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Doctor of Philosophy

Why Graduate Study at GSU?

Graduate study provides an opportunity for teachers to continue their study and pursue their own academic interests. For many, graduate study can also serve as a way to obtain training in specialized subject areas, build credentials and improve opportunities for career advancement. But above all, for those who care about history, graduate school is an opportunity to expand one’s knowledge of the rich and varied cultures, ideas, and experiences of the past. Moreover, graduate study affords a unique opportunity to pursue those interests in small seminars and one-on-one study with faculty.

Degree and Non-Degree Options

Georgia State University’s M.A. and Ph.D. programs provide students a broad, flexible course of study that includes coursework in World, European and American History. Our faculty have worked with students on a wide range of research projects, from local research on Atlanta to global perspectives on world history. For students interested in preparing for subject certification or continuing their own education, but not interested in seeking an M.A. or Ph.D. degree, the history department also offers opportunities for non-degree students to take graduate-level history classes in all areas of our curriculum. In both the M.A. and Ph.D. programs, students have an opportunity to define their own fields of specialization and their own research specialty.

For additional information on our program and areas of study, please see the links at right.

Program Requirements

1.  Twelve courses, of which ten must be graduate history courses. Two may be taken in an allied field outside the department. Each student must take two classes at the 7000 level. One of these classes must be Hist 7030; Students, in consultation with their adviser may choose between Hist 7010 and 7020. Each student will select four fields from the areas listed below to prepare for their General Examination:

  1. One each from A, B, and C
  2. One from any of the four areas (A, B, C, D)
AREA A: United States History
  1. United States before 1800
  2. United States in the Nineteenth Century
  3. United States in the Twentieth Century
  4. The United States and the World
  5. The American South
  6. African-American History
AREA B: European History
  1. Ancient History
  2. Medieval and Renaissance
  3. Early Modern Europe
  4. Europe Since 1789
  5. Early Modern Britain
  6. Modern Britain, Ireland, and the British Empire
  7. Russian and Soviet History
AREA C: African, Asian, Latin American, and Middle Eastern
  1. Africa
  2. East Asia
  3. South Asia
  4. Latin America
  5. Middle East
AREA D: Topics in History and Allied Fields
  1. Archival Administration
  2. Historic Preservation and Public History
  3. History of Gender
  4. Labor History
  5. Urban History
  6. World History
  7. An appropriate field approved in consultation with the student’s adviser and the graduate director.

2. History 8000 Introduction of Historical Methods and Theory (unless completed at the M.A. level).

3. History 8005 Introduction to Graduate Studies in History (unless completed at the M.A. level).

4. The student must successfully complete a reading-knowledge examination in two alternate languages (see Section VII). In certain circumstances an alternate research skill may be substituted for one foreign language.

5. Students in the doctoral program are required to be in residence for four semesters, two of which must be consecutive. In all four semesters the students must register for at least eight hours of coursework.

6. Upon completion of the language requirements and the course work in the doctoral program, the doctoral student will be required to complete successfully a general examination (consisting of written and oral parts) which shall be administered by an examination committee.

  1. The general examination will cover the four fields which the student has chosen from the areas listed above. There will be two major fields in which the student will be required to take both written and oral examinations. One of these fields must be that in which the student intends to write the doctoral dissertation. There will be two minor fields in which the student will be required only to take an oral examination.
  2. The oral part of the general examination will be scheduled within one week of the completion of the last part of the written examination. All members of the examination committee will participate in the oral part of the examination.
  3. At the conclusion of the general examination, the members of the examination committee will determine whether the student has passed or failed. A unanimous vote of the committee is required to pass. Should a student fail the general examination, the committee shall determine the conditions under which the student will be permitted to re-take the examination or portions thereof in accordance with the regulations of the Graduate Division of the College of Arts and Sciences. The examination may be repeated once following a minimum interval of six months. A student who fails the examination a second time will be subject to termination. The examination must be passed at least one academic year prior to the conferral of the degree.

7. On the successful completion of the written and oral parts of the general examination, the student will be required to submit a prospectus of the dissertation to a scheduled meeting of members of the dissertation committee (which will normally comprise three professors of the Department of History faculty), who are nominated by the student and appointed by the chair of the department. The prospectus will include a carefully prepared and closely reasoned statement or exposition of the topic or subject which the student has chosen to research in consultation with the dissertation adviser. The acceptance or rejection of the student’s prospectus and dissertation will be the responsibility of the dissertation committee.

8. After completing the language, course work, general examination and dissertation prospectus requirements, the student will be admitted to candidacy for the degree.

9. The student must complete satisfactorily a dissertation and earn not less than twenty hours of credit in History 9999 (Dissertation Research), supervised by the dissertation director.

10. Dissertation Defense. Upon completion of the dissertation, the candidate will be required to pass a final examination which shall be devoted to a defense of the dissertation. The examination will be conducted by the candidate’s dissertation committee.