History Department
PhD in History
The Ph.D. in history program is distinctively collaborative. As a doctoral student, you will work closely with advisors and other faculty on focused research and prepare for the comprehensive exams.
Program Overview
The program of study leading to the Ph.D. consists of four elements: the completion of coursework, the completion of language examination(s), the completion of qualifying oral examinations in three fields and the preparation of a dissertation.
Students entering the program from an undergraduate degree can finish the program in seven years. Most graduates pursue careers in academia, while others choose to apply their knowledge to career fields like law or public service.
Core Requirements
A Ph.D. in history requires the following:
- 48 course credits (12 course credits may be outside the department). The coursework develops basic analytical and research skills and grounds students in their areas of specialization.
- 24 dissertation credits must be devoted to research and writing of the dissertation.
- All together, students must have a total of 72 credits to receive the Ph.D.
Comprehensive Examinations
Candidates for the Ph.D. who entered with an undergraduate degree are required to take oral comprehensive examinations at the end of their third year of graduate study. Candidates who entered with approved and transferred credits from a master's degree program are required to take oral comprehensive examinations at the end of their second year of graduate study. Comprehensive examinations are approximately two hours in length and are taken in the major field and both minor fields.
Dissertation
The oral dissertation defense is conducted by a six-member examining committee, including an outside chair from another department/school. The chair must be a tenured faculty member of the University (ESF and Law faculty members cannot be chosen). The advisor and student jointly choose the remaining two members. The doctoral proposal must be approved by the student’s advisor and two other faculty members. The student is eligible to take the oral examination after the advisor and all dissertation committee members have approved the dissertation for defense. The examination, which is open to all faculty members, graduate students and the general public, consists of a defense of the dissertation and examination in the field of specialization in which it falls.
Foreign Language
Each student fulfills requirements in one foreign language prior to taking the master’s examination or submitting of a thesis.
Meet Our Graduate Students
Nitya Chagti
Medieval and European History; Brian Brege, advisor
Semaj Campbell
19th- and 20th-Century African-American History; Jeffrey Gonda, advisor
Tianyu Cheng
Late Imperial and Modern China; Norman Kutcher, advisor
Mohammad Ebad Athar
U.S. and the World; U.S. and the Middle East Empire; Osamah Khalil, advisor
Maxwell History Dissertations
History Ph.D. Candidate Honored with Guggenheim Scholars Award
One of 11 doctoral candidates who received the award, which comes with $25,000, Glazman-Schillinger’s research examines how far-right white power groups used digital technologies and computer networks in the 1980s and 1990s to recruit, communicate, and evade government surveillance and infiltration.
Ian Glazman-Schillinger Ph.D. Student, History