A. Program Description. The PhD program in history at the University of Texas, El Paso capitalizes on El Paso's unique location directly on the international boundary to offer a course of study that approaches the histories of Mexico and the United States from a borderlands perspective. Students have two other fields aside from the Borderlands field, and the program offers ample opportunities for the comparative study of borderlands and for the study of borders that are more metaphorical. We have particular thematic strengths in the histories of imperialism and race, of gender and sexuality, and public history.

B. Special Programs. Students are able to take advantage of the impressive scholarly resources available at UTEP, and in the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez metropolitan area. We are especially proud of the extensive collection of interviews, many of which focus on people throughout the borderlands, housed in Special Collections and the Institute for Oral History. No other history doctoral program in the United States provides comparable access to a major Mexican city and its resources.

C. Financial Aid. We offer competitive teaching assistantships to all students we accept into the doctoral program. We offer a small number of non-teaching fellowships to advanced students every year.

D. Degree Requirements. Students complete 63 hours (including dissertation hours) for the PhD. We have recently adopted a portfolio system for the qualifying process, which is capped by an oral exam.