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The Many Careers of History PhDs: Sector or Status as of Spring 2013

Julia Brookins and Allen Mikaelian, December 2013

Read the full report at www.historians.org/manycareers

Random Sample of History PhDs, Earned May 1998 to August 2009

While graduates of programs ranked high by the National Research Council’s schema were significantly more likely to be found on the tenure track in a four-year institution, there was remarkably little difference across NRC rankings in the proportion of graduates working beyond the professoriate. Graduates who were deceased, retired, unemployed, or not found are not shown here.

Graduates of programs in the bottom quartile of the National Research Council rankings were significantly less likely to be found in tenure-track positions. Graduates of highly-ranked programs who specialized in Africa, the Middle East, and world history were also frequently found on the tenure track, but the sample did not contain enough graduates in these fields from lower-ranked programs to make a valid comparison.