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Joint Degree Programs

Management and Organizations and Sociology

The Department of Management and Organizations in the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and the Department of Sociology are strongly tied. Organizations play a key role in stratification, social change, and collective behavior, and are themselves shaped by larger sociological and historical processes. The joint program is designed for students who want to gain a disciplinary base in sociology while focusing their doctoral research on organizations and their environments. Specific areas of research include: building and testing theory about organizations, their members and their management; organizational processes; institutions; and the embeddedness of economic action in social structure.

The MORS-Sociology Joint Degree requirements can be found here.

Law and Sociology

The JD/PhD Joint Degree Program is open to a small number of students who intend to pursue an academic career and whose teaching and research will be enriched by both the JD and PhD degrees. Applicants who wish to participate in the program must complete the Graduate School application, submit supplemental application items to the Law School, and meet the admission requirements for both Northwestern's School of Law and the Graduate School.

The JD/PhD Joint Degree requirements can be found here.

The JD/PhD program is one element of training and resources in the sociology of law and the interdisciplinary study of law provided in the Department of Sociology and the Center for Legal Studies.  In addition to JD/PhD students, some graduate students come to the sociology program with a JD and many graduate students working in sociology of law do not pursue JD degrees.  Graduates of the sociology program doing research on law have enjoyed considerable success in obtaining academic positions in sociology, law schools, interdisciplinary law and society departments, criminology, and applied settings.  Graduates of the JD/PhD program often take positions as judicial clerks or in law practice as steps toward an academic career in law teaching. For more information on the JD/PhD program  please consult the Director of Graduate Studies in Sociology and the Director of the JD/PhD Program.  For more information on support and opportunities for graduate students doing research on law please see information on the Center for Legal Studies (https://www.legalstudies.northwestern.edu).

MS Program in Statistics

The Northwestern Department of Statistics offers a program to receive an MS in statistics for students concurrently receiving a Ph.D. in another department.  The requirements for the MS in statistics are discussed here.  Sociology course waivers for students combining the MS in statistics with the Ph.D. in sociology are discussed in The Whole Hooey.

Certificate Programs

Graduate Program in Comparative-Historical Social Science

Co-sponsored by the Departments of Political Science and Sociology, the Graduate Program in Comparative-Historical Social Science (CHSS) supports training for graduate students interested in comparative and historical research. Students in the program complete their Ph.D. in either political science or sociology, but also receive a certificate from the University for expertise in the interdisciplinary area of CHSS. The program provides students with a common coursework structure integrated with their departmental curricula; resources for student research, including travel abroad; interdisciplinary venues at which to present work in progress and receive feedback; and opportunities for collaborative research.

The Multidisciplinary Program in Educational Sciences

Northwestern University has initiated an innovative interdisciplinary doctoral training program to develop a cadre of scholars trained to conduct relevant and reliable research on pressing policy and practice issues in education. This Multidisciplinary Program in Education Sciences (MPES) is intended for students who want to pursue a research agenda that focuses on practical questions in U.S. education from a rigorous interdisciplinary perspective. Program hallmarks are interdisciplinary teaching and mentoring of fellows by core and affiliated Northwestern faculty engaged in education-focused research. Successful graduates of the program receive a Certificate in Education Sciences in addition to a doctorate in their discipline. Student fellows enter the program at the beginning of their second year. The program provides a stipend, as well as travel and research funds for three years.

Graduate Program in Gender Studies

The Graduate Certificate in Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary program that provides the perspectives of scholarship in gender studies and makes accessible the growing body of knowledge emerging from feminist thought. The program offers graduate students an opportunity to earn a Certificate in Gender Studies. Interested students would be a Masters or Ph.D. candidate in a home department at Northwestern, and would receive the certificate in Gender Studies once the requirements of the certificate had been completed.