The Department of History is home to two graduate degree programs, offering the MA and PhD in History and in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology (HSMT).
Other degree options include the Bridge Program with the Department of African American Studies, designed to allow students to complete the MA in African American Studies and the PhD in History, and the Joint PhD in History and History of Science, Medicine, and Technology. Graduate students can also pursue a Joint PhD with other campus programs. In past years, students in the History degree program have completed joint PhDs with Educational Policy Studies, while students in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology degree program have completed joint PhDs with Philosophy, Classics, and Chemistry.
Find summaries of the two degree programs below. For detailed information, see the Graduate Program Handbook.
Programs
History of Science, Medicine, and Technology
Graduate students come to the degree program in History of Science, Medicine, and Technology from a variety of academic backgrounds and with diverse professional goals. The program maintains a policy of maximum flexibility and, when possible, tailors the program requirements to align with student research interests. HSMT students are encouraged to undertake work in related programs such as History, Philosophy, Science and Technology Studies (STS), and the sciences. HSMT students also have the option of concentrating their studies in one of the Department of History’s thematic programs (see below). A joint degree in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology and another UW-Madison PhD program is also an option. In past years, HSMT students have completed joint programs in the departments of Philosophy, Classics, Psychology, History, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics. For detailed degree requirements, consult the Graduate Program Handbook.
History
In the History degree program, graduate training is organized in primary fields of study. Although most of our students are trained in a single field, students whose research interests span more than one geographic field have the option to craft an Individual Plan of Study.
History offers the following primary fields of study:
- African History
- East Asian History
- European History – Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern, and Modern
- Latin American and Caribbean History
- Middle East and North African History
- South Asian History
- Southeast Asian History
- U.S./North American History
Alongside the primary field of study, students can concentrate their work thematically in one of the following intellectual communities:
Faculty in the Department of History also offer 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