AHA Directory of History Departments and Organizations

Institution Details


University of California, Davis
University of California, Davis Dept. of History
1 Shields Ave.
Davis, CA 95616
Phone: 530.752.9241
Email: eheadvisingcenter@ucdavis.edu
Website: https://history.ucdavis.edu/


With a firm foundation in US and Latin American history, we have developed increasing strength in the history of the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa, along with robust programs in environmental history, gender history, the history of migrations, and the history of capitalism. Our faculty are deeply committed to their pedagogical and research mission as a service to the citizens of the Central Valley and the state of California.


Chair: Gregory Downs
Director of Graduate Studies: Rachel St. John
Director of Undergraduate Studies: Sudipta Sen
Degrees Offered: BA,MA,PHD
Academic Year System: QTR
Areas of Specialization: US social/cultural/environmental, early modern and modern Europe, Asia and Africa, Latin America, crosscultural women and gender
Undergraduate Tuition (per academic year):
   In-state: $15588
   Out-of-state: $39270
Graduate Tuition (per academic year):
   In-state: $13722
   Out-of-state: $28824
Other Tuition:
    2,490 campus-based fees

Enrollment 2025-26:
Undergraduate Majors: 390
Students in Program: 0
New Graduate Students: 11
Full-time Graduate Students: 64
Part-time Graduate Students: 1
Degrees in History: 0 AA 112 BA 0 BS 1 MA 0 MS 2 PhD
Students in Undergrad. Courses: 6587
Students in Undergrad. Intro Courses: 2897
% of Online-Only Courses: 5
Undergraduate Addresses:
   Admissions: https://www.ucdavis.edu/admissions/undergraduate
   Financial Aid: https://financialaid.ucdavis.edu/
Graduate Addresses:
   Admissions: https://grad.ucdavis.edu/admissions
   Financial Aid: https://grad.ucdavis.edu/navigating-university-funding

Areas of Specialization: US social/cultural/environmental, early modern and modern Europe, Asia and Africa, Latin America, crosscultural women and gender

Not applicable


Doctoral Program Information

A. Program Description. The UC Davis Department of History offers a doctoral program with concentrations in African, East Asian, European, Latin American, Middle Eastern, and North American (including the United States) history. We have special strengths in the comparative history of borders, borderlands, environmental, science, and gender history, as well as in the study of social theory.

B. Special Programs. We offer designated emphases in African American and African Studies; Classics and Classical Reception; Critical Theory; Feminist Theory and Research; Native American Studies; and Science and Technology Studies.

C. Financial Aid. We provide multi-year (at least 5 years) packages of support to virtually all of our admitted students. These cover the majority of fees and tuition plus a stipend. The recipients serve as research assistants, as teaching assistants, or as readers.

D. Degree Requirements. During their first two years in residence, most students complete their coursework: 44 units in graduate seminars. This includes one year-long graduate seminar meant to produce a chapter-length work that can serve as the basis for the dissertation. During the third year, most students advance to candidacy by completing a minor field, by passing a comprehensive exam in the major field, and by defending a prospectus for the dissertation. In addition, each student must fulfill a foreign language requirement which varies by field.

Directory of History Dissertations

Doctoral Program Statistics 2025-26:
PhD students currently enrolled: 65
PhD applications received: 118
New PhD students: 11
% of students receiving tuition waivers: 0
% of students receiving stipends: 0


