Graduate

The Department of History offers strong programs at both the master’s and doctoral levels in American and European history and is a national leader in the field of African history. Doctoral students are normally accepted in those three areas of study only, but it is also possible, in consultation with the faculty advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies, to define a field that is not geographically specific and would allow for the exploration of a particular theme, or themes, in a transnational context. Within the European field, students will specialize in medieval; early modern, 1500 to 1815; or modern, 1789 to present. Graduates of the department pursue careers not only in the traditional areas of research and teaching but also in fields as diverse as library and museum work, government service, publishing, and business. The department has a special relationship with the American and New England Studies Program, which provides a range of courses supplementing the department’s American history offerings. In African history, the highly regarded African Studies Center provides an interdisciplinary approach encompassing anthropology, economics, political science, and sociology, as well as history. Other areas of strength include European and American diplomatic, cultural, and intellectual history and international comparative history. Access to research collections in the Boston area is an important complement to graduate study in a number of fields offered by the department. Moreover, a consortium arrangement with Boston College, Brandeis University, and Tufts University enables students to take courses at these other schools and share library resources.