Return to IDP Joint Degrees.

M.S./M.Ed. Joint Degree Program

The goal of this program will be to prepare students to teach science at the university or community college level, in the area of their profession or to offer advanced study to practicing medical or health professionals that will allow them to be better teachers or administrators.

The faculties of the College of Education and the College of Medicine propose a joint degree program culminating in both a Master of Education from the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Foundations in the College of Education and a Master of Science in Medical Sciences awarded by the College of Medicine. The M.Ed. requires a minimum of 36 credits; the M.S. requires a minimum of 36 credits, including 6 credits for thesis research. Under the joint degree program, a student can obtain both degrees in approximately one year less than would be required to obtain both degrees if pursued consecutively. Essential criteria relating to the joint degree program are as follows:

1. Candidates for the program must meet entrance requirements for and be accepted by both departments and their respective colleges.
   
   
2. The joint degree program is not open to students who have already earned one of the two degrees.
   
   
3. Admission to the second program is required no later than the end of the third consecutive semester after beginning one degree of the joint degree program. A summer term is counted as half a single semester. An exception to this requirement will be made for two semesters for students in residence at the time the joint degree program is initiated.
   
   
4. A student must satisfy the curriculum requirements for each degree before either degree is awarded. The College of Medicine will allow 12 credits of appropriate graduate level coursework from the College of Education to count toward the M.S. in Medical Sciences. The College of Education will allow 12 credits of appropriate coursework from the College of Medicine to count toward the M.Ed. in Educational, Leadership, Policy and Foundations.
   
   
5. A student enrolled in the joint program may spend the first year in either the College of Medicine or the College of Education. Students admitted to one college but electing to spend the first academic year in the other college under the joint degree program may enter the second college thereafter without once again qualifying for admission so long as they have notified the second college before the end of the first week of the first semester in the joint degree program and are in good academic standing when the studies commence in the second college. Any student who participates in the joint degree program beginning in the Fall Semester must register for a course or courses in the second college no later than the beginning of the fourth semester, counting summer term as one semester. Students must carry the minimum number of credits required by either college.
   
   
6. Students must maintain a B average in all courses counted toward the M.Ed. degree and a B average in all courses counted toward the M.S. degree.
   
   
7. An approved master's thesis in the College of Medicine must be completed for the M.S. The research problem investigated may be selected from a basic medical sciences field or it may be a problem in medical or health education.
   
   
8. A student enrolled in the joint degree program may not receive either degree until he/she has satisfied all requirements for both degrees. If an accepted student does not complete the joint degree program, he/she may not receive either degree until the student has satisfied all degree requirements for that degree as if he/she had never been enrolled in a joint degree program.
   
   
9. Students in the joint degree program may be eligible for graduate teaching and research assistantships in either program on the same basis as other graduate students in those programs.
   
   
10. Students will be supervised by two separate committees. The M.Ed. committee will be chaired by a graduate faculty member from the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy and Foundations; the M.S. committee will be chaired by a member of the graduate faculty of the College of Medicine.
    
    
11. The program will begin in Fall, 2000.