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University of Houston

Dept. of History
524 Agnes Arnold Hall
Houston, TX 77204-3003

Phone (713) 743-3083
Fax (713) 743-3216
E-mail: buzz@uh.edu

Department Web Site

Areas of Specialization:

Europe; Energy, Environment, and Urban Development; Gender, Women, and Family; Latin America, Medicine and Technology; Mexican American; U.S.; and War, Revolution, and Diplomacy

Program Description

The Department of History has more than 30 full-time faculty members with an active record of publications and outstanding teaching. Serving one of the most diverse student bodies in the nation, we have made great strides in embracing this diversity, both in the composition of our faculty and in teaching and course offerings. Faculty geographical specializations include Latin America, western Europe, Africa, Asia, and the U.S., while thematic specializations include environmental history, Mexican American history, African American history, legal history, and business history.

We offer graduate training for a variety of careers, including university teaching and research, teaching at the secondary level, editing, and archive and museum positions. In the recent past, our Ph.D. program has placed students at Indiana University; the universities of Missouri, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Arkansas; Texas A & M; Cal State Sacramento; San Diego State, the University of North Florida, and numerous state universities and colleges in Texas. Over the last decade, we have one of the best records in the nation of training and placing African American students, and we have recently expanded our Mexican American history program. Our graduate programs now total more than 100 students.

Members of our department play active roles in the Center for Mexican American Studies and the African American Studies Program at the University of Houston. The department also has sponsored workshops in African American and Mexican American history that bring leading scholars in these fields to the campus. These programs reinforce our strong graduate offerings in ethnic studies while also attracting the interest of audiences outside of the campus. The department currently houses three chaired professorships and three distinguished professors. Funds from these chairs support a variety of activities, including support for graduate students. The history faculty maintains a high professional profile. Since 2000, current members of our department have published about 20 books and numerous articles. Its members edit three different series of books at university presses.

Special Programs or Resources

The public history program prepares M.A. students for a variety of jobs utilizing historian's skills in non-academic settings. The Public History Institute has a strong emphasis on environmental/energy/and urban issues. Its Tenneco Speakers Series sponsors numerous programs in the department and on the campus as a whole. It publishes The Houston Review, a journal focused on the history of the region, and houses the Oral History of the Houston Economy, archival collections on environmental and energy history, and the Texas Slavery Project. The closely related Humanities and Professions Program maintains strong ties to the business and law schools on campus, as well as to the related professional communities in the city. The department is also a partner is three Department of Education Teaching American History grants, including PATH (Project for Active Teaching of History), which has funded graduate tuition for teachers in the 53 districts of metropolitan Houston. The department also has established ongoing programs at the Texas Medical Center.

Financial Aid

Most financial aid for graduate students comes in the form of teaching assistantships, which the department can offer to approximately 25 students each year. In addition, the department offers a small number of research assistantships to highly qualified students. Teaching and most research assistantships include health benefits and tuition fellowships (two years at the M.A. level and three years at the Ph.D. level). Assistantships are available for a maximum of six years (over the MA/Ph.D. period). The department also offers dissertation research fellowships for students who must travel to undertake their research. The University and the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences also offer other forms of support for which History students are eligible to apply.

Degree Requirements

Ph.D. students must take 36 hours (generally, 12 courses) beyond the M.A. degree, including 18 hours in the major area, 9 in a minor area, and 9 dissertation hours. The department recently instituted an expedited M.A./Ph.D. track for students wishing to move directly through to the Ph.D. This program requires 66 total hours. Qualifying examinations are in written form. Students in U.S. history cover both pre- and post-1877 eras and the field area of their intended dissertation research; European and Latin American students prepare their major field/time period and two others.



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: 31

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

 

Student Demographics (Fall 2011):

Number of Doctoral Students in Program: -1

New Doctoral Students Entering Program: -1

Proportion of Doctoral Students Receiving Financial Aid: -1%

Number of Graduate Students Enrolled: 77

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

 

Degree Information:

First PhD conferred: 1974

History PhDs conferred to Date: 108

Number of PhDs Conferred (2011–12): 5

Relative Size Based on PhDs Conferred: Medium [Explain]

Current Dissertations in Progress

PhDs Conferred by Department

 

 

Last Updated: October 19, 2012