The faculty in the Department of History offer graduate programs leading to the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in History. M.A. candidates are offered an opportunity to develop knowledge of a specific historical field, to study comparative history, and to learn research techniques. Students with various goals benefit from this degree program, including those planning to advance to Ph.D. study, those seeking positions in academe, in the public sector, or in business, and those now holding or looking for educational posts in elementary and secondary schools or community colleges.
Students admitted to the Master of Education degree program with a major in Secondary Education may elect history as the subject matter field.
MASTER OF ARTS
See “Master’s Degrees” for information on the M.A. degree.
Admission. Applications for the master’s program must be accompanied by the applicant’s scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) (Master of Education applicants must report scores from both the GRE aptitude and advanced history tests). Examination scores more than five years old are not accepted. Three letters of recommendation from faculty members or others who are qualified to judge the applicant’s potential for advanced study in history, a writing sample, and a statement of purpose must be forwarded to the department. Forms and instructions are available from the departmental secretary.
All applications and supporting materials are reviewed by the graduate committee of the department which then recommends to the Graduate College that the student be granted regular or provisional admission or be denied admission.
Areas of Concentration. In consultation with the supervisory committee, the candidate may select a field of history from the following: Asian, British, European, Latin American, United States, and U.S. Western. Under the United States concentration, students may choose from the following four areas of study: American Indian, Chicana/Chicano, U.S. Western, or women. Candidates in any field may apply for admission to the public history concentration.
Program of Study. The candidate must complete a minimum of 30 semester hours of graduate courses, including the following program requirements:
Degree candidates in the public history concentration must complete HIS 502 and at least two short courses. Other core requirements specific to each emphasis are listed in the department’s graduate handbook. The various emphases require the completion of a differing minimum number of hours for each program: business, 41 semester hours; community history, 40; historic preservation, 40; historical administration, 37; historical editing and publishing, up to 44; public sector, 39. Course work taken outside the department for inclusion in a program of study must be approved in advance by the appropriate program director.
Candidates for the Master of Education degree must take 15 hours of HIS courses, of which three hours must be in HIS 512 or 515 and three hours in HIS 591 or in a comparative course (HIS 551 to 555); 12 of the 15 hours must be graduate courses at the 500 level. If 400-level courses are included in the program of study, documented proof must be provided that they were taken for graduate credit. Contact the department for specific details. The candidate must maintain at least a 3.00 GPA in HIS courses.
Foreign Language Requirements. The student is expected to have a reading knowledge of one foreign language, but some other research skills may be substituted for this requirement by the supervisory committee.
Thesis Requirements. A thesis or equivalent is required.
Students must enroll in six hours of HIS 599 to prepare a thesis based on original research. The M.A. thesis must be approximately 100 pages long, prepared according to Graduate College requirements, defended and approved, bound, and placed in the university library. A copy is also kept in the history department.
In lieu of preparing a traditional thesis under HIS 599, a student may elect a two-part thesis equivalent: (1) two three-hour seminars (HIS 591) on a broad topic and (2) two three-hour research courses (HIS 592) on a topic derived from the first research course. Courses leading to the thesis equivalent give the student experience with historical research and writing in the form of historiographical essays similar to those published in a journal. The two papers must meet Graduate College thesis requirements and be bound as a single volume and placed in the University Library.
Final Examinations. A final oral examination in defense of the thesis or equivalent is required.
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
The Ph.D. degree in History offers candidates the opportunity to study past and contemporary civilizations and to learn research and writing techniques that may be used in scholarly careers at leading academic institutions, in historical societies and agencies, in the public sector, and in business.
Major emphasis is placed upon developing a disciplined and inquiring mind, expertise in a chosen subject area, and competence in research methodology. The program is composed of small classes that bring students into a close working relationship with faculty and other students and offers flexibility in designing degree programs.
The five areas of concentration are Asian history, British history, European history, Latin American history, and United States history. Students must select a minimum of three historical fields for examination. The fields must include a major geographical field of concentration (such as the British Isles, the United States, or Latin American), and a second broad geographical field outside the concentration. The third field should be in the specific area of the dissertation and be closely related to the major field. For example, typical field combinations might be U.S. history to 1877 (major), Latin America to 1820, and American Indian history; or, Modern Europe (major), Modern United States, and the history of women.
See “Doctor of Philosophy” for general requirements.
Admission. Applications for the Ph.D. in History program must be accompanied by the applicant’s scores on the Graduate Record Examination, three letters of recommendation from faculty members or others who are qualified to judge the applicant’s potential for doctoral study, a writing sample, and a statement of purpose. GRE scores may not be more than five years old. All applications and supporting materials are reviewed by the graduate committee of the Department of History, which then recommends to the Graduate College that the student be granted regular or provisional admission or be denied admission.
Program of Study. After admission to the program, the student, in consultation with the graduate director, selects a faculty advisor in the student’s area of concentration. Together the faculty advisor and student select a Ph.D. committee consisting of at least three faculty members. The committee draws up a program of study that normally includes at least 60 graduate semester hours of history, 36 of which must be in 500-level or above courses, and 24 semester hours of dissertation. If 400-level courses are included in the program of study, documented proof must be provided they were taken for graduate credit. Contact the department for specific details. Two courses selected from the graduate offerings in historiography are required. The student must take at least three research seminars, two of which must be in the primary area of study, and one comparative course.
Foreign Language Requirements. Demonstration of a satisfactory reading knowledge of two foreign languages is required before the student may take the comprehensive examinations. For the second language, the student’s program committee may approve substituting the demonstration of other research capabilities, such as quantitative or statistical analysis, archival research, historical preservation, or computer skills.