Anooshahr, Ali (PHD, UCLA, 2005; ; prof.; Middle East/South Asia Studies) Islamic empires, Middle East, South Asia; aanooshahr@ucdavis.edu
Campbell, Ian Wylie (PHD, Michigan, 2011; ; assoc. prof.) Russian Empire and 19th-century Europe, comparative colonialisms and Central Asia, intellectual and cultural histories of imperialism; iwcampbell@ucdavis.edu
Davis, Diana (PHD, California, Berkeley, 2001; ; prof.) environmental, Middle East and North Africa, medicine and health; geovet@ucdavis.edu
Decker, Corrie R. (PHD, California, Berkeley, 2007; ; prof.; Women and Gender Studies) 20th-century East Africa, education/girlhood/adolescence; crdecker@ucdavis.edu
Dickinson, Edward R. (PHD, California, Berkeley, 1991; ; prof.) 20th-century European cultural and political, welfare state; erdickinson@ucdavis.edu
Downs, Gregory P. (PHD, Pennsylvania, 2006; ; prof. and chair) 19th-century/Civil War era US, African American, political; gdowns@ucdavis.edu
Fahrenthold, Stacy D. (PHD, Northeastern, 2014; ; prof.; Middle East/South Asia Studies) Middle East, labor migration, displacement/refugees, border studies, disasporas within and from the Middle East; sfahrenthold@ucdavis.edu
Hartigan-O'Connor, Ellen (PHD, Michigan, 2003; ; prof.) 18th- and early 19th-century America, American women, social/cultural/economic; eoconnor@ucdavis.edu
Kelman, Ari (PHD, Brown, 1998; ; prof.) America, environmental; akelman@ucdavis.edu
Kim, Kyu Hyun (PHD, Harvard, 1997; ; assoc. prof.) modern Japanese social and intellectual, China and Japan; kyukim@ucdavis.edu
Materson, Lisa G. (PHD, UCLA, 2000; ; prof.) American women, African American, late 19th- and 20th-century US political; lgmaterson@ucdavis.edu
Olmsted, Kathryn S. (PHD, California, Davis, 1993; ; prof. and assoc. dean) 20th-century US, political and cultural; ksolmsted@ucdavis.edu
Parker, Traci Lynnea (PHD, Chicago, 2013; ; assoc. prof.) African American, Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, labor; tparker@ucdavis.edu
Perez Melendez, Jose Juan (PHD, Chicago, 2016; ; assoc. prof.) Brazil; jjperdez@ucdavis.edu
Rauchway, Eric A. (PHD, Stanford, 1996; ; prof.) Progressive-era political and cultural; earauchway@ucdavis.edu
Resendez, Andrés (PHD, Chicago, 1997; ; prof.) Mexico, US Southwest, social; aresendez@ucdavis.edu
Saler, Michael T. (PHD, Stanford, 1992; ; prof.) modern Europe, cultural and intellectual, 19th- and 20th-century Britain; mtsaler@ucdavis.edu
Schlotterbeck, Marian E. (PHD, Yale, 2013; ; assoc. prof.) modern Latin America, Chile, social movements; mschlotterbeck@ucdavis.edu
Sen, Sudipta (PHD, Chicago, 1994; ; prof. and undergrad. dir.; Middle East/South Asia Studies) late medieval and early colonial India, modern India, British Empire; ssen@ucdavis.edu
Smolenski, John J. (PHD, Pennsylvania, 2001; ; assoc. prof.) colonial North America, cultural, religion; jsmolenski@ucdavis.edu
St. John, Rachel C (PHD, Stanford, 2005; ; assoc. prof. and grad. dir.) US, transnational borderlands, North American West; rcstjohn@ucdavis.edu
Stolzenberg, Daniel (PHD, Stanford, 2003; ; assoc. prof.) early modern European intellectual, science, Italy; dstolz@ucdavis.edu
Stuart, Kathy (PHD, Yale, 1993; ; prof.) early modern Europe, early modern Germany, social and cultural; kestuart@ucdavis.edu
Tezcan, Baki (PHD, Princeton, 2001; ; prof.) medieval and early modern Middle East, making of premodern ethnic and racial identities, political ethics; btezcan@ucdavis.edu
