FAS - History

The primary purpose of the History Department's graduate program is to provide training in historical research and teaching to students who wish to find careers in colleges, universities, and other settings where the skills of the historian can be used. To advance this purpose, the department encourages a climate of intellectual inquiry and active research that embraces graduate students and faculty members alike. The hallmark of the program is the high measure of independence and flexibility it allows students in shaping a curriculum that meets their needs, within the limits of faculty expertise and available resources. These resources include a wide variety of research materials housed in various depositories in the Pittsburgh region, close relationships with historians at other local universities, and programs and seminars available through the Center for Social History. With historians specializing in four major areas of the world: Europe (including Russia and Eastern Europe), the United States, East Asia, and Latin America, the department offers comparative and cross-cultural courses focusing on the Atlantic world, the history of capitalism, labor and the working class, comparative nationalism, race, and gender relations. Current course offerings and the requirements for degrees appear later in this section. Since these do change, persons interested in the graduate program are urged to request updated materials and a copy of the department's Graduate Rules and Regulations by writing: Graduate Secretary; Department of History; University of Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh, PA 15260; or by E-mail: gracet@pitt.edu. The Graduate Secretary will also provide information about admission requirements.

Contact Information

Department Chair: G. Reid Andrews

Main Office: 3P01 Posvar Hall

Phone: (412) 648-7451

Fax: (412) 648-9074

Web site: http://www.pitt.edu/~pitthist/dept.html

Admissions

Admission to the graduate program in History has become quite competitive. Candidates must present:

Individuals interested in the graduate program should request the required application forms by writing to the following address:

Graduate Secretary

Department of History

University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, PA 15260

E-mail: gracet@pitt.edu

The Graduate Secretary will also provide applicants with a copy of the department's Graduate Rules and Regulations.

Financial Assistance

Financial aid comes in a variety of forms. The most common are teaching assistantships and teaching fellowships. Mellon Predoctoral Fellowships that require no teaching duties are nominated by the department's graduate committee from among the students at the dissertation stage. The fellowships are renewable for a second year in outstanding cases. The Lillian B. Lawler Fellowship is available to students who are working on their dissertations and who show distinction in teaching as well as research. The Carolyn Chambers Fellowship rotates between the Department of History and the Department of English and is available to students writing their dissertations. The K. Leroy Irvis Fellowship is available to highly qualified minority students. Fellowships are available through the Cultural Studies Program for students affiliated with that program who are writing dissertations. The department may also be able to offer one or two first year fellowships, without teaching responsibilities, to first year students. Details on many of these fellowships are available under Fellowships and Traineeships.

Students specializing in East Asian, Latin American, Russian/East European, and Western European history are also eligible to apply for other fellowships through the University Center for International Studies (UCIS), 4G01 Posvar Hall, University of Pittsburgh. Application forms and information concerning these awards should be obtained from the appropriate area program office in UCIS and submitted at the same time the student applies to the Department of History for admission. See University Center for International Studies section for more details.

Degree Requirements

The minimal requirements established by the Graduate Faculty of the University, as described under General Academic Regulations beginning, and any additional requirements of FAS Graduate Studies described under FAS Degree Requirements, should be read in conjunction with department-specific degree requirements described in the following sections.

Requirements for the Master's Degree

The Master of Arts degree in History may be completed by full-time students in either two or three years. Eight courses (24 credits) are required for the degree. Of these eight, as many as three may be lecture courses in the 1000 series, but students are encouraged to take as much of their work as possible at the seminar level. At least five units must be seminars. One of the eight courses must be outside the Department of History in a related discipline.

Each student must present two papers, which are kept as part of the student's permanent record and are considered equivalent to a master's thesis. One must be a research paper; the other may be either a reading paper or a second research paper. A research paper, normally developed in a research seminar, involves a major original research project employing primary sources, and is presented to the seminar for evaluation and criticism. A reading paper, normally developed in a reading seminar, involves the analysis of a range of secondary literature on a given topic or problem. Where no suitable seminar is offered, the student may develop one of the two papers-either reading or research-as an individual project under the guidance of a faculty member (HIST 2902), but the other should be undertaken in seminar. The two papers must be done for two different instructors, and students are urged to choose two topics separated from each other in time or geography.

Proficiency in one research tool is required for the master's degree. This requirement is met by demonstrating reading knowledge of a foreign language or competence in quantitative techniques. The student must, in consultation with his/her advisor, select the research tool most useful to the student's specialization. Students are urged to complete language preparation before entering graduate school, not only to lighten their workload, but also because some seminars require the use of a foreign language.

At the end of his/her program, the candidate must take an oral examination covering the work completed and emphasizing particularly the interrelationships among courses and seminars. Upon the student's completion of these requirements, the department, after considering the recommendation of the student's committee, will decide upon the award of the master's degree and upon admission into the PhD program.

Requirements for the PhD Degree

Prerequisite for admission to the doctoral program is a master of arts degree or equivalent preparation (plus approval, for those previously enrolled in the department).

Proficiency in two research tools is required for the doctorate, either two languages or one language and quantitative techniques. The requirement is met by demonstrating reading knowledge of the foreign language(s), and/or competence in quantitative techniques. The student must, in consultation with his/her advisor, select the two research tools most useful to the student's specialization. The first tool requirement is fulfilled before the MA, and the second must be completed before the student undertakes his/her comprehensive examinations. Students entering with the MA will present their first tool upon admission or during the first year of residence, and their second before the comprehensive examination.

