Quality-Based Project Management Minor

Quality-based project management is a field that entails managing people, resources and budgets to ensure that projects are completed on-time, on-budget and within performance.

This minor is available to all undergraduate students and is intended for students who want to prepare themselves for potential careers in project-centered work. This is the most popular minor in the School of Business and draws students from the School of Engineering, the School of Arts & Sciences and the School of Business. Students with this minor can pursue jobs in construction management, contract administration and cost engineering, to name a few.

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Your Future

A unique benefit of this minor is that students can pursue certification through the Project Management Institute (PMI) ™ after completing the requirements of minor. PMI’s Certified Associate of Project Management (CAPM) ® is considered the pathway to the Project Management Professional (PMP) ® certification that is rapidly emerging as one of the fastest growing professional certifications in many industries and career areas.

Additionally, certain students may opt to sit for the American Society for Quality’s “Certified Quality Improvement Associate” exam since the Quality Management course covers the body of knowledge for that particular certification. Students who pursue the minor are under no obligation to sit for the CAPM ® or CQIA ®, which require an application and separate fee, completed and paid for by the student.

Quality-Based Project Management Curriculum

Clarkson University offers a Minor in Quality-Based Project Management, a field that entails managing people, resources, and budgets to ensure projects are completed on-time, on-budget, and within performance.  
The minor is:

  • Open to all students in all majors and is useful for engineers, science and business majors.  
  • An opportunity for students to pursue certification through the Project Management Institute (PMI), a great resume item and source of value recognized by employers.
  • An opportunity for certain students to sit for the American Society for Quality’s 
    “Certified Quality Improvement Associate” exam.

To earn a minor in quality-based project management, students must maintain a 2.0 average in the five 3-credit courses, distributed in the following fashion:

Both of the following courses:

Semester/Grade

  • OM/EM380 Project Management (Prerequisite: statistics course)
  • OM/EM451 Quality Management and Lean Enterprise (Prerequisite: statistics)


One of the following courses:

  • OM/EM484 Advanced Project Management (Prerequisite: OM/EM380)
  • EM482 Systems Engineering and Management (Prerequisite: senior standing and engineering major)

Two Elective Courses (Choose any pair):

Option 1:

  • OS/EM286 Organizational Behavior (Prerequisite: sophomore standing)
  • OS352 Strategic Human Resource Management (Prerequisite: OS286)

Option 2:

  • OS/EM286 Organizational Behavior (Prerequisite: sophomore standing)
  • OS466 Negotiations and Relationship Management (Prerequisite: OS286)

Option 3:

  • OM/EM331 Operations and Supply Chain Management
    • (Pre/Co-requisite: IS211 or IS200; Prerequisite: statistics)
  • OM/EM476 Management of Technology (Prerequisite: OM331) OR EM482 or EM/OM484,
      whichever is not selected above.