Preliminary Reviews. During the first academic year of residence the student is required to schedule the department’s preliminary review. Students who fail this review must withdraw from the program. It is recommended that the student have demonstrated a satisfactory reading knowledge of at least one foreign language before scheduling the review.
Comprehensive Examinations. The program committee examines the student’s competence in the fields chosen. Normally these oral and written examinations are taken after the student has completed at least 60 graduate semester hours of credit.
Dissertation Committee. Upon satisfactory completion of the comprehensive examination, the supervisory committee for the dissertation is selected. In consultation with the candidate, the director of graduate study recommends a chair; the recommended chair, after consultation with the candidate (and with approval of the director), then recommends at least two other members to the chair of the department. The dissertation committee is appointed by the dean of the Graduate College upon the recommendation of the department chair. The role of this committee is to approve the subject and title of the dissertation and advise the candidate during the completion of the research and the dissertation.
Dissertation Prospectus. Each doctoral candidate will prepare a prospectus of from four to seven pages for the dissertation. The format and design of the prospectus will be determined by the candidate and committee chair. The topic will be in one of the candidate’s fields of study and should include the following:
This prospectus must be presented to the committee for its review by the end of the semester following the comprehensive examination. The committee must approve the proposal before the candidate may be admitted to candidacy and proceed with the research.
Dissertation Requirements. The dissertation must be an original contribution to knowledge and demonstrate the student’s proficiency in independent research.
Final Examinations. A final oral defense of the dissertation is required.
Graduate Preparation in Public History
The department offers several public history emphases preparing students to apply the skills of the historian in careers beyond the classroom. Public historians focus their historical insight, expertise, and critical abilities in the broad—that is, public—community. Six areas of emphasis are offered within public history: business, community history, scholarly publishing, historic preservation, historical administration, and the public sector. Graduate course work in public history may be included in both master’s and doctoral programs of study.
The public history core combines specially designed course work and specific program requirements with traditional degree requirements. The public history area imposes additional admission requirements and includes periodic evaluations of its students’ progress. (The business emphasis requires prerequisites in the business field.) Enrollment is limited to provide careful preparation and advisement. The curriculum integrates required course work in a public history component with courses in a geographic area concentration. As a special feature of the program, short courses are taught each year by visiting public historians. Each emphasis requires completion of two short courses. Courses from other disciplines, such as anthropology, business, public administration, fine arts, geography, political science, and architecture (architectural history and preservation planning) may be included in a program of study when students have the necessary prerequisites and if the courses meet particular student needs or are required within the various emphases of the concentration. Students who select the scholarly publishing option must be admitted to the Scholarly Publishing Certificate program and complete all certificate requirements. (See “Scholarly Publishing” for a description of the certificate program.)
Course work for all areas of the program begins each fall semester with a required special workshop during the fall orientation week before classes start. Students are admitted for the fall semester, though some class work outside the public history field may be started earlier. With concentrated full-time study, the master’s public history component may be completed in four semesters, depending on the public history area selected for emphasis. In some instances, the mandatory internship or other program requirements must be completed during the summer months.
Each student in the program completes a core of courses appropriate to an area of emphasis. Basic to each core is the completion of HIS 502 Public History Methodology during the first semester of study. The work introduced in this methodology class is continued in the public history research seminar (HIS 591)—required or optional, depending on the area of emphasis.
At the satisfactory completion of the training work and upon the recommendation of the appropriate director and the department, a certificate of completion is issued by the Department of History. Assistance is provided in job placement.
Students interested in this curriculum should consult the department’s graduate handbook, which provides details about public history work.
RESEARCH ACTIVITY
Recent faculty research includes the following subjects.
Women’s History. The Girl Scouts in America; women in 19th-century France; women of the English Renaissance and Reformation; feminism in modern Cuba; women and death in 17th-century England; Southwestern women; women in 20th-century China.
Social and Cultural History. Social history of the elderly in America; history of sexuality; Russian religious history; Jewish, Christian, and Islamic popularism in the 20th-century; Europe since 1945; Hitler and the Third Reich; origins of modern Chinese social science; Confucianism during the Song, Jin, and Yuan periods; heroes in Chinese historical consciousness; royal courtship in Tudor England; corporate business cultures in England; social change in 20th-century Cuba; Japanese business culture; early American republic; rural history; New Deal music programs; cultural history of the Space Age.
Western United States. The development of Phoenix; American Indian policy; Indian education; Navajo history; social and family history of American Indians; Southwestern and frontier history; Arizona and Southwestern labor; trans-Appalachian West.
Political and Legal History. Roman Athens; American political history; history of the legal profession in America; Chinese politics, 1930s; 20th-century Chinese military history; 20th-century Indonesian political culture; legal and political history—20th-century Cuba; history of Chinese journalism; Civil War and reconstruction; the American presidency.
Minority History. Afro-American history; Mexican labor in the United States; Mexican immigration to the United States; Indian history; Japanese-American experience.
International Relations. U.S./China/Japan relations; Colonial Southeast Asia; Anglo-American power and the Middle East in the 20th-century; U.S. perceptions of the Soviet Union; British Middle Eastern policy during World War I; Japan–U.S. relations; European community; Europe since 1945; U.S.–Latin American relations.
Public History. History of the book and the publishing industry; community development; a history of the accounting profession in Arizona; environmental and cultural resources; historical interpretation; preservation of Cold War artifacts.
Omnibus Graduate Courses: See omnibus graduate courses that may be offered.
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