Doctoral study is both formal and informal. All students will be required to attend and participate in one reading seminar during each one of three terms after being admitted to the PhD program. In addition, students will take directed independent study under various instructors. The student who enters with an MA degree from another institution must complete a research seminar and sit for an oral PhD preliminary examination before the department decides upon the student's admission into the PhD program. The PhD comprehensive consists of oral examinations in four fields and should be taken during the fourth term of work beyond the MA. At the discretion of the student's committee, written examinations covering one or more fields may be required in addition to the oral examinations. Students who fail the comprehensive examination have the right, after conferring with the committee, to retake all or part of the examination. The new examination may be written if the student desires.

The comprehensive examination is divided into four fields (detailed under points 1, 2, and 3 below):

1. The four general areas of Trans Europe (which includes Western Europe and Russia and Eastern Europe), the United States, East Asia, and Latin America.
2. The specialized field within one of the general fields. This field is usually closely related to the student's dissertation topic.
3. In addition, the student, in consultation with his or her major advisor, will select a minimum of two additional fields, from the following three: topical field, related (outside) field, and minor field.

The topical field is inherently comparative and focuses on some aspect of history in more than one geographical and/or cultural context. Two members of the student's comprehensive committee serve as examiners in this field.

The related field is from outside the Department of History. Students who decide to omit the related field must explain how they will meet the FAS requirement that their doctoral thesis committee have on it a faculty member from outside the History Department.

After having selected a suitable dissertation topic, in consultation with the appropriate advisor, the student will present a written overview to the doctoral committee describing the purpose, scope, and method of the proposed study and the sources upon which it will be based. With the acceptance of this prospectus at the overview examination and the approval of the Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies, the student is formally admitted to candidacy for the PhD degree.

The dissertation, directed and evaluated by the student's doctoral committee, is expected to demonstrate the student's capacity to carry out independent, original research. Only if the dissertation is judged to demonstrate such competence, after formal defense in a final oral examination, does the department recommend the awarding of a degree.

Course Listings

The department also accepts for MA graduate credit all history courses numbered 1000-1999, except for HIST 1000 and 1001.

HIST 2001 Introductory Research Methods

HIST 2003 Modern European Historiography

HIST 2004 Philosophy of the Cultural and Social Studies

HIST 2005 Special Topics

HIST 2006 Special Topics

HIST 2007 Special Topics

HIST 2008 Quantitative Methods 1

HIST 2009 Quantitative Methods 2

HIST 2010 Graduate Teaching Seminar

HIST 2020 Constructing the Early Modern World

HIST 2042 Sociology of Revolution

HIST 2049 Comparative Welfare States

HIST 2050 Political Practice and Reason in European Social Thought

HIST 2055 Comparative Labor

HIST 2069 Gender in Global Perspective

HIST 2070 Early European History-Readings

HIST 2080 Problems of European History-Readings

HIST 2081 Problems of European History-Research

HIST 2082 Comparative Nationalisms-Readings

HIST 2083 Comparative Nationalisms-Research

HIST 2085 Comparative Common Law

HIST 2086 Comparative Common Law-Research

HIST 2087 Comparative Military Systems

HIST 2090 The Natural and the Human Sciences: The Classical Tradition

HIST 2091 Historical and Sociological Perspectives: Public Health

HIST 2118 Early Modern Europe

HIST 2149 The Interpretation of Marx

HIST 2150 Modern German Social Thought

HIST 2151 European Classical Sociology

HIST 2152 Modern European Social Thought

HIST 2153 Max Weber

HIST 2154 Max Weber's Comparative History

HIST 2155 European Labor

HIST 2156 British Labor

HIST 2211 Graduate Reading in East Europe

HIST 2212 Idea of Europe

HIST 2311 Graduate Reading in Russia To 1917

HIST 2312 Graduate Research in Russia To 1917

HIST 2313 Readings: Soviet Union

HIST 2314 Research in Soviet History

HIST 2315 Whose Socialism? Whose Enemies?

HIST 2400 East Asia Introduction

HIST 2401 East Asia Readings

HIST 2402 East Asian Research

HIST 2403 Chinese Studies Since 1950

HIST 2432 Readings in Early Modern Japan

HIST 2433 Readings on Modern Japan

HIST 2434 World War II in Asia-Readings

HIST 2500 Latin American Reading

HIST 2501 Latin American Research

HIST 2503 State and Society: Latin America

HIST 2504 Latin American Studies in U.S.: 1945-1990

HIST 2506 Afro-Latin America

HIST 2507 19th-century Latin America

HIST 2600 United States to 1877 Reading

HIST 2601 U.S. General Field 2

HIST 2602 U.S. Research

HIST 2652 U.S. Politics and Political Theory 1

HIST 2653 U.S. Politics and Political Theory 2

HIST 2655 Graduate Reading U.S. Labor History

HIST 2656 U.S. Labor Research

HIST 2657 Theory and Methods in Social History

HIST 2660 U.S. Women Research

HIST 2661 Comparative Women

HIST 2665 Readings: History of American City

HIST 2668 U.S. Urban Social Structure 1

HIST 2669 U.S. Urban Social Structure 2

HIST 2670 Native Americans in U.S. 1783-Present

HIST 2700 Race and Class in U.S. Politics

HIST 2710 Social History of Ancient Worlds

HIST 2721 Atlantic History-Readings

HIST 2722 Atlantic History-Research

HIST 2751 Comparative Labor History

HIST 2752 Historiography of European Imperialism 1

HIST 2753 Historiography of European Imperialism 2

HIST 2770 Comparative Slavery and Abolition

HIST 2771 Comparative Race Relations: Cuba and the U.S.

HIST 2775 Religion and History

HIST 2902 Directed Study

HIST 2990 Independent Study

HIST 3000 Research and Dissertation for the PhD Degree

HIST 3649 Evaluation of American Social Welfare

HIST 3902 Directed Study