TREES Dual-Title Degrees | Penn State College of Health and Human Development

The TREES Dual-Title Graduate Degree

Students electing the dual-title intercollege program in TREES through participating majors may earn a degree with dual-title at both the Ph.D. and M.S./M.A. levels. Thus, the degree awarded would be a Ph.D. in (graduate program name) and Transdisciplinary Research on Environment and Society or M.S./M.A. in (graduate program name) and Transdisciplinary Research on Environment and Society.

The following graduate programs offer dual-title degrees in TREES:

TREES for Master's Students

All courses, including which courses will satisfy both the graduate major program and dual-title program requirements, must be approved by the student’s M.S./M.A. adviser(s) and/or committee. The thesis supervisor and chair of the student's committee shall be a member of the student's major program, and a member of the dual-title program. All members of the 12 committee must hold Graduate Faculty status or secure the same before serving on the committee. The culminating experience (e.g., thesis or scholarly paper or capstone course) must incorporate a TREES interest together with the primary field of study.

TREES for Doctoral Students

All courses, including which courses will satisfy both the graduate major program and dual-title program requirements, must be approved by the student’s dissertation adviser(s) and/or committee. Doctoral students must be admitted into the dual-title graduate degree program no later than the end of the fourth semester (not counting summer semesters) of entry into the graduate major program.

In consultation with the TREES dual-title program, the graduate major program will determine the timing and format of the Qualifying Examination for dual-title TREES students from the three available options: a single qualifying examination that covers both the major and the dual-title, separate qualifying examinations for the major field and the dual-title field, or a qualifying examination in just the major field. This will be stated in the graduate major program’s Graduate Bulletin listing for the dual-title adoption.

In accordance with Graduate Council policy, the Ph.D. committee must include at least one Graduate Faculty member from TREES. Faculty members who hold appointments in both programs’ Graduate Faculty may serve in a combined role. If the chair of the Ph.D. committee is not also a member of the Graduate Faculty in TREES, the member of the committee representing TREES must be appointed as co-chair. The TREES representative on the student’s Ph.D. committee will develop questions for and participate in the evaluation of the comprehensive examination.

All Ph.D. students will be required to complete, present, and defend a dissertation that incorporates a topic related to both their graduate major program and TREES. Candidates for the dual-title Ph.D. degree in TREES will be required to pass a final oral examination (the dissertation defense) covering their graduate major program field and TREES. To earn the Ph.D. degree, doctoral students must also write a dissertation that is accepted by the Ph.D. committee, the head of the graduate program, and the Graduate School.