The mission of the Graduate History Program is to serve the needs of both students who desire to deepen their knowledge for teaching, and also for those who simply seek a more focused and advanced study of the past. Our M.A. program provides students with the opportunity to develop a comprehensive grasp of the past so that they might more fully appreciate the heritage of Western Civilization and the problems that confront it today.
Degree Requirements:
Candidates for the master’s degree are required to complete 30 credits of graduate-level history work, or, alternatively, 24 credits and an acceptable 6-credit thesis written under the direction of a professor.
Three credits must be taken in Historical Methodology.
Students have up to five years to complete their graduate studies.
Spring 2024, Summer and Fall 2023 Course Offerings
HIS 619: US Diplomatic History Since WWI– Dr. M. Manchester Wednesdays, 4:30-6:50 PM This course examines the emergence of the U.S. as a world power in the twentieth century. Topics will include the rise of the imperial presidency; the U.S. involvement in the two World Wars; the origins, course, and conclusion of the Cold War; and America’s role in the War on Terror.
HIS 629: Modern Middle East – Dr. V. Erginbas Mondays, 4:30-6:50 PM This course covers the Middle East through the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the rise of nationalism, the impact of World War I, the struggle for Palestine, World War II and after, Israel and the Arab world, and the Middle East in contemporary world affairs.
HIS 700: Queens of the High and Late Middle Ages – Dr. T. Grzebien Tuesdays, 4:30-6:50PM A look at a few of the most powerful women of the High and Late Middle Ages, influences on their own times, and larger legacies. The course will use these women’s lives as windows into the defining political structures and formative crises of their own nations. It will also treat how gender has shaped the ways which each has been honored and or vilified in larger historical and cultural memory. Some are remembered as valiant warriors or brilliant patrons of culture, others as tragic victims of weak or ruthless royal husbands, still others as bloodthirsty and ruthless harlots, and a few as Catholic heroines and saints. Many remain controversial and enigmatic to this day.
HIS 770: The New Histories– Dr. J. Johnson Mondays, 7:00-9:30PM Since the late 1970s the historical discipline has seen dramatic shifts. The so-called “New Histories,” while perhaps not so “new” in the modern context, have nevertheless left their mark on the field as historians moved from political and institutional narratives. A discussion-based course envisioned as a “historiographical mixtape,” this course endeavors to revisit the rise and influence of key post-1970s scholarship by leading historians in (but not limited to) the sub-fields of American Indian, regional, women’s, comparative, labor, cultural, and postmodern history. Particular attention will be paid to the discipline’s important and welcomed new emphases on social history, agency, previously marginalized groups, and more.
SESSION I(May 30th – June 30th)
HIS 534: The Gilded Age – Dr. J. Johnson Tuesday/ Thursday, 4:30-8:00 PM Periodized for this semester as 1877 to 1897, this course examines the American experience on the eve of the “modern” 20th century. Described as the “great barbecue” the historian V. L. Parrington, the Gilded Age revealed much dualism concerning U.S. attitudes on wealth, race, class, gentility, immigration, gender, graft, the West, imperialism, American exceptionalism, and politics. Indeed, as Mark Twain famously wrote of the period’s stunning contradictions: “The golden gleam of the gilded surface hides the cheapness of the metal underneath.” This course, then, explores both the glitz and the grime of late 19th-century America.
HIS 630: Race and Slavery in the Atlantic World – Dr. E. Andrews Monday/ Wednesday. 6:00-9:30 PM The history of race relations in New England is a long, complicated one. This course explores the interactions between European colonists, indigenous Americans, and people of African descent in that region from the beginning of European colonialism to the aftermath of the American Revolution. It will pay particular attention to religious encounters, economic cooperation and competition, and the rise and demise of slavery.
SESSION II(July 3rd – August 4th)
HIS 770-002: Cold War in Global Perspective – Dr. M. Manchester Monday/ Wednesday, 4:30-8:00 PM Even before World War II ended, tensions arose between the U.S. and the USSR over conflicting visions of the postwar world. These tensions escalated into what is known as the “Cold War,” a conflict that not only shaped international relations for the next forty years but also had profound consequences on the domestic cultures of the two superpowers and their allies. George Kennan, a key architect of America’s policy of containment, once stated that the U.S. had only to “live up to its best principles” to defeat the Soviet Union. This course examines the roots, course, and legacy of the Cold War, from the American, Soviet, Chinese, and Third World viewpoints.
HIS 500: Historical Methodology – Dr. J. Johnson Tuesday, 4:30-6:50 PM This course is a broad introduction to research methods and academic writing. Students will learn to think critically about, and participate in, the art of the professional historian. It will expose them to how the discipline developed professionally, to the many interpretations of the past developed by historians, as well as the many disagreements that emerge from these interpretations. Students will conduct research using primary and secondary sources that will culminate in an original research paper. In the process, students will learn new and easy-to-use research aids, such as bibliographic software. The class will work with archives and may use local research libraries. In the end, students will have been afforded the opportunity to work and think like a historian.
HIS 591: Europe 1914-1933 – Dr. M. Dowling Wednesday, 7-9:30 PM The period from 1914 to 1933 was critical in shaping the remainder of the twentieth century as Europeans became deeply disillusioned with the direction of their civilization. This course will explore the Great War, the Spanish Flu Epidemic, the Paris Peace Settlement, the Russian Revolutions, the new diplomacy of the 1920s, the rise of dictatorships, and the Great Depression. We will use a combination of written primary sources, film, and historiography to explore this pivotal period.
HIS 770: Special Topics: History of Islam in America – Dr. V. Erginbas Monday, 4:30-6:50 PM Did the Americans develop meaningful ways of engagement with Islam and the Muslims? What did account for their special relationship with Islam? What do these questions tell us about American history? From the very early days of American history, Muslims and Islam have played a peculiar role. The American engagement with Islam began when the Muslim slaves were carried from Africa to the Atlantic shores. In the next century, the founding fathers engaged with the Muslim states of North Africa through Barbary Wars. Islam also played a significant role as a discursive tool to criticize and sometimes demonize specific practices associated with absolutist monarchy or defend certain interpretations of Christianity. Since the horrendous events of 9/11, Muslims in the US and abroad have been under constant scrutiny and suspicion. This course will survey the American engagement with Islam and the Muslims from colonial times to the present. No knowledge of Islam or Muslims is necessary to take this class.
The 2023-2024 Graduate Programs Academic Calendar can be found HERE.
