History PhD Program

The PhD in History requires a mix of 30-46 credit hours of coursework and 18-34 credit hours of research to reach the total hour requirement of 64. The required 30 hours of coursework includes 6 semester hours in a minor field outside the department, 6 hours in a minor history field, and 18 hours in a major history field. Additionally, students must complete a minimum of 18 hours of research. The remaining hours may be applied either as coursework or as research hours; most doctoral students use those hours for research (History 691).Doctoral students are required to possess reading knowledge of two foreign languages prior to taking their preliminary examinations. See Language Requirements  for more detail.

PhD students must complete their degrees within ten consecutive calendar years and within three years after passing their preliminary examinations. The student enters candidacy for the degree upon completing coursework, fulfilling language requirements, meeting the residency requirement, passing the preliminary examinations (written and oral exams administered by the committee), and filing an approved dissertation proposal. The dissertation must reflect original, independent research and have scholarly merit. Final copies of the dissertation must be filed with the Thesis Clerk no later than one year after the final examination (aka the oral dissertation defense) or within the ten year limit, whichever comes first.