A. Program Description. The department offers graduate instruction leading to the degrees of master of arts (MA) and doctor of philosophy (PhD) specializing in United States, European, East Asian, and Latin American history. It also has particular strengths in Native American, environmental, and U.S. Western history.

B. Special Programs. The University of Oregon has strong library collections in US, European (especially Russian), East Asian, and Southeast Asian history. Archival holdings relating to the history of the U.S. West are outstanding, and the library also boasts the most complete holdings of a single state’s newspapers (Oregon). The department provides graduate teaching fellows with training in teaching, and the University Teaching Effectiveness Program supplements that training. Research support is provided by the department, the graduate school, and several interdisciplinary programs, including the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, the Center for the Study of Women in Society, and the Oregon Humanities Center.

C. Financial Aid. The major form of financial aid in the History Department is the Graduate Teaching Fellowship, or GTF. Several of these are awarded to incoming graduate students each year, and they include tuition waivers, health care, and other benefits. GTFs are awarded on a competitive basis, with selection determined by academic merit, without regard to financial need. GTFs are normally offered for four years to students entering the PhD program from an MA program and for five years to students entering the PhD program directly following a BA degree. GTF application forms are linked to the UO Graduate School website (gradschool.uoregon.edu/pdf/GTF_application_form.pdf), and nearly every applicant applies for the award. Incoming students specializing in the history of the U.S. West may also be awarded the Peggy Pascoe Fellowship in the American West, which combines GTF support with summer research stipends and an additional dissertation year free of teaching duties. The department and the university also provide a small number of fellowships that help fund students to work on their dissertations. No teaching duties are required during the period of such awards.

D. Degree Requirements. PhD students are not required to complete a fixed number of credit hours to receive a degree. They must, however, take certain introductory courses (HIST 612, 615, 616) and one field reading course, one research seminar, and two colloquia (group readings courses). They must also prepare themselves in three fields: a major research field, a major teaching field, and a minor thematic, methodological, or comparative field. They must also pass a comprehensive exam and demonstrate competency in at least one foreign language before advancing to candidacy. Additional language requirements may be set by the student's advisor. Students must prepare and defend a dissertation prospectus and, finally, prepare and defend a doctoral dissertation.