A. Program Description. Students develop close working relationships with their faculty mentors and explore their interests through small graduate level seminars and independently directed study. LSU's History Department has earned an outstanding reputation for the quality of its teaching but also for the high standards of its scholarship. The department is nationally and internationally recognized as a center for the study of southern and Civil War history, but it also has excellent faculty members and graduate students working in a host of other fields. In addition to southern and United States history, it has particular strengths in British history, the Middle Ages and Renaissance Studies, and modern European History. It also has faculty members publishing on and teaching the history of the Ancient world, Latin America, Africa as well as South and East Asia.

B. Special Programs. The department offers a program in which, with 60 credit hours, a student may get both a Master of Arts in history and a Master of Arts in library and information science.

The university boasts an excellent library, with nearly three million volumes, four million microfilm records, and access to many online databases and collections. Its manuscript collections, housed in Hill Memorial Library, are particularly strong for research in the deep South.

C. Financial Aid. The department offers teaching assistantships valued at $23,000 per year for up to five years, with a waiver of tuition and an allowance of $350 per semester for health insurance. Some students receive supplements from the Graduate School that provide an additional $2,000-$5,000 per year for four years. Assistantships are renewable for up to five years. Students writing their dissertations are eligible to apply for nonservice fellowships.

D. Degree Requirements. There is no specific hour requirement for the PhD, but most students take 24 hours in the major field and anywhere from 9 hours each in two minor fields. Proficiency in either one or two languages (depending on field) is required. Students take exams in their minor fields (written) and major field (written and oral).