The Department of History offers the M.A. and Ph.D. in History and in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology.
PLEASE NOTE: We admit terminal M.A. applicants on a very limited basis and the probability of admission is low. In addition, there is no funding guarantee and applicants must have external funding or be self-funded. See Funding for prospective students for more information.
Other degree options include our Bridge Program with UW-Madison’s Department of African American Studies, which is designed to allow students to complete the M.A. in African American Studies and the Ph.D. in History, and our Joint Ph.D. in History and History of Science, Medicine, and Technology. Our graduate students also have the option to pursue a Joint Ph.D. with other graduate programs. In past years, students in our History degree program have completed joint Ph.D.s with Educational Policy Studies, while students in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology degree program have completed joint Ph.D.s with, e.g., Philosophy, Classics, and Chemistry.
Our degree programs in History and in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology are summarized briefly below. For detailed information, see the Graduate Program Handbook.
Our Program
History M.A./Ph.D.
In the History degree program, graduate training is organized by primary fields of study. Although most of our students are trained in a single field of study, students whose research interests span more than one field have the option to craft an individual plan of study.
We offer the following primary fields of study in the History degree program:
- African History
- East Asian History
- European History – Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern, and Modern
- Latin American and Caribbean History
- Middle East & North African History
- South Asian History
- Southeast Asian History
- U.S./North American History
Within their primary field of study, students also have the option of concentrating their studies thematically in one of our formal programs:
Our faculty also have a variety of thematic strengths:
- Borderlands and diasporas
- Environmental history
- Intellectual and cultural history
- Labor and political economy
- Race, ethnicity, and indigeneity
- Religion and ritual
History of Science, Medicine, and Technology M.A./Ph.D.
We offer M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology in addition to an M.A. degree in the History of Medicine for people with advanced training in the health professions.
Graduate students come to the degree program in History of Science, Medicine, and Technology from a variety of backgrounds in the sciences and humanities and with diverse professional goals. The program maintains a policy of maximum flexibility and, insofar as possible, tailors the work required for the degree to fit the individual. For graduate program course requirements see the Department of History’s Graduate Program Handbook. Students are encouraged to undertake work in related programs such as History, Philosophy, Science and Technology Studies, and the various sciences. HSMT students also have the option of concentrating their studies in one of our thematic programs (see above). Joint degrees in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology and another degree program are possible. In past years such Ph.D. programs have been successfully completed with the departments of Philosophy, Classics, Psychology, History, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics.