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.

*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):

Other Requirements

• Pre-approval from the Director of Graduate Studies in WGSS is strongly recommended in choosing the 6 additional credits of WGSS coursework.