Graduate
Program

MA & PhD Program

Dissertations in
Progress

PhD's Awarded

Placement

Certificate Programs

Grad Hist Society

M.A. & Ph.D. Programs

Advisor and Guidance Committees
Students are advised by staff or a faculty member in their fields of concentration during their first semester in the graduate program. Before the beginning of the second semester, the student selects an appropriate member of the faculty as principal advisor (sponsor) and chair of a guidance committee. The student, in consultation with the principal advisor, solicits two additional faculty members to serve on the guidance committee. The chairperson of the guidance committee, with the assistance of colleagues and director of graduate studies, aids students in their choices of courses, advises them on the fulfillment of other academic requirements and in general guides them through the graduate program. Normally, the guidance committee forms the core of the student's oral comprehensive examination committee. In most cases, too, a student's guidance committee eventually serves as a three-person dissertation committee.

Normally, full-time matriculated students take three courses per semester. A student's coursework should be closely correlated with the proposed major and minor fields, and should include a balance between general colloquia and specialized research seminars. Students are encouraged to work with a number of different professors to broaden their exposure to different historical styles, methods, and theories. In addition to the work completed for their courses, students are expected to pursue a coherent program of readings in preparation for their comprehensive examinations. Independent readings courses may be arranged with individual instructors to cover special topics, but must not be used to satisfy more than one-third of a student's degree requirements. At the Master's level, only one independent study of between 1 and 4 credits may be taken under the S/U grading option and still count toward the Master's degree. At the doctoral level, only 4 (additional) credits of independent study taken under the S/U grading option will count towards the minimal number of course credits required for the degree. All graduate seminars counted toward the history degree must be taken for a letter grade.

No faculty member is required to accept a particular student as an advisee. By the same token, a student may, for reasonable cause, petition the director of graduate studies for a change of principal advisor or guidance committee.

Master of Arts Program
The master of arts in history is granted on completion of the following requirements:

• Credit Hours: Thirty-two graduate credit hours, with a B average or better. All master's students are required to take HIST 592 (Historiography) and one 600-level research seminar. MA students who choose to write a master's thesis are not required to take the 600-level research seminar for the master's degree; however, all master's students, including those who write a thesis, must pass the master's examination. Twenty-four of the credits offered must be taken in residence.
• Foreign Language Requirement: Master's level students in non-U.S. history must meet the language requirement at the master's level.
• Thesis Option: Students who obtain approval from their guidance committee may choose to write a master's thesis worth eight credit hours. Students writing a master's thesis may wish to begin their work in a 600-level research seminar. However, such students must take 24 credit hours of coursework in addition to research seminar and master's thesis.
• Master's Examinaton: The master's examination is a three-hour written examination in the student's field of specialization given by three faculty members, at least two of whom must be members of the history department.   An MA degree may be earned in one or two fields.  These fields may be drawn from the list of major and minor fields in the Graduate Student Handbook.  Examinations are offered once each semester, and should be taken during the semester in which the student completes all other degree requirements.

Doctor of Philosophy Program

Admission
Admission to the PhD program is determined by the department when the student has completed work for the MA degree or its equivalent. All students who enter the program with an MA degree in history from another institution have their work reviewed by the department at the end of their first semester to confirm their admission to the doctoral program.

Admission to Candidacy
At least two semesters must elapse between admission to candidacy and the granting of the degree. Requirements are as follows:

• Course Work: Not fewer than 56 graduate credits (excluding credit for the dissertation, but including credits earned toward the MA), with an average of B+, as follows:
  -- Courses in a major field;
  -- Courses in two minor fields;
  -- HIST 592. Historiography;*
  -- Two 600-level research seminars (one of which may have been taken at the master's level).
  *Students are encouraged to fulfill this requirement of HIST 592, Historiography, early in their doctoral program.
• Languages: All PhD students must demonstrate proficiency in a language other than their native language; the language is determined by the student in consultation with his or her guidance committee. The guidance committee may also require additional languages necessary for scholarship in the student's field. Quantitative methods or other courses may satisfy the language requirement for students who specialize in anglophone areas, as determined by the student's guidance committee.
• Comprehensive Examination: The comprehensive examination consists of examinations in the major and minor fields and a dissertation prospectus. Doctoral candidates must take a comprehensive examination in one major and two minor fields OR in two major and one minor field. Every major field has a written component, either a one-day exam of six to eight hours or a take-home exam completed over a period of two weeks. The student will be examined on the written answers in the subsequent oral portion of the examination, which also tests the student's knowledge in the minor field(s), includes a defense of the prospectus, and lasts three hours. Detailed lists of both major and minor fields are available from the department and in the departmental Graduate Student Handbook.
• Dissertation Prospectus: Presentation of an acceptable prospectus is assumed to be part of the PhD oral comprehensive examination. Students may, in consultation with their guidance committees, separate their prospectus presentation from the comprehensive examination; in such cases, they must have a colloquium on the prospectus within three months of the PhD oral comprehensive examination. If necessary, revisions to the prospectus may be made following the comprehensive examination or prospectus colloquium. The final prospectus must in any case be on file in the department within six months of passing the comprehensive examination.
• PhD Candidacy: Students are officially admitted to candidacy for the PhD degree upon satisfactory completion of the comprehensive examination. Candidates for the PhD degree must maintain registration (dissertation or continuous) until all the degree requirements are completed. (See also the Graduate School policy statement.)

Granting of the Degree

The PhD in history is granted, after admission to candidacy, on successful completion of the following requirements:

• submission of a dissertation approved by the candidate's dissertation committee. The dissertation must present a new interpretation of a familiar subject, or an investigation of a subject hitherto neglected, and must be written under the supervision of a member of the graduate faculty;
• successful defense of the dissertation in an oral examination.

Waiver Of Regulations And Requirements
The department reserves the right to alter these regulations and requirements without notice, pending the publication of the next scheduled issue of this publication.