Program Overview

History - Ph.D.

Overview

The Ph.D. degree in History prepares students to become professional scholars, college and university teachers, and independent researchers in private or public research institutions.

Admissions

• Master's degree from an accredited college or university in history or related discipline
• Minimum 3.000 GPA on a 4.000-point scale
• Official transcript(s)
• GRE scores
• Goal statement describing professional objectives and proposed field of study
• Significant piece of written work
• Three letters of recommendation (preferably academic)
• English language proficiency - all international students must provide proof of English language proficiency (unless they meet specific exceptions to waive) by earning one of the following:
  • Minimum 79 TOEFL iBT score
  • Minimum 6.5 IELTS score
  • Minimum 58 PTE score
  • Minimum 110 DET score

Coursework

• Major Requirements (min B- or S grade required in all courses)
  • HIST 71005: TEACHING WORLD HISTORY (3)
  • HIST 81002: HISTORIOGRAPHY 1 (0-3)
  • HIST 81070: WRITING SEMINAR IN HISTORY 2 (3)
  • HIST 82070 & HIST 82071: AMERICAN HISTORY FROM PRECONTACT NATIVE AMERICA THROUGH THE CIVIL WAR and AMERICAN HISTORY FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO THE PRESENT (0-6)
  • History (HIST) Doctoral Electives (70000 or 80000 level) (15)
  • Focus Field Requirement, choose from the following: (9)
    • History of Everyday Life Focus Field
      • HIST 82300: MAJOR READINGS IN THE IMMIGRATION AND MIGRATION HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
      • HIST 82325: MAJOR READINGS IN ASIAN AMERICAN HISTORY
      • HIST 82326: BETWEEN PLOWS AND SWORDS: U.S.-CHINA CULTURAL RELATIONS SINCE THE LATE 1700S
      • HIST 82350: REVOLUTION AND REFORM: THE DEPRESSION ERA AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN SOCIETY
      • HIST 82360: MARGINALITY AND POWER: HISTORY FROM BELOW
      • HIST 82385: HIGH-LIFE HISTORY: AFRICAN URBAN CULTURAL HISTORIES
    • Rustbelt Studies Focus Field
      • HIST 82500: REGIONAL IDENTITY AND OHIO HISTORY
      • HIST 82505: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN THE 19TH-20TH CENTURY RUST BELT
      • Any History (HIST) Doctoral course (70000 or 80000 level)
    • States of Violence Focus Field
      • HIST 71060: COMPARATIVE FASCISM
      • HIST 82400: THE LENS OF WAR: AMERICAN HISTORY THROUGH THE STUDY OF THE MILITARY
      • HIST 82405: NATIVE WESTS
      • HIST 82415: RELIGION AND VIOLENCE IN THE MODERN WEST
      • HIST 82475: MARXIST REVOLUTION IN VIETNAM
• Culminating Requirement
  • HIST 89199: DISSERTATION I (30)

Graduation Requirements

• Minimum Major GPA: -
• Minimum Overall GPA: 3.000
• All students must demonstrate reading knowledge of a foreign language.
• Course grades help to measure student performance. Only work of B- grade or better is considered "passing" at the graduate level. Any students whose grades are deficient are dismissed.

Candidacy

After completing coursework requirements, students must successfully complete written and oral examinations in the four elected fields of history.

Program Learning Outcomes

Graduates of this program will be able to:

1. Analyze secondary sources in a variety of areas of historical specialization and participate actively and positively in discussions of those sources.
2. Read and master the formative as well as the most significant recent scholarship in their particular areas of focus.
3. Construct effective and analytical book reviews, comparative review essays, and historiographical pieces with a high level of proficiency, particularly when it comes to integrating various historical works together into an analytical/argumentative whole.
4. Form their own judgments about secondary historical works and the historiographical fields of which they are part.
5. Analyze a wide array of primary sources in a sophisticated manner; and integrate these sources with secondary sources in order to make an original historical argument.
6. Demonstrate an ability to conceptualize; research; and write book reviews, annotated bibliographical essays, historiographical essays, and seminar papers.
7. Produce a professional-quality book-length piece of rigorous academic work.