Special Graduate Committee Degrees

The policy on Special Graduate Committee Degrees is found here. The Special Graduate Committee is the name of the major and the degrees available to a Special Graduate Committee student:  M.A., M.S., or Ph.D.  Historically, Special Graduate Committee majors were listed on transcripts in a generic fashion with simply the degree and major (“Special Graduate Committee”) listed. 

In order to provide further description of the work of a Special Graduate Committee student, the Office of the Registrar and Provost’s Office have agreed to allow the title designated in the approved special committee proposal to serve as a subplan/named option label on the transcript.  Diplomas only list the name of the degree title which is the standard process in place for any student.  Please see the following example.

Special Graduate Committee PhD

Diploma: Doctor of Philosophy
Transcript: Doctor of Philosophy
Major: Special Graduate Committee
Option: Religion of Tibet
(or the title in the approved special graduate committee proposal)
Minor: No Minor Required

Special Graduate Committee Master's

Diploma: Master of Science
Transcript: Master of Science
Major: Special Graduate Committee
Option: Construction Management
(or the title in the approved special graduate committee proposal)

Joint Degrees

The policy for Joint Degrees is found here. The Graduate School defines a joint degree as one degree with two majors.  In turn, only one degree can be acknowledged for joint degrees on the transcript/diploma.  Doctoral joint degrees post with ease since there is a universal degree title for all doctoral students with no major attached:  Doctor of Philosophy. As is the standard practice for any student, the PhD major(s) do not appear on the diploma, but do appear on the transcript.  Please see the following example.

Joint Degree PhD

Diploma: Doctor of Philosophy
Transcript: Doctor of Philosophy
Major: Environment and Resources
Minor: No Minor Required
Completed an additional major: Sociology
Minor: No Minor Required

There are no universal degree titles for master’s students since the major names are attached to the degree titles – such as Master of Arts-English or Master of Science-Psychology.  In this manner, the majors for master’s degrees appear both on the diploma and the transcript.  This is helpful for students pursuing individual master’s degrees.  However, this is problematic for students pursuing joint degrees since only one degree can be acknowledged on the diploma/transcript.  Thus, one of the degrees associated with the two majors has to be favored.  Please see the following example.

Joint Degree Master's

Diploma:  Master of Science-Environment and Resources
Transcript:  Master of Science-Environment and Resources
Major: Environment and Resources
Completed an additional major in: Sociology 

One possible alternative is to encourage joint degree master’s students to pursue “Special Graduate Committee” majors when appropriate (such as when engaged in interdisciplinary studies).  Here is how the above example would look with a “Special Graduate Committee” structure:

Special Graduate Committee Masters (instead of Joint Degree Masters)

Diploma: Master of Science
Transcript: Master of Science
Major: Special Graduate Committee
Option: Construction Management
(or the title in the approved special graduate committee proposal)