Ph.D. Program

Admission

Admission to doctoral study in history requires that students first be admitted to the University of Arkansas Graduate School. Application procedures are available here. Prospective students must then apply to the history department and be approved for entry by the Graduate Studies Committee of the Department of History.

Each applicant must meet all University of Arkansas requirements for the M.A. degree in history, with a grade point average of at least 3.2 in previous graduate history work. Applicants without an M.A. degree or its equivalent, but with exceptionally strong qualifications, may be admitted directly into the Ph.D. program at the discretion of the Graduate Studies Committee of the Department of History.

The prospective doctoral student is required to take the Graduate Record Examination before beginning any graduate work toward the doctorate. A minimum score of 550 on the Verbal Aptitude test and a 4.5 on the Analytical Writing test is required. Each applicant must submit a completed application form, statement of purpose , writing sample, and three letters of recommendation.

Appeal Procedure

Applicants not satisfying the admission requirements may request a waiver of the requirements by the Graduate Studies Committee of the Department of History. Any applicant for whom the committee does not waive the requirements will automatically have his or her case appealed to the graduate faculty of the History Department. Applicants not meeting the admission requirements should include with their initial applications all materials bearing on the appeal. Further reconsideration for admission will be granted only on the written request of the applicant on the basis of information not previously available to the committee. (Because of the deadline for the awarding of assistantships, such further reconsideration may not occur in time for the applicant to be considered for financial assistance.)

Examination Fields

The Department of History offers the following fields for examination:

  • Ancient Mediterranean World
  • Late Antiquity/Early Medieval
  • High/Late Medieval
  • Early Modern Europe, 1500-1815
  • Europe Since 1815
  • Great Britain and the British Empire, 1707 to the Present
  • Russia and U.S.S.R.
  • France
  • Latin America
  • Far East
  • Middle East and Islamic World, 600-1700
  • Middle East and Islamic World since 1700
  • African history
  • United States to 1877
  • United States since 1877
  • Candidates in United States History must, in consultation with their advisor, choose three fields from the list with a fourth field that is either topical or comprehensive. Candidates pursuing other fields of history must choose two from the list with the remaining two being either from the list or topical/comprehensive fields according to the advice of their dissertation supervisor.

Course Requirements

No definite course requirements apply to all students. A doctoral advisory committee is appointed by the Graduate Advisor with the approval of the Graduate Studies Committee to evaluate the prospective doctoral student's preparation and to draw up a suitable program of study and research. This committee will consist of three members of the graduate faculty.

In general, the doctoral student is expected to pursue a program of independent reading and study and of directed research in preparation for the preliminary written examinations for admission to candidacy. To be admitted to candidacy, a student must:

  • Complete satisfactorily the departmental language requirement by establishing competency in two foreign languages. At the discretion of the doctoral advisory committee, competency in statistics or quantitative analysis may be substituted for one of the languages. Competency in statistics or quantitative analysis will be satisfied by completion of STAT 4003 (Statistical Methods) or STAT 4033 (Nonparametric Statistical Methods) or their equivalents, and by submitting to the doctoral advisory committee for their approval a research paper in which quantitative methods were employed.
  • Complete satisfactorily all course work and seminars required by the doctoral advisory committee.
  • Complete satisfactorily History 5023 (Historical Methods), if not already taken at M.A. level, and History 5043 (Historiography) or their equivalents.
  • Demonstrate adequate preparation to the graduate faculty of the Department of History through the successful completion of written and oral examinations.

Candidacy Examinations

After completing the course of study prescribed by the doctoral advisory committee, the student must pass written examinations in the four fields of preparation. The examinations will be based upon a list of topics drawn up by the professor (or professors) whose area of specialization lies within a particular field. These examinations will be offered during each semester of the regular academic year. Students desiring to take the examinations should notify the Department of their intentions within one month of the end of the prior semester. Each semester the Graduate Advisor selects the readers for the exam and the examiners are selected from the three Doctoral Advisory Committee members. The examiner will compose the examination in cooperation with the reader and will report the results of the examination to the Graduate Advisor. The examiner and second reader for each field will grade the examinations.

Written qualifying examinations will be given during the first two-and-one-half months of each semester (before November 15 and April 1, respectively). If a student initially passes examinations in at least two of the four fields, he or she may re-take failed examinations during the final month of the semester or during the first two months of the next semester. If three or four fields are failed initially, examinations in all fields must be re-taken during a later semester. Students failing the examination procedure in two semesters will not be allowed to take the examinations again.

Students without an M.A. degree or its equivalent who have been admitted directly into the Ph.D. program may obtain the M.A. degree either by (1) meeting the requirements for the M.A. degree as set forth in the Department's statement relating to that degree, or (2) passing at the M.A. level three out of the four Ph.D. candidacy examinations.

Dissertation

Within six months of passing comprehensive exams in all four fields, A.B.D. students will write and defend a dissertation prospectus. The candidate must demonstrate a capacity for independent research by producing an original dissertation on a topic within the major area of study. Upon admission to candidacy, the student is assigned a dissertation committee to be composed of the student's major professor and at least two other members of the graduate faculty. In addition to requirements of the Graduate School, the Department of History requires a vita, approved by the major professor, to be bound at the back of the dissertation. Each candidate is required to present the Department with a copy of the vita and a dissertation abstract.

Final Examination

The final examination, in accordance with Graduate School regulations, is oral. The examination is primarily a defense of the dissertation.

Online Application for History Department