Programs

The graduate program in history is intended primarily for students who pursue full-time work toward a doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) degree. Requirements for a Ph.D. degree include 48 course credits in history or in a supporting discipline and 24 research credits. Students must successfully complete examinations in a major and a minor field. Normally, these exams are taken in the second and third years. Doctoral candidates must demonstrate appropriate reading knowledge of non-English languages required by each field. Candidates are required to prepare a doctoral dissertation based on original research and successfully defend that dissertation in a final examination conducted by a faculty committee. Some credits for master of arts (M.A.) work in history done at other institutions usually can be transferred with the permission of the Graduate School-New Brunswick, though students may still need to fulfill particular program course requirements. Students may enroll for graduate courses at neighboring universities that are linked with Rutgers through a consortium arrangement.

The M.A. is offered within the framework of the doctoral program. Its requirements include eight courses in history and successful completion of an examination in the student's major field. A thesis is not required. The M.A. is an option for students who start in the Ph.D. program, but who are not able to complete it. For those whose terminal degree objective at Rutgers is the M.A., the New Brunswick program offers an M.A. program in global and comparative history. Such students might otherwise apply to the M.A. program in American history at Rutgers University-Camden, or to the M.A. program in history at Rutgers University-Newark. For further information about these M.A. programs, write to: Department of History, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Camden, NJ 08102; or Department of History, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07102, respectively.

Those interested in the Ph.D. program should apply by December 15 for entry in the following fall semester. Applications must be submitted online. Transcripts, Graduate Record Examination scores, three letters of recommendation, and a writing sample (preferably based on primary sources, and where possible using appropriate languages in the proposed major field) are required for application to the program.

The Ph.D. program offers work in most fields of American, European, African, Latin American, and Asian history. The department has particular strengths in the following areas of history: women, gender, and sexuality; African American; cultural and intellectual; early and modern American; early modern and modern Europe; global and comparative; and technology and medicine. Major fields exist for the history of science, technology, environment, and health; women's and gender history; and the history of Atlantic cultures and the African diaspora. The department also is home to the Center for Historical Analysis, the Thomas A. Edison Papers, the Medieval and Early Modern Data Bank project, and the Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony papers. Faculty members are affiliated with centers and programs in African, Asian, British, European, Latin American, Middle Eastern, and South Asian studies; with the Center for Race and Ethnicity and the Center for Cultural Analysis; and with the Department of Women's and Gender Studies and related centers.

A full description of the program may be found online at http://history.rutgers.edu. The website also offers information about multiyear funding packages, constituted by fellowships, teaching assistantships, and other forms of financial aid.