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Arizona State University

Faculty of History
Sch. of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies
PO Box 874302
Tempe, AZ 85287-4302

Phone 480.965.5778
Fax 480.965.0310
E-mail: history@asu.edu

Department Web Site

Areas of Specialization:

Europe, Latin America, North America, Public History, South and East Asia, and Women

Program Description

Arizona State University's graduate program in History offers outstanding opportunities for graduate study in North American and European history with thematic concentrations in indigenous history, American West, urban history, environment and sustainability studies, politics and policy, immigration, gender, race and ethnicity, culture, and world/comparative history. ASU also has a leading program in public history, which trains master's and doctoral students for careers in historic preservation, museums, historical societies, publishing houses, and government agencies.

Special Programs or Resources

In addition to extensive coursework, graduate students in history at ASU have unique opportunities to develop as scholars, teachers and members of the profession. Program resources enable students to travel to scholarly conferences and to pursue research during the summer months. Pedagogical training in both face-to-face and online teaching prepares students to become strong teachers. The Preparing Future Faculty program offers a series of semester-long workshops designed to help students reach professional goals.

The graduate program in history is housed within the innovative and interdisciplinary School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies (SHPRS). Graduate students in SHPRS have opportunities to participate in programming sponsored by the centers and programs in which history faculty play significant roles, including the Melikian Center for Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies, the Center for Jewish Studies, the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and the Comparative Border Studies Program. The history program also sponsors H-AmIndian, an international H-Net discussion list that is managed by history faculty and staffed by several graduate assistants. The history program is also the editorial home of two journals, the Journal of Policy History and French Historical Studies, 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. In the past few years, students have participated 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, 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 2012-13 were $14,000 for half-time positions. 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, most 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 Teaching Seminar 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), the preparation and defense of a secondary field portfolio, written qualifying exams, and a dissertation. Students in North American and European history must take a series of "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:

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: 37

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

 

Student Demographics (Fall 2011):

Number of Doctoral Students in Program: 81

New Doctoral Students Entering Program: 11

Proportion of Doctoral Students Receiving Financial Aid: 60%

Number of Graduate Students Enrolled: 110

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

 

Degree Information:

First PhD conferred: 1973

History PhDs conferred to Date: 191

Number of PhDs Conferred (2011–12): 9

Relative Size Based on PhDs Conferred: Large [Explain]

Current Dissertations in Progress

PhDs Conferred by Department

 

 

Last Updated: October 19, 2012