History Doctoral Programs in the United States and Canada

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The Education of Historians for the Twenty-first Century

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Maryland, Coll. Park, U. of

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Areas of Specialization:

U.S., ancient to modern Europe, Atlantic world, Latin America, women and gender

Program Description

Counting upon the close collaboration of fifty permanent faculty members and approximately 150 degree-seeking students, our graduate program offers the doctorate and the master of arts in history. We also participate in a dual-degree masters in History and Library Science. Our fields of noted excellence are United States, African American, women and gender, Latin American, and Central/Eastern European/Russian history. Other areas of established strength are the history of Western Europe, the Ancient Mediterranean, Middle East/Islamic/Jewish history, as well as the history of technology, science, and the environment. Working with partners in Europe and the Americas, we are developing exciting new programs in Atlantic history, the African diaspora, and international/transnational history.

Special Programs or Resources

The History and Library Science program (HiLS) is designed to prepare students for archival and bibliographic research, curatorship of rare book and manuscript collections, and conservation through a unique, interdisciplinary fusion of traditional historical methodology and cutting-edge archival and technology skills. The HiLS program requires that 24 of the 54 credit hours required for graduation be taken through History.
The Historic Preservation Certificate program draws together the appropriate courses and seminar offerings of American Studies, Anthropology, Architecture, Geography, Landscape Architecture, Urban Studies and Planning, as well as History, to form a twenty-four credit interdisciplinary curriculum. Certificate courses usually are taken in conjunction with the Master of Arts or the Master of Architecture degrees, and are designed to help prepare students for a range of careers in the planning, management and conservation of significant cultural, natural, and historical resources.
The Museum Scholarship and Material Culture Certificate program augments graduate work in American Studies, Anthropology, Historic Preservation, and History by training students to understand the particular challenges, issues, and opportunities encountered when conducting and presenting material culture scholarship in the museum environment. The program takes advantage of close collaboration with the world's largest museum establishment, the Smithsonian Institution.

Financial Aid

The University of Maryland, the College of Arts and Humanities, and the Department of History offer several forms of financial support to our graduate students, including University fellowships, teaching assistantships, graduate assistantships, research assistantships, research awards, and travel grants. The majority of financial support is made available to students in the doctoral program. However, students in the Master of Arts and History & Library Science programs may request support, typically in the form of teaching assistantships, as departmental needs permit.
Multiyear funding packages include a 9.5-month stipend, tuition remission, and a health benefits option, renewable on an annual basis subject to satisfactory progress towards the fulfillment of program requirements. All multiyear packages require that the funded student serve as a teaching assistant for two or more years. The most generous packages guarantee one or two years of support without any teaching obligations.
Doctoral precandidates who have successfully passed the comprehensive examinations may request support for summer work towards the dissertation prospectus. Each spring, doctoral candidates may also apply for one semester of support for dissertation research and writing. Dissertation support is treated as supplemental to the guaranteed multiyear package. Additional funding is available to all students through the Research & Travel Grant competitions, matching funds for travel to academic conferences, and various cross-campus funding opportunities. Budgetary restrictions may apply.

Degree Requirements

All M.A. students must complete a minimum of thirty (30) semester hours. The Degree-By-Thesis option also requires twenty-four hours in a major field, six hours of thesis credit, and presentation of a thesis and approval of it by a majority of a committee consisting of at least three faculty members. The Degree-By-Examination (a.k.a. the Non-Thesis) option requires eighteen hours as a major field, nine hours of elective course work, satisfactory performance on a major-field exam based on the students course work and/or a set of readings devised by the student in consultation with the advisor, and presentation of two research papers written in 800-level research seminars to the students M.A. examining committee for its approval.
All doctoral students must complete the General Seminar(s) in their general field of study, complete HIST 601 (History and Contemporary Theory), complete a minimum of nine hours in readings courses (600/700-level) within the Department of History and six hours in research seminars (800-level), complete a minor field of study outside the major field of study which requires nine credit hours, complete a minimum of twelve hours of doctoral research, and maintain a B average in all graduate courses.