History Doctoral Programs in the United States and Canada

Catholic Univ. of America

Department Web Site

Areas of Specialization:

medieval/early modern/modern Europe, United States, Latin America

Program Description

The Department of History at Catholic University offers doctoral degrees in the fields of Modern and Medieval Europe and American History. The faculty is particularly strong in the history of religion and the study of immigration and ethnicity. The Department is one of the few in the country to offer graduate study in Byzantine history.

Special Programs or Resources

Besides the resources found in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area (the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the Smithsonian Institution, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the National Holocaust Museum, the German Historical Institute and the Dumbarton Oaks Research Center for Byzantine Studies), Catholic University has several particular collections. The main campus library (the John K. Mullen of Denver Library) contains more than 1.5 million volumes, with particularly outstanding collections in church history and medieval history. In addition, the campus library system houses valuable special collections, including the Oliveira Lima Library, one of the foremost Brazilian and Luso-Brazilian collections in the United States; Rare Books and Special Collections including manuscripts, incunabula and other printed books such as the 10,000 volume Clementine Library; and the Stevenson Library of Latin American music. The university archives contain major holdings on the social and institutional history of the Catholic Church and labor movements in the United States. The University is also a member of the Washington Area Library Consortium, which makes available to students the collections at The American University, The George Washington University, Georgetown University, Howard University and the University of Maryland.

Financial Aid

Tuition remission scholarships are available to students on a competitive basis. A limited number of teaching fellowships are also available.

Degree Requirements

A Ph.D. requires a minimum of 54 graduate credit-hours (i.e. 24 credit-hours beyond the minimum required for the M.A.). A maximum of 8 courses (24 credit-hours) can be transferred from another institution with departmental approval. Students must pass a round of written examinations in major and minor fields, and also an oral exam in their major fields. Each student must also meet a language requirement: this is defined as one language more than for the M.A. (that is, in most cases, two foreign languages, except for Medieval European history, which requires three, one of which must be Latin).

University Information:

University Type: Private, not-for-profit

Carnegie Institution Ranking: Doctoral/Research Universities—Extensive

Department Demographics:

First PhD conferred: 1915

History PhDs conferred to Date: 329

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

Faculty Mix:
	Full Professor	5
	Associate Professor	4
	Assistant Professor	3
	Instructor/Lecturer
	Joint Appointment	1
	Emeritus Faculty	4
	Part-time faculty	2

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

Number of Graduate Students in Program (Fall 2005): 60
(Graduate student counts include those enrolled in terminal Master's degree program)

Proportion of Full-Time Graduate Students: 92%

New Graduate Students Entering Program, Fall 2004: 14

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

 

Other Information

     Current Dissertations in Progress

     PhDs Conferred by Department