Academic Policies & Procedures
Master's Degree Students
Joint Master's Degrees
To be eligible to earn two master's degrees, the student must be formally admitted by both degree-granting departments. All requirements for each degree must be met. If the student decides to complete a thesis, the thesis committee shall include two faculty members from the department where the thesis is being completed, and one faculty member from the department awarding the other degree.
The student must complete a minimum of 20 credit hours from each department where the degrees will be awarded and must have a combined minimum of 55 credit hours for the two degrees. In many cases it will be possible to use courses taken in one major as part of the other major, especially when the same course is required in both departments, and courses taken in one department may serve as electives for the other degree when it is obvious that a close relationship exists. However, such courses may be counted only once for credit.
In all cases, the academic advisor must recommend the use of course work from the second degree, and this use must be approved by the executive associate dean.