Students must complete 20 graduate credits, including 8 credits of core courses and 12 credits of courses selected from the list of electives. All certificate program courses must be taken for a letter grade (A-F).
Please note that most GIS courses have prerequisites. See this document for the GIS course sequences. Students are required to follow the sequences to complete the courses. You can use the PSU course projection guide (https://app.banner.pdx.edu/cpg/) to plan for your course of study in the program.
Students have up to 3 years to complete the Certificate program. Only courses taken within 3 years of the program completion date can be used to fulfill the program requirements.
GEOG 588/USP 591 GIS I: Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and concurrent registration in GEOG 588L/591L lab sessions - 4 credits
GEOG 592/USP 592 GIS II: Applications and concurrent registration in GEOG 592L/592L lab sessions - 4 credits
* USP 536 or G 524 may be substituted for GIS I.
You may request a waiver of these 2 courses from the program director on the basis of prior educational background under the following circumstances:
If you have taken the courses at the undergraduate level or taken them as part of an undergraduate program at PSU.
If GIS I and GIS II equivalent courses were taken at another institution you must submit syllabi from those courses as part of your waiver request.
Waivers are at the discretion of the program director. If the waiver is not approved you must take GIS I and GIS II. If the waiver is approved you must take additional credits from the following list to fulfill the required 8 credits of core curriculum:
GEOG 575 Digital Compilation and Database Design - 4 credits
GEOG 581 Digital Image Analysis I: Intro - 4 credits
GEOG 597 Advanced Spatial Quantitative Analysis - 4 credits
GEOG 584 Cartographic Applications of GIS - 4 credits
G 525 Field GIS - 4 credits
GEOG 575 Digital Compilation and Database Design (syllabus) - 4 credits
GEOG 580 Remote Sensing and Image Analysis (syllabus) - 4 credits
GEOG 581 Digital Image Analysis I: Introduction (syllabus) - 4 credits
GEOG 582 Digital Image Analysis II: Advanced (syllabus) - 4 credits
GEOG 584 Cartographic Applications of GIS (syllabus) - 4 credits
GEOG 589 Building a GIS Database with GPS (syllabus) - 4 credits
GEOG 595 Maps, Models, and GIS - 4 credits
GEOG 597 Advanced Spatial Quantitative Analysis - 4 credits
USP 543 Geographic Applications to Planning - 4 credits
USP 593 Public Participation GIS - 3 credits
Approved 510 courses (see experimental 510 courses below)
Transfer credit is defined as eligible graduate credit taken at other accredited institutions. Two-thirds of the Graduate Certificate program requirements or 15 credits minimum, whichever is larger, must be taken at Portland State University. Transfer credits must be letter-graded with a B or higher and eligible for use in master’s degree programs at PSU. The Proposed Transfer Credit form (.pdf) (GO-21M) must be used for approval of transfer credit.
Due to the fast developments in geospatial technologies, some experimental courses can be used toward the Certificate with the approval of the Program Director. Please verify the eligibility with the instructor or Geography department before taking a 510 course to fulfill the Certificate requirements. Each student can have a maximum of one 510 course per program. The experimental course can only be used as a substitute for an elective, not a core course. Joint campus courses (JC 510) are considered transfer credits for which all transfer credit limitations apply.
Graduate courses can be applied to a master’s (or a doctoral) degree and a graduate certificate or be applied to two different graduate certificates. See PSU Bulletin for more information about course overlap.