Enrollment in the Population Studies minor program at the PhD level is contingent on upon enrollment in a doctoral degree program offered by the University of Minnesota Graduate School.
Students need not formally apply to enroll in the minor; any student currently in good standing in the Graduate School may elect to complete the minor by fulfilling the requirements and filing a program completion form with the Director of Graduate Studies of Population Studies.
- A total of 12 credits is required for the minor at the doctoral level.
Starting Fall 2023, all students must take the required courses: PA 5301, Population Methods & Issues in the U.S. & Global South AND one of the five core MPC pop electives:
- SOC 8890 - Advanced Demographic Methods: Sex, Death & Mobility: Population Modeling
- HIST 8970 - Human Fertility and the Family
- PA 8461 - Global and US Perspectives on Health and Mortality
- PA 8331 - Economic Demography
- SOC 8607 - Migration and Migrants in Demographic Perspective
One core course may be substituted with another Population Studies elective with permission of the training director only.
- Doctoral students must also take at least six more credits from the list of approved courses.
- Students must register for all courses A/F; courses taken on a pass/fail basis may not count toward the minor (with the exception of PubH 6628, which is currently offered only S-N).
- Students may not apply courses in their major field of study to the minor program in Population Studies. In the case of the core course, PA 5301, students in degree programs at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs are eligible for an exemption from this rule. Those Humphrey Institute students who apply PA 5301 to their minor program are prohibited from counting this course toward their concentration within their Master's degree program. See the handbook for further exemptions from this rule if in an interdisciplinary degree program.
- Students may petition for a particular topics course to be included in their program of study. The Curriculum Oversight Committee will review these petitions to determine whether a particular topics course is appropriate for the minor program curriculum.
- Students who have completed the requirements for the minor need to file a program completion form with the Director of Graduate Studies.
Note for students who have already filed degree programs with the Graduate School: If you have already filed your official degree program identifying a related field and now wish to include the Population Studies minor, OR if you have already filed a program with one minor and now wish to switch to Population Studies, you must petition the Graduate School to change your program. Please consult the Graduate School's Student Services and Progress Office at gssp@umn.edu for more information.