History Doctoral Programs in the United States and Canada

Massachusetts Inst. of Tech.

Department Web Site

Areas of Specialization:

America, Europe, East Asia, Middle East, science and technology

Program Description

MIT's doctoral program in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society (HASTS) is widely recognized as one of the best of its type in the world. The program is sponsored by three faculties in MIT's School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences: History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society (STS). When it was created in 1988, it was the first new doctoral program approved by the MIT Faculty in over 20 years. The HASTS graduate program is deeply interdisciplinary. On one level, it seeks to integrate the perspectives of history and the social sciences in understanding the technological world. It goes further, however, by seeking to integrate both these with the study of science and engineering. For example, faculty and students in the HASTS program collaborate with other MIT faculty and students in the Engineering Systems Division and in the Health Sciences and Technology degree program.

Special Programs or Resources

To further their research and education, students, faculty, and visitors are encouraged to use an extraordinary network of academic and some non-academic organizations in the Boston area which have a mission related to that of MIT's HASTS Program. These multiple linkages significantly amplify the opportunities afforded to HASTS scholars in the Boston area. Some of these programs include: the Knight Science Journalism Fellowship Program; the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST); MIT's Program in Women's Studies; the Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies at MIT; the MIT Center for International Studies (CIS); the Technology and Culture Forum at MIT; MIT's Engineering Systems Division (ESD); Environmental Studies at MIT; the MIT Science Writing Program, Technology, Policy Program (TPP), and the Comparative Media Studies Program (CMS).

Financial Aid

Funding for HASTS doctoral students includes five years of guaranteed support. This covers all MIT tuition, nine months of stipend, and twelve months of health insurance annually. Funding is provided through a combination of fellowships, teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and the like.
Students entering their sixth year of the program may continue to receive support for an additional year, depending on the availability of funds and their progress toward degree completion. All students are strongly encouraged to seek competitive outside funding at any point in their program, and will be required to do so for support of a sixth year. The director of graduate studies and the academic administrator of the doctoral program will be available to assist students seeking outside sources for support.

Degree Requirements

Coursework
Students must complete at least 10 subjects in the doctoral program prior to taking general exams. All graduate students are required to complete the three core courses of the program, a seminar in historical methods, a seminar in social theory and analysis, and a seminar on the introduction to STS. Students are also encouraged to take a seminar in methods for graduate research in the social sciences, and a writing seminar. Five elective seminars complete the program's 10-subject requirement.
Languages
All students must demonstrate a reading knowledge of one scholarly language other than English (students with a first language other than English may use their native language for one of these).
Research Papers
First- and second-year papers are required before taking general examinations and writing a dissertation.
General Examinations
Students take general qualifying exams when they have completed coursework, usually in the third year. The exam, which includes both written and oral components, covers the following topics:
1. MIT HASTS Common Exam List which encompasses the areas of social and cultural perspectives on science and technology; history of technology; and history of science.
2. The history and historiography of a field of history or methods and theoretical foundations of a field of the social sciences.(3. The development and/or organization of a particular science of branch of technology.
Dissertation
Upon satisfactory completion of the general exams, the student selects a dissertation committee of three professors to help direct the dissertation research and evaluate it on completion. The student writes a dissertation proposal that is approved by the committee. The student then presents the proposal to HASTS faculty and students. Students are expected to complete their dissertation in two to three years after passing their general exams. The dissertation defense is an open presentation consisting of the candidate's succinct summary of the work, followed by questions from the committee and audience.

University Information:

University Type: Private, not-for-profit

Carnegie Institution Ranking: Doctoral/Research Universities—Extensive

Department Demographics:

First PhD conferred: 1995

History PhDs conferred to Date: 25

Relative Size Based on PhDs Conferred (2000–04): Small [Explain]

Faculty Mix:
	Full Professor	5
	Associate Professor	4
	Assistant Professor	4
	Instructor/Lecturer	2
	Joint Appointment	2
	Emeritus Faculty	8
	Part-time faculty

Relative Size based on Number of Full-time Faculty: Small [Explain]

Number of Graduate Students in Program (Fall 2005): 28
(Graduate student counts include those enrolled in terminal Master's degree program)

Proportion of Full-Time Graduate Students: 100%

New Graduate Students Entering Program, Fall 2004: 4

Relative Size Based on Graduate Student Enrollment (2002–04): Small [Explain]

 

Other Information

     Current Dissertations in Progress

     PhDs Conferred by Department