FAQ for Students

More than ever, public agencies are in need of passionate and future-thinking individuals to step up and take the lead. The goal of the Certificate Program in Leadership Development for Public Agencies is to engage emerging leaders through a program tailored for the public sector. This program benefits the participants and their agencies in the following ways:

• Maximize training opportunities regardless of city/agency size
• Forum to share "best practices" and common challenges
• Networking opportunities
• Address public sector core competencies and serves as positive career reinforcement of public services

The participants who successfully complete the entire program will receive a Certificate in Leadership Development, as well as 5.6 continuing education units* (CEUs).

*CEU is a nationally-recognized uniform unit of measurement for participating in a continuing education course or professional development training session, according to the guidelines established by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET). CEUs may be applied to some professional certification or licensing requirements, and may be used to fulfill continuing education requirements for maintaining licensures.

We believe that leaders exist at all levels within organizations. This program was created to address the needs of non-supervising high-potential individuals, project leads, new supervisors, and supervisors new to the public sector. You do not have to be a supervisor or manager to participate in or benefit from the program.

There are total of nine courses (28 class meetings) in the program. The classes will meet virtually from 4:00pm to 6:00pm. Normally Fall cohort starts in late August through early December and Spring cohort starts mid-February through late May. Please refer to the current program schedule for updated information.

The opportunity to participate in this leadership development program is provided to you by your agency through its participation in the Orange County Public Employee Consortium. The agencies participating in this program have all agreed to give their staff release time to attend classes on the days when classes are offered.

We make every attempt to announce the schedule of classes ahead of time so students can make appropriate schedule arrangements. In order to receive a CSUF issued Certificate of Completion in Leadership Development, students must participate in the program in its entirety. If your schedule does not permit you to attend 90% (25 out of 28) of the class meetings, we recommend that you consider participating in future cohorts.

The program is being offered to the public agency staff as a certificate program. In order to be eligible for a spot in the program, the student must commit to attending all of the classes in the program. We believe strongly that you will find all of the classes relevant in enhancing the work you do in your organization.

Learn from the experts! All leadership development classes are taught by practicing experts who currently work in or with public agencies and have the educational credentials to teach at the university level. A typical instructor who teaches in the Leadership Development for Public Employees program would possess:

• 20 or more years of experience working in local or regional public agencies.
• Awards for excellent work in public agency management or city planning.
• Training specialty in leadership, management, project management, and operations management.
• Experience in teaching the Public Administration in the 21st Century and the Public Employee Leadership Development certificate programs at California State University, Fullerton, Extended Education.

There will be homework assignments and group projects interwoven into the classes, which will require time outside of class in order to complete. This time requirement is minimal, however, and is very carefully evaluated.

Please contact your Human Resources representative for agency-specific policies on participating in the Leadership Development for Public Agencies program. After confirming your participation with your HR department, you may fill out and submit the registration form online that our program manager will send you in the welcome/registration email. Staff from Cal State Fullerton Extension and International Programs will contact you to finalize the registration process.