[support] Setting head_title and title independently

I have been trying to add support to the panels module (I am not associated with it) for a separate title in the title bar and in the in-page text. I have modified the module to get the two strings and store them in the database, but I am having trouble figuring out how to set $head_title and $title in the theme. It the title is currently set using the drupal_set_title function, which seems sets both of those variables. Is there was any way to set those variables independently or override the set_title function because I do not want to change the core? I apologize if this has been covered else where, I could not find it. Thanks. David Carman