History (Graduate Field)
Field Description
To encourage flexibility, general requirements are kept to a minimum. These include: taking seven graduate-level seminars including History 7090, Introduction to the Graduate Study of History (independent study courses do not count toward seminar requirement); demonstrating foreign language proficiency (see below); demonstrating proficiency in two languages other than English (for Africanists, only one foreign language required); completing the Graduate School's residence requirement of 6 semesters of full-time study at a satisfactory level of accomplishment; teaching for at least one year (normally as a teaching assistant); passing the "Q" examination early in the second semester of study; complete one research paper by the end of the second year; the written and oral "Admission to Candidacy" examination after completion of formal study (the "A" exam); turn in an approved dissertation prospectus within three months of the "A" exam; and completing the doctoral dissertation and defending it in a final examination.
For students in African, English/British, and American history, proficiency must be demonstrated in one foreign language before a Ph.D. candidate is eligible for the Examination for Admission to Candidacy (A Exam). Students in all other fields are required to demonstrate competence in two foreign languages. Language proficiency is determined at the discretion of the special committee and in consultation with the DGS. The general minimal expectation is that students be able to pass a non-introductory placement test in the relevant foreign language(s), but depending on the student’s research, much higher levels of proficiency will be expected. Substitutions for the foreign language requirement may be petitioned.
Incoming Ph.D. students who hold a master's degree from another university must still complete the requirements listed above. No formal transfer credit is given, but the special committee normally takes previous graduate work in history into account, which may speed the student's progress toward the doctorate.