Departmental Addition to IPEES

Departmental Addition to IPEES

IPEES welcomes any and all academic units housing PhD students with interdisciplinary environmental interests to join. Interested departments are encouraged to contact the IPEES program coordinator for more information. Participating in IPEES is a two-stage process:

The interested department/program chair must submit a letter (on departmental letterhead) to be added to IPEES to the program director and the program coordinator. The letter must mention the reason for the department/program wanting to join the emphasis and include a department faculty vote (or advisory board vote, if there are no faculty).

After an endoresement from the IPEES director, the IPEES program coordinator and the department/program chair will create a proposal to add the department/program to the emphasis. The proposal will include the following:

  1. Description of the proposed addition and planned implementation date,
  2. A department vote on joining the emphasis,
  3. A rationale for joining the emphasis, including the department’s relationship to the disciplinary subfield represented by the emphasis, and faculty/student research in the area of the emphasis,
  4. A chart of current program requirements of the emphasis,
  5. A list of any potential relevant courses in the department that can be added to the curriculum in the emphasis as electives, including how frequently the department plans to offer the course(s),
  6. A list of faculty that will engage with the emphasis (for most departments, this is one point person—a department representative, if you will). If possible, the proposal should also include a letter from individual faculty member(s) indicating commitment to the emphasis,
  7. An assessment of student interest in the emphasis,
  8. Chair's letter requesting to join IPEES.

Upon completion, IPEES and the program chair will submit the proposal to the Academic Senate and the Graduate Division. The proposal will undergo administrative review by the Academic Senate and the Graduate Division. Upon finalization, the proposal will be placed on the next available Graduate Council agenda. Final action will be reported to the program’s chair via email.

Any questions can be directed to the IPEES program coordinator.