Requirements for the Ph.D. Dual Degree Program
Students must complete required coursework in Psychology and in WGSS. For example, below are courses that a student in the social psychology area would complete in pursuit of the dual-title Ph.D. in Psychology and WGSS. Please note that the psychology requirements are different depending on the students’ area of psychology.
- Psychology Orientation (1 credit, PSY 501)
- Arts & Science (3 credits, PSY 511)
- Statistics (6 credits, PSY 507 and PSY 508)
- Advanced Social Psychology (3 credits, PSY 517)
- Social Psychology Research Methods (3 credits, PSY 583)
- 9 credits of seminars in Social Psychology (PSY 571)*
- Feminist Theory (3 credits, WMNST 507)
- Global Perspectives on Feminism (3 credits, WMNST 502)
- Feminist Methodologies (3 credits, WMNST 508) or Feminist Pedagogies (3 credits, WMNST 509)
- 9 additional credits of WGSS coursework (e.g., graduate-level special topic seminars)*
*On some occasions, students may cross-list courses to fulfill seminar requirements in Psychology and WGSS. For example, a graduate-level seminar (e.g., “Feminist Psychology” or “Psychology of Gender”) may satisfy one WMNST seminar and one PSY seminar.
Other Requirements
- At least one member of the M.S. thesis committee must be a core or affiliate faculty member of WGSS.
- At least two members of the comprehensive exam/dissertation committee must be core or affiliate faculty members of WGSS.
- WGSS committee members on the comprehensive exam/dissertation committee will be responsible for assessing the WGSS requirements.
- Students should engage with feminist theory and/or feminist methods in their M.S. thesis, comprehensive exam, and dissertation.
Requirements for the WGSS Minor
Students who pursue a minor do not need to apply into the WGSS program, but should complete an online form to declare the minor (form is available upon request from Jes Matsick, jmatsick@psu.edu).
Doctoral-level Graduate Minor
The minor must be declared to WGSS and the Graduate School prior to scheduling one’s comprehensive exam. The following courses are required for minor-eligible students (total: 15 credits):
Other Requirements
- At least one member of the comprehensive exam/dissertation committee must be a core or affiliate faculty member of WGSS.
- Pre-approval from the Director of Graduate Studies in WGSS is strongly recommended in choosing the 6 additional credits of WGSS coursework.
To learn more about the graduate requirements, please see the WGSS Graduate Programs website: https://wgss.la.psu.edu/graduate/degree-programs
Master’s-level Graduate Minor
The minor must be declared to WGSS and the Graduate School prior to scheduling one’s comprehensive exam. The following courses are required for minor-eligible students (total: 9 credits):
- Feminist Theory (3 credits, WMNST 507)
- Global Perspectives on Feminism (3 credits, WMNST 502)
- 3 additional credits of WGSS coursework
Other Requirements
- Pre-approval from the Director of Graduate Studies in WGSS is strongly recommended in choosing the 6 additional credits of WGSS coursework.