Program of Study
During your first year of graduate school, you will enroll in 18 credits of coursework, including “The Historian’s Craft” and “Research, Writing, and Publishing.” You will not have any teaching responsibilities during your first year. Depending on your field, you may need to enroll in additional required courses.
In your second year, you will continue coursework and choose three fields of study. Written and oral comprehensive exams in these three fields are generally taken late in your second year, or at the latest by October of your third year. By the last day of classes of the Fall semester of your third year, you must pass your dissertation proposal defense.
The last two years of the program are focused on dissertation research and writing.
The program is designed to be completed in five years, and students in good standing are guaranteed funding for that time. Starting with the incoming cohort in Fall of 2026, students making acceptable progress toward completion will be eligible to apply for a sixth year of funding.
Detailed requirements are available in the Graduate Studies Guide and the Graduate School Bulletin of Information.
Sample program sequence
First year
- Successful completion of 18 credit hours of coursework, including required seminars
- Presentation of a research paper at the first-year graduate student conference
Second year
- Successful completion of 18 credit hours of coursework, including required seminars
- Competent performance as a teaching assistant, or other duties if required
- Preparation for three fields of study for the qualifying examination
Third year
- Passage of all qualifying examinations by October 31
- Competent performance as a teaching assistant, or other duties, if required
- Passage of foreign language examinations
- Successful defense of the dissertation proposal by the last day of the Fall semester
Fourth year
- Clear progress on dissertation research and writing
Fifth year
- Successful defense of the dissertation by the summer after the fifth year