A. Program Description. The Graduate Program in History offers separate Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in History, in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology (HSMT). We also offer minor work for doctoral students in fields outside of history. Students are occasionally admitted to the program for a Master’s degree only; however, the majority of our student pursue the PhD. Some of our students enter through our Bridge Program with the Department of African-American Studies, while others choose to pursue a Joint PhD, e.g., with Educational Policy Studies. A joint PhD in History and History of Science, Medicine, and Technology is also an option.

Our program trains resourceful researchers, committed teachers, and engaged public intellectuals. The department strongly supports the Wisconsin Idea, the principle that education should influence and improve people’s lives well beyond the university classroom. For more than 100 years, this idea has guided the university’s work. We encourage our students to develop broad-based expertise so that they may pursue a variety of careers, both inside and beyond the academy.

B. Special Programs. With a history spanning more than 150 years and a faculty numbering over 2,000, UW-Madison is home to numerous centers and programs of use and interest to historians. In particular, the University of Wisconsin-Madison is an international leader in foreign language education and research, offering instruction in dozens of modern and ancient languages. The UW-Madison is home to nine internationally prominent departments of languages and literatures, eleven prestigious area study centers (including five Title VI National Resource Centers), the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages and the National African Language Resource Center. The Wisconsin Historical Society Library and Archives, located on the UW-Madison campus, constitute the largest collection of published and unpublished material documenting the history of North America outside the Library of Congress. The University of Wisconsin-Madison libraries hold over 7.3 million volumes and form the eleventh largest research collection in North America.

C. Financial Aid. The department generally accepts only those students to whom it can offer a multi-year guarantee of support or who have external funding. Our support guarantees include one or more years of fellowship and additional years as a Teaching Assistant or Project Assistant. These guarantees may vary by funding source, field, and other circumstances, and they are contingent on satisfactory progress and performance. Students who have external funding are also welcome to apply.

D. Degree Requirements. Students must pass a Second Year Review by the end of their fourth semester and, in most cases, pass their preliminary examinations and advance to dissertator status by the end of the third year. Before attaining dissertator status, doctoral candidates must complete 32 graduate-level credits, including a minor field that provides a disciplinary counterpoint to their historical studies. The Department of History requires reading knowledge of at least one foreign language, with additional requirements set by the individual study programs. Our objective is for students to complete their degrees in six to seven years.