History Doctoral Programs in the United States and Canada

Arizona State Univ.

Department Web Site

Areas of Specialization:

U.S., U.S. West, public, Europe, Asia, Latin America, Britain

Program Description

ASU's Department of History offers outstanding opportunities for graduate study in four geographic regions (North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia) as well as thematic concentrations such as indigenous history, gender, race, immigration, American West, environment and sustainability studies, politics and policy, culture, urban history, and world/comparative history. ASU also has a leading program in public history, which trains students for careers in museums, historical societies, publishing houses, and government agencies.

Special Programs or Resources

In addition to extensive coursework, graduate students in history at ASU have unusual opportunities to become excellent teachers, scholars, and public historians. The department participates in both the university and the disciplinary Preparing Future Faculty programs and is a member of the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate. Students regularly present their research at national and regional meetings and publish in journals. Before teaching their own courses, students are prepared in a two-semester course on college teaching. They are taught to use state-of-the-art technology in the mediated classrooms of our new building.
The department also sponsors H-AmIndian, an international listserv that is part of H-Net and is staffed by a full-time historian and part-time graduate assistants. The department is also the editorial home of two journals, on which students serve as assistants. Students pursuing careers outside the academy benefit from internships, contract research opportunities, and short courses taught by practicing public historians. Students also participate in projects funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Education's Teaching American History program as well as research projects funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Park Service, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and other agencies.

Financial Aid

The primary financial aid available to graduate students is the Graduate Assistantship (GA), which takes many forms, including teaching assistantships, research assistantships, undergraduate advising positions, and administrative and project management assistance. The public history program also offers additional editing/publishing positions and off-campus employment at state agencies and historical societies. The department annually awards quarter-time and half-time GA positions on a competitive basis. Stipends for PhD students for 2007-08 range from $12,800-$14,000 for half-time positions depending on the student's level of advancement in the program. Half-time GAs receive 100% tuition remission and university health insurance. Quarter-time GAs receive a 50% tuition remission and are automatically charged tuition at the in-state rate. Prior to passing their qualifying exams, graduate teaching assistants provide instructional support to members of the faculty (i.e., grading exams and papers, acquiring instructional materials for class, and assisting in research tasks).
Advanced PhD candidates at the ABD stage have the opportunity to teach courses independently after they have completed the department's formal TA Training Program. Other types of financial assistance and fellowships are available on a very limited, highly competitive basis.

Degree Requirements

The PhD requires 84 total credit hours beyond the BA degree (54 credit hours beyond the MA), demonstrated proficiency in an advanced research skill (consisting of one or more foreign languages or other technical or interdisciplinary skills relevant to the student's research), written and oral qualifying exams (the written is take-home), and a dissertation. Students in North American and European history must take a series of team-taught "core" field courses in preparation for their field exams. All students must also enroll in a 3-credit historiography course and at least three research seminars. Public history majors have additional required coursework for their field.

University Information:

University Type: Public

Carnegie Institution Ranking: Doctoral/Research Universities—Extensive

Department Demographics:

First PhD conferred: 1973

History PhDs conferred to Date: 138

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

Faculty Mix:
	Full Professor	17
	Associate Professor	16
	Assistant Professor	10
	Instructor/Lecturer	1
	Joint Appointment	5
	Emeritus Faculty	19
	Part-time faculty	21

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

Number of Graduate Students in Program (Fall 2005): 118
(Graduate student counts include those enrolled in terminal Master's degree program)

Proportion of Full-Time Graduate Students: 48%

New Graduate Students Entering Program, Fall 2004: 41

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

 

Other Information

     Current Dissertations in Progress

     PhDs Conferred by Department