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University of Wisconsin–Madison

Dept. of History
3211 Mosse Humanities Bldg.
455 N. Park St.
Madison, WI 53706-1405

Phone 608.263.1800
Fax 608.263.5302
E-mail: nshauge@wisc.edu

Department Web Site

Areas of Specialization:

Africa; Central Asia; East Asia; Comparative World; Cultural; Diplomatic; Economic; Ethnicity; Europe; Gender and Women; Latin America and the Caribbean; Middle East; Political; Race; Religion; Sexuality; Social; South Asia; Southeast Asia; U.S.

Program Description

The Graduate Program in History offers the Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in history as well as minor work for doctoral students in fields outside of history. The program is designed to meet the needs of the Ph.D. candidate and rarely admits students seeking only an M.A. Some of our students enter through joint degree programs such as the Bridge Program with Afro-American Studies, the Joint Degree Program in History and the History of Science, and the Joint Degree in Educational Policy Studies.

The department trains productive researchers, committed teachers, and engaged public intellectuals. The program is rigorous, combining independent and collaborative work and emphasizing scholarly engagement and intellectual connectedness. The department's students pursue a variety of careers, including but not limited to college and university teaching.

Special Programs or Resources

With a history spanning more than 150 years and a faculty numbering over 2,000, UW-Madison is home to numerous centers and programs of use and interest to historians. In addition, the University of Wisconsin-Madison is an international leader in foreign language education and research, offering instruction in dozens of modern and ancient languages. The UW-Madison is home to eleven internationally prominent departments of languages and literatures, eleven prestigious area study centers (including eight Title VI National Resource Centers), the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages and the National African Language Resource Center. The Wisconsin Historical Society Library and Archives, located on the UW-Madison campus, constitute the largest collection of published and unpublished material documenting the history of North America outside the Library of Congress. The University of Wisconsin-Madison libraries hold over 7.3 million volumes and form the eleventh largest research collection in North America.

Financial Aid

The Department offers a number of competitive fellowships to entering students. Fellowship packages are for five years and typically combine two years of fellowship with three years of teaching and research assistantships. Entering students without funding are eligible for a Teaching Assistantship in their second semester, and can apply to a number of on-campus funding sources in their first year.

Degree Requirements

Students must pass a Second Year Review by the end of their fourth semester and, in most cases, pass their preliminary examinations and advance to dissertator status by the end of the third year. Doctoral candidates must complete 32 graduate level credits before attaining dissertator status, and complete a minor field. The minor is designed to expose the student to subjects and methodologies that provide a strong counterpoint to his or her historical studies. The Department of History requires proficiency in at least two foreign languages for the Ph.D. degree. Our objective is for students to complete their degrees in six to seven years.



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: 44

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

 

Student Demographics (Fall 2011):

Number of Doctoral Students in Program: 200

New Doctoral Students Entering Program: 21

Proportion of Doctoral Students Receiving Financial Aid: 64%

Number of Graduate Students Enrolled: 186

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

 

Degree Information:

First PhD conferred: 1893

History PhDs conferred to Date: 1808

Number of PhDs Conferred (2011–12): 18

Relative Size Based on PhDs Conferred: Large [Explain]

Current Dissertations in Progress

PhDs Conferred by Department

 

 

Last Updated: October 19, 2012