MS / JD with Pace

This program combines Bard’s innovative graduate curriculum with one of the nation’s top environmental law programs. The M.S./J.D. dual-degree program allows students to complete, in an accelerated period, a master of science degree in either environmental policy or climate science and policy at Bard College and a doctorate in jurisprudence with a certificate in environmental law at Pace University.

Pace Law School has an excellent selection of courses that cover national and international environmental, climate, energy, and land-use topics, an abundance of research opportunities, expert faculty, and hands-on experiences available to its students. The M.S./J.D. dual degree provides a level of depth and understanding that is unmatched, and is excellent preparation for a career in environmental decision-making.

The Bard CEP curriculum integrates the core disciplines of science, policy, law, and economics into a cohesive and comprehensive first year of graduate course work. Through close collaboration with faculty and an innovative program of study, students learn to think across disciplines to understand the complexities of today’s environmental problems and challenges.

Courses delve simultaneously into curricular themes to provide students with a deep understanding of the issues from multiple perspectives and at the same time highlight linkages and divisions that exist across disciplines. This holistic approach to learning illuminates integral connections between the social world and the physical sciences, and encourages students to incorporate various perspectives and ideologies into their work.

Cutting-Edge Degree Programs
Students may begin the M.S./J.D. program at Bard CEP with a first year of course work that provides a foundation in economics, science, policy, and law. The program is designed to enhance students’ learning and provide vital preparation for law school. Lawyers with a background in environmental policy or climate science and policy are equipped to understand complex environmental problems, enabling in-depth analysis and problem solving in the scientific, political, and economic arenas.

M.S. in Environmental Policy
First-year courses link natural ecosystems and their functioning to the impact of socioeconomic activities, and to the political, institutional, and legislative processes that address environmental problems. Emphasizing analytical frameworks and basic principles through examples and case studies, the courses follow a modular structure, allowing for in-depth interdisciplinary study on nine major themes: Air and Atmosphere; Water and Fisheries; Land, Forests, and Soil; Biological Diversity; Energy; Agriculture; Urban Systems; Industrial Ecology; and Risk, Toxicology, and Human Health.

M.S. in Climate Science and Policy
First-year courses focus on the interplay between climate science and solutions. The program trains future policy leaders to guide critical greenhouse gas mitigation and adaptation efforts, working in business, government, and in NGOs. Students develop specific expertise in the development and deployment to scale of clean energy technologies, and in the interaction of ecosystems, agriculture, and climate. Joint class sessions, field trips, guest lectures, and conferences expose students to the critical issues and practices of climate change science and current policy issues. Policy experts and natural and social scientists have designed the curriculum for students to gain the sophisticated graduate level training in policy solutions demanded by employers today.

Education, Leadership, Change
The M.S./J.D. program consists of four years in residence at either Pace or Bard, including two-and-a-half years at Pace and one-and-a-half years at Bard. After completing the first year of coursework at Bard, students begin a full-time course of study at Pace for the next two and a half years. The internship requirement for Bard CEP may be fulfilled through completion of a previously approved Pace internship, externship, or clinic program that has an environmental focus.

Students return to Bard in the spring of the fourth year to complete a master’s thesis, supporting the development of deep individual expertise. In this way, students develop broad knowledge of environmental policy and law; a suite of analytical, communication, and problem solving skills; professional experience in their chosen field; and finally, they become experts on topics that they have selected. Our alumni/ae are making a difference in private, nonprofit, and public sectors around the world.

Flexible Research Project
The master’s thesis is the student’s chance to specialize and to create an original body of work, often linked to some aspect of the internship/externship, with practical applications to environmental law. Bard CEP theses reflect the multifaceted nature of environmental issues while integrating aspects of the natural and social sciences, humanities, and the law in the pol-icy-making process. The student is expected to pursue a topic intensively, drawing on and integrating knowledge from course work and internship, and demonstrate skill in developing and conveying recommended policies and action on a particular issue or problem.

M.S./J.D. Dual Degree Timeline

• Year 1: First-year course work at Bard (in chosen degree)
• Year 2: Pace Law School course work
• Summer Y2: Pace internship/externship
• Year 3: Pace Law School course work
  
• Summer Y3: Pace internship/externship
• Year 4: Completion of classes at Pace and Bard
• Fall: Final Pace classes; master’s thesis proposal submitted to Bard CEP adviser
• Spring: Final Bard classes; completion of master’s thesis

Students must apply separately to both programs. For more information about Pace Law School programs, call or email the Pace Law School Office of Admission at (914) 422-4210 or admissions@law.pace.edu or visit them online www.pace.edu/school-of-law.