Tsu, Cecilia M. (PHD, Stanford, 2006; ; assoc. prof.) Asian American, California and West, agricultural; cmtsu@ucdavis.edu
Walker, Charles F. (PHD, Chicago, 1992; ; prof.) modern Spanish America, Andes, social movements; cfwalker@ucdavis.edu
Warren, Louis S. (PHD, Yale, 1993; ; prof. and W. Turrentine Jackson Chair) American West, California, environmental; lswarren@ucdavis.edu
Zientek, Adam Derek (PHD, Stanford, 2012; ; assoc. prof.) modern France and World War I, drugs and alcohol, medicine; azientek@ucdavis.edu
Borgen, Robert (PHD, Michigan, 1978; ; prof. emeritus) early Japanese cultural/religion/literature, Sino-Japanese relations; rborgen@ucdavis.edu
Bossler, Beverly (PHD, California, Berkeley, 1991; ; prof. emeritus) 10th- to 14th-century Chinese social and intellectual, Chinese women and family; bjbossler@ucdavis.edu
Brody, David (PHD, Harvard, 1958; ; prof. emeritus) emergence of modern America, labor, recent US;
Cadden, Joan (PHD, Indiana, 1971; ; prof. emeritus) medieval Europe, early science and medicine, sexuality; jcadden@ucdavis.edu
Crummey, Robert O. (PHD, Chicago, 1964; ; prof. emeritus) 16th- and 17th-century Russia; rocrummey@ucdavis.edu
El Shakry, Omnia (PHD, Princeton, 2002; ; prof. emeritus) modern Middle East, colonialism, modern European intellectual; oselshakry@ucdavis.edu
Hagen, William W. (PHD, Chicago, 1971; ; prof. emeritus) modern Germany and east central Europe; wwhagen@ucdavis.edu
Harris, A. Katie (PHD, Johns Hopkins, 2001; ; assoc. prof. emeritus) Spain and Portugal, Mexico and Central America, early modern Europe; akharris@ucdavis.edu
Holloway, Thomas H. (PHD, Wisconsin-Madison, 1974; ; prof. emeritus) Latin America, Brazil, social; thholloway@ucdavis.edu
Landau, Norma B. (PHD, California, Berkeley, 1974; ; prof. emeritus) 18th- and 19th-century England; nblandau@ucdavis.edu
Mann, Susan Louise (PHD, Stanford, 1972; ; prof. emeritus) late imperial China, social and economic, women; slmann@ucdavis.edu
Margadant, Ted W. (PHD, Harvard, 1972; ; prof. emeritus) 19th- and 20th-century France; twmargadant@ucdavis.edu
McKee, Sally (PHD, Toronto, 1993; ; prof. emeritus) late medieval, Mediterranean, ethnicity; sjmckee@ucdavis.edu
Metcalf, Barbara (PHD, California, Berkeley, 1974; ; prof. emeritus) Islamic, South Asia; bdmetcalf@ucdavis.edu
Miller, Susan Gilson (PHD, Michigan, 1976; ; prof. emeritus) Sephardic Jewry, North Africa and Mediterranean; sgmiller@ucdavis.edu
Price, Don C. (PHD, Harvard, 1968; ; prof. emeritus) Chinese intellectual, 20th-century China; dcprice@ucdavis.edu
Rosen, Ruth E. (PHD, California, Berkeley, 1976; ; prof. emeritus) women and family, American social and cultural; rerosen@ucdavis.edu
Schwab, Richard N. (PHD, Harvard, 1954; ; prof. emeritus) early modern Europe, Enlightenment; rnschwab@ucdavis.edu
Spyridakis, Stylianos (PHD, UCLA, 1966; ; prof. emeritus) ancient; svspyridakis@ucdavis.edu
Taylor, Alan S. (PHD, Brandeis, 1986; ; prof. emeritus) early America, American West, colonial/revolutionary/early national America; astaylor@ucdavis.edu
Walker, Clarence E. (PHD, California, Berkeley, 1976; ; prof. emeritus) American black 1450-present, 19th-century social and political; cewalker@ucdavis.edu
Willis, F. Roy (PHD, Stanford, 1959; ; prof. emeritus) contemporary France, 20th-century Europe;
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