Research Administration Certificate Series (RACS)

What is RACS?

The Research Administration Certificate Series (RACS) is sponsored jointly by the Sponsored Programs Office and Contracts & Grants Accounting. It is a certificate program for UC Davis research administrators designed to provide participants with a basic foundation for the administration of sponsored programs. These courses will also help research administrators prepare for the Certified Research Administrator (CRA) exam available through the Research Administrators Certification Council (RACC), though the program may not cover all topics on the CRA exam. For more information about CRA certification, visit the RACC Web site.


Online Certificate Course Series 

The Research Administration Certificate Series (RACS) is offered online through the Learning and Development UC Learning Center, you can view the full series of courses in their Course Catalog. 

  1. Navigate to UC Learning Center — you will need your campus login ID and Kerberos password to enter the system.
  2. Click on the Contracts and Grants link under Research Administration or search for the title of your class in the Search box.
  3. Find the course you wish to enroll in and click the Register button.

Please contact Learning and Development at hr-learning@ucdavis.edu or 530-752-1766 if you need enrollment assistance.


Obtain a Certificate

All courses are required for the certificate. To receive credit for each course toward the RACS certificate, candidates must take each course either in person or online.

Please note that the course "Protection of Human Research Subjects" is available through the CITI web siteLog in using these instructions. Either the Biomedical Focus or the Social and Behavioral Focus will satisfy the requirement for the RACS program; it is not necessary to complete both. The completion certificate from CITI must be submitted to SD&PS with your Certificate Series Checklist to receive the RACS certificate.

To receive a certificate, complete all required courses then submit the certificate checklist to the Learning and Development office.


Join the RACS email list

Members of this list will receive important notifications from Contracts & Grants Accounting about the program, including notifications when new courses are available through Learning and Development. To subscribe or unsubscribe from this mailing list, go to the Email List Subscription Management page. A valid campus user ID and Kerberos password is required.