certificates and to contact Thomas A. Lewis, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs.