Department of History

The work of the Department of History is to study the constitution of human thought and action in relation to temporal processes and circumstances. Other departments in the University also work in historical media, and the student of history is urged to become familiar with their offerings. The department's aim is to show students how to read historical literature critically, and how to write history according to rigorous standards of method and style. To achieve this purpose, the department endeavors to teach:

1. Knowledge of salient events, characters, and developments;

2. Writings of scholars in various fields of history and theory;

3. Techniques of analyzing primary historical materials;

4. Facility in gathering such material and composing it into a well written narrative or exposition; and

5. Critical examination of interpretative and theoretical literature on the nature and purposes of historical inquiry.

The Department of History offers study in various fields leading to the Ph.D. degree. It provides an environment conducive to basic research, the aim of which is to expand our knowledge of the history of cultures and societies throughout the world.

Fields of faculty interest are as follows: African (Austen), Ancient/Greek (Hall), Ancient/Roman (Saller), British (Brewer, Cook, Larkin, Pincus, Winter), Byzantine (Kaegi), Caribbean-Atlantic (Austen, Holt, Saville), Central European (Boyer, Geyer), Chinese (Alitto, Duara), Early Modern European (Fasolt, Herzog, Pincus), East Asian Political Economy (Cumings), French (Auslander, Goldstein, Sewell), Intellectual (Goldstein, Harris, Ketelaar, Novak, Pincus, Postone, Richards, Sewell, Stanley), History of Science (Goldstein, Johns, Richards, Swerdlow, Winter), International (Austen, Cumings, Duara, Fitzpatrick, Geyer, Herzog, Inden, Kaegi, Katz, Khalidi, Lomnitz, Najita, Pincus, Postone, Yaqub), Iranian and Central Asian (Woods), Islamic and Ottoman (Fleischer, Kaegi, Yaqub), Japanese (Ketelaar, Najita), Latin American (Borges, Herzog, Katz, Kouri, Lomnitz), Legal (Fasolt, Herzog, Ngai, Novak, Saller, Stanley) Medieval (Fasolt, Fulton, Kaegi, Woods), Modern Middle Eastern (Khalidi), Modern European (Boyer, Fitzpatrick, Geyer, Goldstein, Postone), Modern Jewish (Postone), Russian/Soviet (Fitzpatrick, Hellie), South Asian (Chakrabarty, Inden, Woods), United States African-American (Holt, Saville), United States legal and political (Ngai, Novak, Stanley), United States social and cultural (Chauncey, Conzen, Cook, Harris, Ngai, Stanley, Yaqub).

The department offers graduate fields organized by traditional regional and national boundaries, but interdisciplinary and comparative approaches are especially prominent both in teaching and research. The department offers students the opportunity to work in cultural studies in history, intellectual history, comparative legal history, modern international history, social history, and the history of science and medicine. The department has recently promoted interdisciplinary and comparative workshops on topics such as African Studies, African-American Studies, American Studies, Ancient Societies, Caribbean Studies, Central European History, Comparative Legal History, Feminist Theory and Criticism, History of the Human Sciences, Human Rights, Interdisciplinary Approaches to Modern France, International History, Lesbian, Gay and Queer Studies, Middle East History and Theory, Rethinking East Asia, Russian and Soviet Studies, Social History, and South Asian "Power" and Representations of Modernity. These workshops provide a critical setting in which students as well as faculty present their research.

Students at Chicago also have extensive opportunities for developing ancillary fields with faculty in other social science and humanities departments and programs, and in the University’s professional schools of Law, Medicine, Business, Public Policy, Social Service Administration and Divinity. Through consortia arrangements, students can also supplement their Chicago studies with work at Stanford, Berkeley, or any of the Ivy League and Big Ten midwestern universities. Students can earn credit for courses at these participating schools while registered at the University of Chicago.

Admission

The Department of History offers a course of study leading to the Ph.D. degree. It does not have a Master's degree program. Requirements for admission are: (1) the degree of Bachelor of Arts or its equivalent; (2) a distinguished undergraduate record; and (3) high competence in the foreign language relevant for the particular field.

Four parts of the application are critically important: the student's academic record, letters of recommendation submitted by persons able to describe the student's achievements and promise, a significant example of the student's work, (bachelor's essay, master's thesis, research or course paper) and, finally, the student's statement of purpose which describes the intellectual issues and historical subjects to be explored at the University of Chicago. Although many graduate students change their focus in the course of their studies, it is helpful to have the clearest possible idea of applicants' interests and any research experience to date.

In addition, applicants are required to submit Graduate Record Examination aptitude scores which are not more than five years old (the History subject test is not required). It is advisable, especially for aid applicants, to take the GRE no later than October so that scores will arrive on time. Applicants whose first language is not English must submit scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Applications and all supporting materials should be sent directly to the Office of the Dean of Students, Division of the Social Sciences, 1130 East 59th Street, Chicago IL 60637.

Program for the First Year

Normal registration the first year is eight graded courses. Among the eight courses taken, the curriculum for the first year prescribes (1) a two-quarter seminar, (2) six other courses, including two in an area outside their major field. These courses are taken for letter grades and must be completed by the end of the spring quarter. Students receive the master’s degree upon completing the first-year curriculum. Students are also required to take a foreign language reading examination during their first term. A few general comments on these hurdles may be in order.

Students are required to secure a high pass on one University of Chicago Office of Test Administration foreign language reading examination in their first year. Each field will specify the language(s) to be used and the degree of proficiency required if beyond the minimum results mentioned above. The fields will also determine whether students have met the requisite standards.

At the end of the spring quarter a faculty committee will decide whether a student is qualified to proceed toward the Ph.D. degree. Evidence for the judgment will be (1) evaluation of the seminar paper, (2) performance in the autumn and winter quarters, and (3) evaluation by instructors in other courses.

After the First Year

Students who are recommended for the Ph.D. continue their formal study and will be expected to complete another year of graded course work including another graded seminar, unless they petition for credit for previous graduate work. The Ph.D. field examination is taken no later than the autumn quarter of the third year. Students are examined in three Ph.D. fields in a two-hour oral examination. Within two quarters of the student's passing the field examination, the dissertation proposal must be presented at a formal public hearing such as a workshop, and must be approved in writing by the dissertation committee. The student is then admitted to candidacy for the doctoral degree after the hearing.

Pre-Dissertation Fellowships

The Freehling, Kunstadter, and Mc Neil families and friends have made funds available for a small number of summer research fellowships, averaging about $2,000, to support travel to archival collections. Awards of up to $300 for travel to present papers at scholarly conferences are available. Two Eric Cochrane Traveling Fellowships of $3,000 each are awarded annually to assist graduate students in western European history in making a summer research trip to Europe. The Arthur Mann Fellowship was created to award an Americanist in summer research. Other fellowships may be available each year.

Work on the Dissertation

Following approval of the dissertation proposal and subsequent admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree, students are expected to devote their time to dissertation research. After admission to candidacy, written progress reports must be submitted to the chair of the dissertation committee and to the department office at the end of each academic year. Each year the department awards a small number of dissertation write-up fellowships. Formal defense of the completed dissertation, written with the guidance of a three-or four-member dissertation committee, concludes the degree requirements. All requirements for the Ph.D. degree including the final defense must be completed within ten calendar years from the date of matriculation, although most students graduate in six to eight years.

Teaching Opportunities

Teaching opportunities are awarded on a competitive basis to advanced graduate students. Students serve as assistants and lecturers in introductory History courses, Social Sciences and Humanities core sequences, the College writing program, and various civilizations sequences. The History Department’s Von Holst Prize Lectureships permit students to design undergraduate courses centered on their dissertation research. Students who receive the Bessie L. Pierce Prize Preceptorship Award guide third- and fourth-year History undergraduates in A.B. essay seminars. Students acquire initial teaching experience through an internship program in which they assist faculty with the design, teaching, and grading of courses. Numerous students also gain valuable college teaching experience in other Chicago area institutions.

This text was last updated on 6/18/2001.