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Middle Tennessee State University

Dept. of History
Box 23
1301 E. Main St.
Murfreesboro, TN 37132-0001

Phone 615.898.2536
Fax 615.898.4881
E-mail: history@mtsu.edu

Department Web Site

Areas of Specialization:

Public History

Program Description

The Ph.D. in Public History at Middle Tennessee State University is an innovative, student-centered, practice-based, individualized program of study.

Offered by the Department of History in partnership with Tennessee Board of Regents' Centers of Excellence--The Center for Historic Preservation & The Center for Popular Music--the program provides a community of nationally recognized scholars and cultural heritage professionals cooperating to train the next generation of leaders in the field of public history.

Special Programs or Resources

The Center for Historic Preservation is a research and public service institute committed to the preservation, protection, enhancement, and sensitive promotion of our historic environment. With the resources of a university and a network of state and local partners, the Center follows a dual mission of improving higher education in Tennessee Board of Regents Universities and expanding the state's economic opportunities through historic preservation and heritage development programs and activities. A Center of Excellence at Middle Tennessee State University, funded by the General Assembly and the University, the Center's primary responsibility is to serve Tennessee's 95 counties. The Center provides services in every county of Tennessee through such statewide projects as the Tennessee Century Farms and Rural African American Church programs. It also administers the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area, a partnership unit of the National Park Service, and the Teaching with Primary SourcesTennessee, a partnership unit of the Library of Congress. The Center is recognized nationally and internationally for its innovative approaches and partnerships in heritage development and heritage education. The Center for Historic Preservation supports undergraduate and graduate education and student-centered learning through fellowships, graduate research assistantships, and other employment options. Staff-directed projects provide interdisciplinary and applied working experiences. Students interested in applied experience training are encouraged to apply for academic support. The Center welcomes requests from communities, individuals, agencies, and organizations, both governmental and not-for-profit, that are working toward historic preservation goals.

The Center for Popular Music is an archive and research center devoted to the study of American popular music from the pre-revolutionary era to the present. It was established in 1985 as one of the sixteen Centers of Excellence at universities in the Tennessee Board of Regents system. The Center's mission is to promote research and scholarship in American vernacular music, and to foster an understanding and appreciation of American's diverse musical culture. To carry out this mission, the Center maintains a large research library and archive; presents public programs that interpret various aspects of American vernacular music; engages in original research projects; and disseminates the results of research via publications in various media.

The Albert Gore Research Center is a multi-faceted archive and education center dedicated to preserving and making available for research primary source materials related to Tennessee history and the contributions of Tennesseans to national and global affairs. It serves Middle Tennessee State University as the institutional archive and the citizens of the area as an archive of community organizations and activities. It holds major collections of federal and state legislative papers, including those of Senator Albert Gore, Sr. (MTSU 1932). Another notable area of focus is the rich equestrian history of middle Tennessee with a world-class collection of equestrian materials. The Center houses thousands of photographs, oral history interviews, and television and radio programs. Through its website at gorecenter.mtsu.edu and democracy education simulations, the Center seeks to assist teachers of history and government and to encourage the use of primary sources in secondary and college classrooms. Graduate assistants from the History Department are a vital part of the operation of the Center and the processing of its collections.

Financial Aid

Financial aid is available in the form of teaching and professional assistantships that are awarded on a competitive basis. The Doctoral Admissions Committee ranks applicants based on their incoming GPA, their letters of recommendation, their portfolio, their letter of intent, and their GRE scores. Continuation of financial aid is contingent on maintaining good standing in the program and successful progress toward completion of the degree.

Please note, our partner, The Center for Historic Preservation, funds additional assistantships and residencies and applicants to the Ph.D. program should be sure to apply simultaneously to BOTH the Department and the CHP for funding. For a CHP assistantship application, see http://histpres.mtsu.edu/histpres/ABOUT/academic.html. For a departmental assistantship application, see http://www.mtsu.edu/~graduate/pdf/GraduateAsstApp.pdf. For a departmental award, please submit the form to the Department of History.

Students who are awarded departmental funding will receive a maximum of three years of support. Currently, doctoral assistantships at MTSU are 12-month appointments and include a stipend of $14,000 plus tuition remission and require 20 hours of employment per week from the student.

Degree Requirements

Doctoral students must earn a total of at least 36 hours of seminar credit in a public history major field, a history minor field, and an interdisciplinary studies minor field. Students are required to complete a two-semester residency in which they develop a professional skills for public history practice while applying scholarship and theory. Students must also complete a 12-hour public history residency colloquium and at least 12 hours of dissertation research. Students must also demonstrate competency in at least one foreign language or other comparable research skill. In addition to course work, students complete a comprehensive written and oral examination in their history field and a comprehensive oral examination of their residency colloquium, public history field, and interdisciplinary studies field.



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: 34

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

 

Student Demographics (Fall 2011):

Number of Doctoral Students in Program: 24

New Doctoral Students Entering Program: 3

Proportion of Doctoral Students Receiving Financial Aid: 60%

Number of Graduate Students Enrolled: 58

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

 

Degree Information:

First PhD conferred: 2008

History PhDs conferred to Date: 16

Number of PhDs Conferred (2011–12):

Relative Size Based on PhDs Conferred: New [Explain]

Current Dissertations in Progress

PhDs Conferred by Department

 

 

Last Updated: October 19, 2012