Graduate Specializations

Master's Specialization in Agribusiness

The Master's Specialization in Agribusiness is available as an elective to students enrolled in the master's degree program. The specialization is designed to serve students who are interested in careers in agribusiness, and is administered by the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics. For the specialization, students must take four courses from a specified set of courses relevant to agribusiness. Details on these courses are available from the department office. The four courses may count towards the requirements of the master's degree as shown in section III above. Students completing these courses successfully will receive a notation on their master's degree transcript stating "Master's Specialization in Agribusiness completed (date)." Further details.

Interdepartmental Graduate Specialization in Environmental and Resource Economics

This specialization is available as an elective to students enrolled in a master's or doctoral program in one of several departments of the College of Agricultural and Natural Resources, including the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics. The specialization is administered by an interdepartmental coordinating committee of environmental and resource economics faculty from these departments. The requirements for the specialization involve completion of courses and, at the doctoral level, passing of a written examination. In most cases, the course requirements for a master's or doctoral degree in agricultural economics can be met in a way that also satisfies the requirements for the specialization. Successful completion of the requirements for the specialization will be indicated by a notation on the student's transcript. Further details are available on the specialization Web site, and on pages 7-8 of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources section of the Academic Programs document.

Graduate Specialization in Ethics and Development

This new specialization, launched in Fall 2005, is housed in the Department of Philosophy. Thirty affiliated faculty members from three colleges and ten participating departments (including Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics) serve on student program committees and teach courses. Students must complete 9 credits (M.S.) or 12 credits (Ph.D.) in at least two departments, including PHL 452--Ethics and Development, and at least one 800-level course from a list of electives. Since the content of elective courses may vary depending upon the instructor, elective courses must be approved by the Director of the Ethics and Development Graduate Specialization in the College of Arts and Letters, and by an affiliated faculty member in the student's department. Further details.

Graduate Specialization in Global Urban Studies

The Graduate Specialization in Global Urban Studies offers interdisciplinary doctoral-level study, integrated with programs offered by disciplinary departments and is available as an elective to students who are enrolled in doctoral degree programs at Michigan State University.

The Graduate Specialization in Global Urban Studies addresses political, spatial, cultural, and economic processes and issues in urban areas across the United States and the world, as well as the global processes that impact and unite urban areas.

Course work includes foci on urban areas in the United States and abroad; urban areas in comparative context regionally, nationally and internationally; and how the forces of globalization change urban areas.  More details are available on the specialization web site.

Graduate Specialization in International Development

This specialization is available as an elective for students enrolled in master's or doctoral programs at MSU. The specialization is administered by the associate director of the Center for Advanced Study of International Development (CASID), and is jointly sponsored by the Women and International Development (WID) program. Master's students must complete 12 credits, including RD/FOR/PLS/SOC 826 and one of the 17 approved core courses (two available in Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics), plus two other 3-credit courses with international development content. Ph.D. students must also complete RD/FOR/PLS/SOC 826 and one approved core course, plus four other 3-credit courses with international development content, and must also incorporate issues of international development relevant to the student's program of study in the departmental comprehensive examination. Students enrolled in the specialization must develop their course of study in conjunction with their departmental adviser and the graduate academic adviser for international development in CASID, who must approve the course of study. Further details.

Doctoral Specialization in Environmental Science and Policy

Ph.D. students enrolled in a doctoral degree program with an environmental focus may complete this specialization by taking a four-course sequence that covers the physical, biological, and human systems dimensions of the environment, as well as analytical methods useful for addressing environmenal issues. Each course is designed to provide an understanding of how various disciplines conceptualize environmental issues and how scientific information can be applied to environmental decision-making and environmental policy. A large number of faculty in various colleges and departments, including Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, are affiliated with the specialization. Further details and an application form are available on the specialization Web site.

Updated September 19, 2008