History Doctoral Programs in the United States and Canada

Guelph, Univ. of

Department Web Site

Areas of Specialization:

Scotland, Canada, U.S. since 1760, medieval and modern Europe, gender/family/women

Program Description

The Tri-University Doctoral Program was created in 1994 to combine the intellectual and institutional resources of three Ontario universities (www.triuhistory.ca), the University of Guelph, Wilfrid Laurier University, and the University of Waterloo. The Program has particular strength in the four geographical areas of Canadian History, Scottish History, Early Modern European and Modern European History, as well as in the thematically areas of Race, Imperialism, and Slavery, and War and Society. The Tri-University Doctoral Program exists for, and is committed to, the pursuit of excellence in graduate research and teaching. Its objective is to prepare candidates for a scholarly career in teaching and research. The main goal of the program is to offer a high quality education within a carefully limited range of studies. The Ph.D. field preparations are designed to provide a wide intellectual basis for scholarship and teaching as well as to allow reading complementary to a student's proposed area of doctoral research.

Special Programs or Resources

The Tri-University program brings together the talents of well over sixty historians as well as the resources of three of Ontario's leading universities. The three university libraries have an integrated on-line catalogue and retrieval service that allows students to have delivered to their home library any books in the system within twenty-four hours. Students in the Tri-University program have access to a very large pool of exceptional scholars, and wide opportunities to present and publish their work, while at the same time enjoying the benefits of the close relationships available in a smaller campus setting. Part of the attraction of the program is that it gives students a good deal of variation and flexibility.
Students can proceed to the dissertation stage through either a comprehensive stream with written and oral examinations or through a colloquium stream in which they research, write and present a paper of publishable quality. Once at the dissertation stage, doctoral candidates have the option of teaching a mentored course in their area of expertise.

Financial Aid

Graduate students enrolled in the Tri-University Program are funded according to the scholarship and funding policies prevailing at the university in which they are enrolled. Although it is not possible to completely equalize the value of scholarships levels and Graduate Teaching Assistantship stipends across the three institutions, it is established program policy that the sum of such funding should be reasonably equivalent for students of equivalent merit.
Two of the three universities, Guelph and Laurier, have adopted a guaranteed minimum stipend for any doctoral students admitted. Guelph guarantees a minimum of $17,500 a year for three years while Laurier guarantees $16,000 a year for four years. In practice, however, the financial offers from all three Departments of History exceed the announced minimum stipend.

Degree Requirements

To complete the requirements for their degree, doctoral students must meet the program's language requirement (students will normally demonstrate a reading knowledge in a second language related to their research). They will complete one major field and two areas of concentration and demonstrate competency in the field and areas by the successful completion of either the Comprehensive or Colloquium mode of examination. The Comprehensive mode requires written comprehensive exams in each of the fields and areas followed by an Oral Qualifying Examination that covers the field and areas. The Colloquium mode requires an additional essay to be written in each field and area to be followed by the preparation of an independent research paper and its presentation to a public colloquium.
Under the supervision of a faculty member or co-supervisors, the candidate will then write and defend a 50,000 - 90,000 word thesis of such originality and cogency that it would be publishable in whole or in part with minor revisions.

University Information:

Department Demographics:

Faculty Mix:
	Full Professor	7
	Associate Professor	8
	Assistant Professor	11
	Instructor/Lecturer
	Joint Appointment
	Emeritus Faculty	8
	Part-time faculty

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

Number of Graduate Students in Program (Fall 2005): 46
(Graduate student counts include those enrolled in terminal Master's degree program)

Proportion of Full-Time Graduate Students:

New Graduate Students Entering Program, Fall 2004: 20

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

 

Other Information

     Current Dissertations in Progress

     PhDs Conferred by Department