The doctorate is suggested for those seeking teaching, administrative, or research positions in colleges and universities, foundations, government agencies, and major libraries or archives. It is also appropriate for high school teachers or informed citizens with prior training who want to develop their historical interests to the fullest in a rigorous, professional atmosphere.
Coursework
Students applying to the Ph.D. program must hold a master's degree. The doctorate entails 72 credit hours of coursework. Thirty credit hours are typically drawn from the M.A. degree. Ph.D. students usually take an additional 24 credit hours of coursework. The remaining credit hours come from work toward their candidacy examination and doctoral dissertation. Our program allows students to study in numerous fields and work closely with faculty advisors.
During the first stage of the doctoral program while pursuing coursework, the student pursues two goals:
- Preparing three field essays and a teaching portfolio and taking a follow-up oral exam
- Developing and defending a prospectus for the dissertation.
Doctoral students must also demonstrate proficiency in two foreign languages at an average level or in one foreign language at a high level.
Dissertations
In the second and final stage of the doctoral program, students register for History 799 (Doctoral Research and Dissertation). Once a prospective director for the dissertation has been identified and a committee of three faculty members has approved the proposed dissertation topic, the student undertakes research in a substantial body of primary sources and produces an original work of historical scholarship in the form of the doctoral dissertation. See our current dissertations in progress and recently completed dissertations.
Our current Ph.D. students are doing research in these areas.
- Kathryn Bean: "Paths of Least Resistance: Claiming Indiana Rivers and Marshes in the Nineteenth Century.” Directors: Bradley Bond and Beatrix Hoffman
- Thomas Brown: “A Time to Sow, A Time to Reap: Development and Disaster in Cold War Cambodia, 1955-1970” Director: Trude Jacobsen Gidaszewski.
- Court Hansen: “Standing Firm by Kampuchea’s Side: East Germany and the Reconstruction of Post-Genocide Cambodia, 1979-1989.” Director: Trude Jacobsen Gidaszewski
- Hollis Harris, "Pennies for Bread, Dollars for Bullets: The Reunion of Clan-na-Gael and the Globalization of Irish American Political Culture, 1890–1915.”
Director: Sean Farrell
- Anna Henderson, “Old Age and Resistance to Slavery in the United States.”
Director: Aaron Fogleman
- Helen Kallao: “Black Power Professionals: The Middle Class Militancy of the Afro American Patrolmen’s League, 1965 – 1977.” Director: Rosemary Feurer
- Matthew Maletz, “A Republic of Students: Education and Nation Formation in the Guatemalan Revolution, 1944–54.”
Director: Anne Hanley and Michael Gonzalez
- Elizabeth Unruh, “Lutherans and Sexuality, 1963–1982.”
Director: Amanda Littauer
- LeNie Adolphson, "Provident Hospital and the Fight to End Healthcare Disparities" (2024). Director: Beatrix Hoffman
- Alexander Craver, "The Roots of Empire and Industry: The Global History of the Soviet Rubber Industry" (2024). Director: Andy Bruno
- Alexander Lundberg, "Moral Bonds, Modern Subjects: Pecúlio, Property Rights, and the Abolition of Slavery in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1822–1888" (2024). Director: Anne Hanley
- Alexander Sosenko, "The Human Faces of Dissident Socialism: The Fight for Human Rights in Soviet Ukraine" (2024). Director: Andy Bruno
- Joshua Fulton, "Performance Patriotism: The State Council of Defense, the Illinois Women's Committee, and the Role of the State in World War I Illinois" (2023). Director: Rosemary Feurer
- Journey Steward, "Immigrants or Prostitutes? Panic over White Slavery in France, Britain and the United States" (2023). Director: Sean Farrell
- John Alcade, "The Language of Citizenship: Italian Immigrants and English Fluency in the Courthouse, 1875–1921" (2022). Director: James Schmidt
- Kevin Luginbill, "Building an Imperial World: Imperial Ideologies and the Politics of the Tariff Reform Movement in the British Empire, 1900–14" (2022). Director: Sean Farrell
- Megan Van Gorder, "What Mother Meant: Maternal Competence, Medical Authority, and Memory in the Case of Mary Bickerdyke (1820–1910)" (2022). Director: James Schmidt
- Joann LoSavio, "Modern Mandala: A Transnational History of Southeast Asian Youth from Burma, Malaya, and Thailand, 1950–70" (2020). Director: Trude Jacobsen Gidaszewski
- Justin Iverson, "Slavery's Soldiers: Arming Slave Revolts and Maroons in the British Atlantic, 1676–1823" (2020). Director: Aaron Fogleman
- Heeyoung Choi, "The Transnational Construction of National Music (Kugak): Musicking in the Korean Diaspora, 1903–1945" (2020). Director: E. Taylor Atkins
Find more past dissertations at Huskie Commons.
Career Development
Doctoral students should also expect to prepare for employment by participating in professional conferences, seeking external funding for research, submitting research for publication, and playing an active role in departmental events. Most funded doctoral students will also teach at least one independent section during their assistantship period. Our students who have prepared well for the job market have a strong record of placement in academic and non-academic positions.
For more information, consult: