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The Ph.D. Program |
| ADMISSION Admission to the Ph.D. program is at the discretion of the Department's Graduate Committee and Chair, which act within the framework of university and College of Arts and Sciences standards. Admission is normally contingent upon the student's prior achievement of an M.A. degree, but some students may be admitted directly to the Ph.D. program, although they must fulfill M.A. requirements on the way to the Ph.D. The student's M.A. need not necessarily be in the discipline of history, provided that he or she has good background in history and a strong record of course work in history at the undergraduate and graduate level. The holder of an M.A. degree in another field who has a limited background in history is better off applying to the History Department's M.A. program. |
Other prerequisites for admission are:
Provisional admission may be extended in certain cases where normal standards are not met. To obtain full status as a Ph.D. candidate, the provisional student must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the department an ability to pursue a Ph.D. program with reasonable promise of success. After completing 12 hours of approved coursework taken for letter grade credit, the provisional student must then apply for full standing, using the Graduate Academic Action Form. Assignment of Faculty Advisor The Chair of the Graduate Committee will usually make the initial appointment of a faculty advisor for incoming Ph.D. students based on the student's primary area of research interest. Students may at any time in their graduate career request the assignment of another academic advisor. Subject Areas The Department will supervise Ph.D. dissertations in the History of Modern Europe (normally for the period 1789 to the present, including Britain); in United States History (including the colonial period); and sometimes Modern Asian History. REQUIREMENTS FOR COMPLETION OF THE Ph.D. PROGRAM CRITICAL POINTS IN THE PROGRAM For most Ph.D. students, preparation for the second comprehensive examination, the Complementary Field, and the accompanying requirements, will be a crucial early step. Before he or she is able to take that exam, he or she must have passed a tool of research exam and worked out a coherent package of four comprehensive fields. Passage of the fourth comprehensive examination (Dissertation Field) frees the student of all requirements except those directly connected with the writing of the dissertation. Most full-time students who are preparing a doctoral dissertation proposal should also be exploring options for funding. See Financial Aid. THE DISSERTATION After the student has worked out a detailed subject and a sensible path for exploring it through the oral dissertation field examination, he or she must write and file a formal dissertation proposal that conforms to guidelines issued by the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences. All members of the dissertation committee must sign off on this proposal, which is then filed in the Dean's Office. The dissertation committee has three to five members (three is most common), one of whom serves as the chair and as the student's main reader and critic during the writing. The chair of the dissertation committee should have a grasp of the subject of the dissertation and must be a full-time faculty member in the History Department. Other members of the dissertation committee may come from other units of the university or from outside the university. To help assure completion of the dissertation, the student must meet with the dissertation committee around the midpoint of his or her writing of the dissertation. This "midstream" conference provides an opportunity for assessment of progress and focus on existing or remaining problems. A written summary of the recommendations of the dissertation committee is to be placed in the candidate's file. Once the committee has read the dissertation and deemed that it is in suitable condition, the committee and candidate schedule a dissertation defense, which is open to the public. At this defense the committee members may require the candidate to defend the validity of his or her research and significance of his or her topic, as well as place the dissertation in a broader context. The committee may accept the dissertation without revision, accept it pending major or minor revisions, or reject it entirely. Once the dissertation is fully and finally approved, it is signed by the committee members. Two typed copies conforming to guidelines issued by the CAS Graduate Dean's Office must be submitted to the Dean's Office. The final editing and proof-reading of the typescript are entirely the responsibility of the candidate. Deadlines for the submission of dissertations to the Dean's Office are well in advance of graduation dates; they are listed in the published American University calendar. The candidate is responsible for knowing and meeting these deadlines. |
