Graduate Studies

PhD Program

The History Department offers a PhD in History to students seeking to deepen their skills of historical research, teaching, and writing.  The program is designed to train future university teachers and researchers, though a number of our PhDs have gone on to successful careers in government service and a range of other professions, including business and law.

Our doctoral program is small – we usually admit between 2 and 5 students a year, and one of the great benefits of our small size is that our doctoral students have ample opportunity to work closely with faculty in their chosen areas.  The typical UC doctoral student will pursue a little over a year (4 quarters) of graduate-level course work beyond the MA, taking his/her comprehensive exams in the 5th or 6th quarter.  After passing the exams, the student is admitted to doctoral candidacy and begins full-time work on his/her dissertation.  Students are awarded their PhD after they have successfully completed and defended their dissertation at a dissertation defense.

Our doctoral students are required to develop a specialization in one major and two minor fields. The major fields are either US, European, or Comparative World. Choices in the minor fields are more flexible, and students typically consult with faculty to design minors that complement their interests and lines of research.  Some recent PhD minors have included Comparative Environmental History, the History of the British Empire, Public History, and the History of War.  Students may also choose a minor field that is outside of History – for example, Economic Theory or Victorian Literature.  One of the goals of our doctoral program is to train students to take advantage of the benefits of interdisciplinary research.  Consequently, we require our PhD students to take at least two courses outside the History Department.  We also require all our students to pass at least one foreign-language reading exam. (Students in European history must pass two.)

The Department also places a high premium on mentoring our doctoral students in order to acquire the skills they need to pursue productive academic careers. We provide all our students with the opportunity to assist faculty in teaching.  Some teach their own classes. We also require all our PhD students to complete a course called “Preparing Future Faculty” that introduces them to questions of pedagogical theory and practice. 

The Department provides some degree of funding to every student admitted to the doctoral program, and there is a range of funding available within the university and the Taft Research Center to support student research and conference travel.

If you are interested in UC’s doctoral program in History, please contact the Director of Graduate Studies for more information on requirements, funding opportunities, and admission procedures and deadlines.