Programs
The College of Arts and Sciences offers graduate degrees in natural and physical sciences, social sciences, and the arts and humanities. Every department has a Chair of the Graduate Committee (Graduate Adviser) who will assist students interested in pursuing graduate study in that department. Students should consult the individual department's listing in the Graduate Studies Bulletin for the name of the Chair and members of the Graduate Committee. Students should check specific departmental guidelines concerning options offered for each degree. Criteria for admission (i.e. Graduate Record Examination) are variable and are described in the specific departmental sections of this page.
Natural and Physical Sciences
The School of Biological Sciences offers the MS and Ph.D. degrees through two major divisions: I. The Section of Ecology and Organismal Biology; and II. The Section of Genetics, Cellular and Molecular Biology. Affiliated faculty from the State Museum, and the Departments of Plant Pathology; Chemistry; Biochemistry; Forestry, Fisheries and Wildlife; Agronomy; and Psychology are actively involved in the graduate program. Students have opportunities to develop course work and diverse research interactions through graduate research emphasis groups.
The Department of Chemistry offers the MS and Ph.D. degrees in all of the traditional areas of chemistry (analytical, bio-, inorganic, organic, and physical) as well as in a number of more specialized and/or interdisciplinary areas, including: molecular recognition, surface science, materials, polymers, solid state, organometallics, mechanism-based enzyme inhibition, natural products synthesis, biophysical, bioanalytical, environmental science, clinical chemistry, mass spectrometry, molecular biology, photochemistry, and photobiology. A high priority is placed on treating each student as an individual while providing an environment for maximum professional development.
The Department of Computer Science and Engineering offers the MS and Ph.D. degree and cooperative Ph.D. programs in conjunction with the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and under the Unified Engineering Ph.D. program.
The Department of Geosciences offers the MS and Ph.D. degrees in all sub-disciplines of geosciences, but with particular emphasis on hydrogeology/environmental geology, micropaleontology/sedimentology/vertebrate paleontology, structural geology/petrology, meteorology/climatology, and remote sensing/G.I.S.; excellent facilities for analytical geochemistry, geographic information systems, and electron/optical microscopy and cooperative work with State Geological Survey and State Museum, and University Research Centers in Water and Materials Science.
The Department of Mathematics offers the MA, MS, MAT, and Ph.D., and has nationally recognized faculty in algebra, analysis, combinatorics, differential equations, and applied mathematics. The department maintains two well-equipped computer laboratories and an up-to-date research library.
The Department of Physics and Astronomy offers the MS and Ph.D. degrees in physics or astronomy with strong theoretical and experimental research programs in atomic, molecular, and optical physics, condensed matter and materials physics, astronomy and astrophysics, high energy physics, and physics education.
The Department of Statistics offers the MS and Ph.D.,programs have roots in agriculture, biology, environmental sciences, and survey statistics. The department has a strong connection with the Gallup Research center and with the university’s Survey Research and Methodology program.
Social Sciences
The MA program in the Department of Anthropology offers a science-based approach to anthropology emphasizing preparation for a career in anthropology or for entrance into a doctoral program. The Department features research and internship opportunities in Plains archaeology and ethnology, historic and cultural resource management archaeology, applied and development anthropology, and behavioral, ecological, and evolutionary approaches to human behavior.
The Department of Geography offers MA and Ph.D. degrees with emphases in environmental geography, geographic information analysis (GIS, remote sensing, cartography), historical-cultural geography, spatial analysis and person-environment-behavior relations.
The Department of History prepares students for careers in research and teaching through its MA and Ph.D. degrees. Every effort is made to provide the creative environment to sustain a community of scholars. Carefully structured and individualized graduate programs afford maximum personal contact and consultation between graduate students and professors in seminars, directed individual readings, lecture courses, and supervised thesis research and writing.
The Department of Political Science offers the MA and Ph.D. in five areas of specialization: American politics, public administration/public policy, comparative politics, international relations, and political theory. The Department offers a certificate program in policy analysis, and a joint MA and JD program with the Law School.
The Department of Psychology offers Ph.D. work in clinical (with subspecialties in alcohol-substance abuse, child and family, neuropsychology, forensic, and individually designed concentrations), law-psychology, biopsychology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and social/personality psychology. Well-qualified students, whose goal is the Ph.D., are recruited; students desiring only an MA are not accepted.
The Department of Sociology offers the MA and Ph.D. The Department provides training in pure and applied research. At the MA level, students study methods and theory and pursue a broad course of study before writing a thesis. Doctoral candidates develop two specialties, choosing from approximately twenty substantive areas. The department offers especially strong programs in family, criminology/deviance, social psychology, and social inequality (race, class and sex).
The Department of Communication Studies offers the MA and Ph.D. to develop students' knowledge about the patterns, forms, effects, and history of human communication. The program is built around five areas: communication and culture, instructional communication, interpersonal communication, organizational communication, and rhetorical and communication theory. Students have the opportunity to do original research, design with consultation their program of study to fit their individual needs, and acquire an education in the diverse perspectives in the discipline. The department also offers an MA specializing in marketing, communication studies and advertising.
Humanities
The Department of Classics offers the MA degree with concentration in either Greek or Latin. An undergraduate major in Greek or Latin is normally required.
The Department of English offers the MA and Ph.D. in the major areas of British and American literatures, with special emphases on creative writing, composition and rhetoric, multicultural education, women's literature, critical theory, and Great Plains literature.
The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures offers the MA and Ph.D. degrees in French, German, and Spanish. Programs consist of advanced work in the student's primary language, courses in literature, criticism and linguistics, interdisciplinary work in other fields or languages, and independent study and research.
The Department of Philosophy offers the MA and Ph.D. degrees with a primarily analytic orientation, providing the opportunity to pursue advanced research in all the major areas of philosophy, including the history of philosophy.
University Links
Use Graduate Studies to get many of your general questions answered, apply online, join a mailing list for important information, read the current Graduate Connections newsletter, and more.
