Professional Coach Certification Student and Faculty
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Professional Coach Certificate Program

"Coaching helps you take stock of where you are now in all aspects of your life, and how that compares to where you would like to be."

- Elaine MacDonald

For many people, wanting to help others to do better and succeed is a natural tendency. And a lot of those people think it's also a natural talent. You know better. You know that coaching for success requires skills, knowledge, and a strategic approach to the challenges and obstacles they may face. You also know that you find the greatest satisfaction in working with people one on one rather than in an organizational capacity. It's what drew you to the idea of a career in personal coaching. Now you're ready to take the next step to enhance your natural inclinations with the educational foundation to succeed in your own career and life - as you help others to succeed in theirs.

Empower.  Motivate.  Inspire.

Coaching is both art and science. Professional coaches understand that. More than that, though, they understand how to communicate with clients in a way that gets real results. An effective coach guides, inspires, and empowers others to help them reach their potential and take them where they would like to be.

ACTP logoDuquesne University’s Professional Coach Certificate Program, offered by the School of Leadership and Professional Advancement, is the only university-based program in Pennsylvania accredited by the International Coach Federation (ICF).


The Professional Coach Certificate Program is designed for:

  • those seeking to become professional coaches in a private practice
  • managers who want to enhance their innate coaching skills to fundamentally improve their organization’s talent retention and relationship with employees
  • internal trainers and organizational development professionals charged with training other managers and sharing their coaching expertise
  • near-retirees preparing for a rewarding career they can pursue for many years to come
  • practicing coaches who want to take their certification to a higher level.

Special Opportunity for Credit Toward a Master's Degree

Students who successfully complete Duquesne's Professional Coach Certification Program are eligible to receive academic credit toward several graduate programs in SLPA.  Depending on the program selected, students can enter with up to six credits toward a master’s degree!

"Once people get even a glimpse of their "piece of the puzzle", what they uniquely have to offer the world, they move mountains to begin to offer that piece of the puzzle in any way they can. Coaching is the most effective set of skills and methodologies I know of for awakening the glimpse of that gift, and helping people to be more effective in bringing it to the world. If you can be part of that process, why wouldn't you be?"
Virginia Kellogg, MCC, co-founder of Leadership that Works and co-author of Coaching for Transformation