Note: For business majors, no more than 2 major field requirement courses may be counted toward the certificate.
Business Law Certificate
In today's complex business landscape, legal knowledge isn't just for lawyers, it's a competitive advantage for anyone who wants to lead, manage, or grow in their career.
The Business Law Undergraduate Certificate gives you the tools to think like a legal strategist. You'll build a strong foundation in core business law principles while tailoring your studies with specialized legal courses from across campus, so your education works for your goals.
15 Credit Hours
Required Courses (6 credit hours)
A study of law as it relates to business, including court procedures and systems, contracts, sales, business crimes, torts, business organizations, and government regulation. A survey course designed to acquaint students with the broad and controlling aspects of prominent laws which affect human resource management. Topics include ADA, ADEA, OSHA, Title VII, etc.
Elective Courses (9 credit hours) - Choose three:
The legal framework for decision making by farm firms, families, and individuals; liabilities, real and personal property, contracts, uniform commercial code, organization of farm firms, intergeneration property transfers, water law, fence law, federal and state regulatory power, insurance, income tax, and social security. This course focuses on the causes and sources of conflict within organizations and groups, dispute systems assessment and design, and how conflict resolution professionals work as interveners and agents of change. Students will also explore and identify their own professional consultation strengths and interests. A hands-on introduction to communication in the legal process, with a primary focus on basic techniques attorneys use to develop and present a persuasive case. A study of communication and legal principles pertaining to freedom of expression, and an examination of their implications for competing interests such as public order, national security, morality, civil rights, and fairness. Theoretical and applied research in communication and conflictual situations. An examination of the vital role communication plays in the practice of law, with an emphasis on communication in the courtroom. An examination of crime and criminal justice. Considers the nature of crime and the academic discipline of criminology. Explores the major components in the American criminal justice system and how these reflect and are affected by norms and changes in our society. Special emphasis is placed on issues of gender, race/ethnicity, and class within crime and criminal justice. Legal aspects of managing hospitality operations and responsibilities for the operations, patron civil rights, governmental regulations, franchising, and commercial transactions. A study of law as it relates to business, including securities regulation and business crimes, secured transactions, bankruptcy, and principles of agency and employment law. Provides broad coverage of the goals and operations of labor unions as well as the interactions of labor and management. In addition, this course introduces students to the bargaining and negotiation process within organizations. Effective negotiation strategies are taught and individual negotiation skills are enhanced through opportunities to participate in negotiation simulations. A study of the legal and ethical issues relating to media, strategic communications and personal media use. Emphasis on defamation, privacy, copyright, administrative controls and other legal areas. Includes a study of ethics in the media, perfect and imperfect ethical duties, and situational ethical decision making. Systematic study of deductive reasoning (and possibly inductive reasoning) using the techniques of modern logic. Examines different types of valid inference, the logical structure of English sentences, and the validity of arguments generally. Involves the development and use of a symbolic system which models logical relations among sentences. Examines fundamental issues concerning the nature and justification of legal institutions. Topics selected from: the nature of law and its relations to morality, criminal justice and punishment, responsibility and liberty, and legal interpretation. Philosophical issues arising in the legal context, such as the nature of legal reasoning, the nature and scope of constitutional protections, the justification of punishment, affirmative action, and civil disobedience. Legal analysis of the rule-making, adjudicatory, and enforcement functions of administrative agencies, with emphasis on constitutional framework, judicial review, requirements of procedural fairness, and rights of public employees. The structure, process, and politics of the American judicial system. Analysis of important issues concerning law and courts. Principles of the American political system as prescribed by the Constitution and interpreted by Supreme Court decisions, with emphasis on the institutions and powers of the national government, federalism, and property rights. The Constitution as a limitation on governmental power, with emphasis on Supreme Court decisions defining fundamental civil rights and liberties. Theories of international law, and general problems, such as: recognition, responsibility, war crimes, sources, evidence, codification, and settlement of disputes.
Certificate Requirements:
Certificate can be completed online or on-campus, by degree seeking students at Kansas State University, obtained as a credential on its own (free-standing), as a non-degree, certificate seeking student, or earned post-baccalaureate.
Students must achieve a cumulative 2.5 GPA on all courses taken to fulfill the requirements of the certificate program.
Notes:
- Course pre-requisites may apply. See University Undergraduate Course Catalog for details.
- Prior permission is required from the CBA to take a class at another institution.
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