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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dept. of History
Hamilton Hall, CB #3195
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3195

Phone 919.962.2115
Fax 919.962.1403
E-mail: history@unc.edu

Department Web Site

Areas of Specialization:

U.S. History, Ancient, Asia, Global History, Europe, Latin America, Military, Russia and Eastern Europe, and Women and Gender

Program Description

The Graduate History program at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill is committed to training professional historians to be both scholars and teachers. Our program allows ample choice to students in designing academic programs to fit their particular interests and needs while providing students with rigorous training in U.S. History, European History, Latin American History, Asian History, Global History, Russian and East European History, Women's and Gender History, and Military History. Degree requirements and departmental culture encourage comparative and interdisciplinary study. The program promotes close mentoring relationships with faculty and sustains a lively intellectual, community among the graduate students. In the course of graduate study, our students also receive valuable teaching experience.

Special Programs or Resources

The resources for historical study at Chapel Hill include excellent libraries at UNC-CH and in the larger Research Triangle community. The department also has close cooperative relationships with neighboring universities including Duke and North Carolina State. Students at UNC can enroll seamlessly in classes at these neighboring schools and faculty members from these schools take an active part in the graduate history program and regularly serve on student advisory committees at Chapel Hill. The graduate program in History at UNC promotes excellence in teaching. Because demonstrated teaching ability is an increasingly important prerequisite for most college and. university teaching positions, the department provides constructive instruction in teaching. In addition to orientation programs for teaching assistants, the department has a faculty-student Committee on Teaching that hosts programs on creative pedagogy throughout the academic year. A for-credit course, which addresses syllabus planning, assignment planning, and teaching methods, is also regularly offered.

To prepare our graduates for the competitive job market, each year our faculty placement officer organizes regular workshops for graduate students planning to enter the job market covering topics such as writing job application letters, curriculum vitae and resumes, and soliciting letters of recommendation. Mock interviews are conducted, for job seekers and mock job talks are staged. The placement officer typically attends the annual meeting of the American Historical Association to provide additional support for any students who have job interviews at the convention. The History Department also hosts a monthly Departmental Research Colloquium at which graduate students can present their work, hear a faculty comment, and answer questions during a discussion period.

Financial Aid

The History Department at Chapel Hill is committed to offering financial aid to as many of the graduate students in our program as possible. Virtually all entering History Ph.D. students are recipients of five years of financial support. These packages include tuition, health insurance, and an annual stipend (to be $14,700 for 2011-12 academic year). The department also supplements this financial support with several years of summer research funding. Exceptional applicants may be nominated for one-year and multi-year competitive and prestigious fellowships awarded by the Graduate School. These fellowships either supplement the base stipend or provide full stipend support at a higher level. The department admissions committee nominates accepted students for these fellowships based on their qualifications. To help launch dissertation research, the History Department also supports students with a research fund (currently $1,500) upon passing their comprehensive exams.

Both the department and the Graduate Student Association offer support for graduate student travel to scholarly conferences to present papers. Additional funds have been allocated for graduate students to acquire specialized skills (language skills, paleography training, etc.). In addition, the Graduate School offers funds on a competitive basis for pre-dissertation and dissertation research. Competitive fellowships for students completing their dissertations are awarded by both the Graduate School and the History Department.

Degree Requirements

Candidates for the Ph.D. degree typically complete 30 credit hours during their first two years in the program, and an additional 15 credit hours minimum by the time they defend their dissertations. Under our revised curriculum, effective August 2010, requirements for the MA degree are typically completed by the end of the third semester. Comprehensive exams and the dissertation prospectus defense are completed by the end of the sixth semester of study. For students entering with an M.A., comprehensive exams and prospectus defense should occur by the end of the fourth semester. In addition, Ph.D. candidates must also satisfy language and technical competency requirements appropriate to their particular fields of study by the time they take comprehensive exams. Successful completion of these requirements and the comprehensive exams and prospectus defense allows candidates to pursue dissertation research and writing, normally a three-year process.



University Information:

Information from Department of Education
(Includes information on the size, location, and general characteristics of faculty and student body)

Information from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
(Includes rating of the institution's rating of the graduate instructional program and size and setting)

 

Faculty Information (Fall 2011):

Full-time Faculty: 48

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

 

Student Demographics (Fall 2011):

Number of Doctoral Students in Program: 155

New Doctoral Students Entering Program: 22

Proportion of Doctoral Students Receiving Financial Aid: 75%

Number of Graduate Students Enrolled: 139

Relative Size Based on Graduate Student Enrollment: Large [Explain]

 

Degree Information:

First PhD conferred: 1926

History PhDs conferred to Date: 796

Number of PhDs Conferred (2011–12): 16

Relative Size Based on PhDs Conferred: Large [Explain]

Current Dissertations in Progress

PhDs Conferred by Department

 

 

Last Updated: October 19, 2012